finished my first songs
any comments appreciated
http://www.nowhereradio.com/rufuskahn/singles
thanks
You already made my personal playlist ;)
Only complaint would be the vocals have a bit much effect, and too up front and too high. (Rope)
Face the world, like it overall, maybe add a bit of verb on the vocals, they are a bit too up front as well, but overall very decent. The vocals which you've done the phone effect on could be brought up closer to the lead vocals.
thissong - Quite all over the place, almost sounded like timing issues the first few times I listened, there is of course the odd timing issue throughout the song. Vocal effect again is a bit thick, as with Rope.
head, kick ass ;) ditch, good an mellow. At least you are consistent, vocals are too up front and high ;) It may very well have been what you intended, I think pulling the vocals back a bit and eq'n them a bit lower would help the overall mix.
Rock on!
thanks for listening TheRealWaldo
i do tend to go overboard on vocal effects(trying to hide my voice)... im not sure about too high..do you mean the vocal is to trebly? or maybe lacking low end
as far as the timing on thissong its a delay on the drums that my wife begged me to take off but i couldnt resist. looking back i wish i wouldnt have used it on the whole drum kit(machine) instead only on the hihats maybe.. but the drums were already mixed to a stereo pair
im still new to this stuff and i cant seem to get my mixes to transfer well on other systems :( maybe its my monitors
you also mention the vocal is too loud i am curious what type of speakers you are listening thru. i hear the same thing thru my small computer speakers but not my monitors
john
p.s. whats personal playlist?
Read about the personal playlist in the 'news' section.
Yeah, the vocals could use a lower eq, or maybe double them up with one eq'd twice as low.
I'm listening through line out on the sound card (flat out) to a tube pre of my own design and an amp of my own design, the monitors I'm using are original Sansui studio prototypes, very accurate reproduction.
When I critique I listen flat, tune everything flat.
you design your own amps and pres? .. im impressed
i only been recordin for a year or so and a lot of this stuff is new to me.. im shopping for monitors... do you have an opinion of the mackie hr824?
In my experience, mackie has always had a good product ;)
I'm not 100% up to snuff on all the 'newest' gear, as I rarely can afford it (and try not to tempt myself), lol, but a good place to ask folk about gear is www.homerecording.com/bbs
If you want to talk about pro gear (the primo expensive stuff), www.recording.org is a good place to sign up for.
thanks for those links!
Hi and Welcome to Waldo's World.
Rope: Very catchy melody. I like it but clean up those vocals a bit.
Face The World: Another nice song. With your permission, can I do this at open mic at the local coffee shop? Maybe I'll take a stab at recording it and see how it turns out (not for profit, just fun)
Thisssong: I think as Waldo said, Got to redo the drum track but another good one with some tweaking.
Check out my stuff at,
www.geocities.com/charvster
Gr8 first efforts!
Listened to Rope.
Cool as hell guitar riff. I loved it.
To my ear the vocals didn't need to be brought up, but rather cleaned up. You could barely tell that there were words being sung. Were you goofing around with too many toys? ;D
The bass line is real nice too. If possible, try to bring that up in the mix. I think it would compliment the guitar better, and I think you can do it without comprimising other parts of the song.
I really liked the song.
thanks for listening guys...
i appreciate your suggestions and kind words
charvster - i cant imagine anyone wanting to cover one of my songs but feel free to perform "face the world" if you would like
triplem - my kids are addicted to your song... right now they are running in circles singing -iamthefoodcourtmanagerdontcrossme...- i had to download it so they could listen offline
Hey cool dis...
My five year old does the same thing. Now if I could just get 18-25 year olds to do that, I might sell a record or two :D
Either that or try to become the next Raffi... Oh the horror!!
ok i have done a remix of rope with less distortion on the vocal.... please tell me if this is any better
http://www.nowhereradio.com/rufuskahn/singles
thank you
Sounds better, but there's still some 'fuzz' that's just a little too high on the vocals. A little compression to knock out the high fuzz possibly?
Or better yet, what about using a phone effect instead of distortion?
W.
that might be cool waldo how would i get that effect?
just eq everything out above and below a certain freq?
Pretty much, not sure what the exact phone frequencies are, but that's what the effect is based on.
W.
What application are you using for the mixing? There might be a preset file, or plugin I can point you to for downloading.
W.
well these songs are recorded on a roland vs840ex and thats what im using for mixing (to my computers crappy SB analog in)... but i just bought a aw4416(which is incredible) couple weeks ago so im thinking about transfering some of the 15 songs i have on the 840 over to the 4416 but i guess i could only transfer 2 tracks at a time so it would be a hassle
Decidedly better vocals. I thought they were clean enough for the most part. The first two lines we still a bit too fuzzy - "Are you every gonna get off that F'ing ???" - can't make it out, and "??? on that dial tone" - again tough to make out.
I wonder what it would how they would sound if you boosted the mids way up? Or try boosting the highs... Just something to get some of the mud out and I think they're set.
Maybe work on some of the lyrics and spice them up and write another verse.
I still think the ambiance of this song is cool.
My comments on [b]Cry[/b]:
I really like this one. Very clean and defined mix. Like myself, you do seem to have a tendency to hide your voice a bit in effects, though. That's a shame, because you really don't have to, if you ask me. You've got a great voice in terms of expression and musicality (do I hear inspiration from Shaun Ryder/Happy Mondays ? :)).
All in all a solid, quiet tune that I want to listen to again and again.
I think I read somewhere that you've been recording for only 1 year. I'd say, that to reach this far in such a short period of time is a giant achievement.
You sound like a natural to me.
Best wishes
Erik
thanks very much for your kind comments erik
the more i listen to this song cry the more i think the vocals are too brittle and/or harsh
yes ive been recording about a year and 3 months and ive learned a lot but there is so much more to learn i wish i had more time every day to learn it all
p.s. not sure who Shaun Ryder/Happy Mondays is but i'll be sure to look some of their stuff up
john
[quote]
the more i listen to this song cry the more i think the vocals are too brittle and/or harsh[/quote]
Yes, that's what it sounds like from my side as well. It doesn't sound bad at all, but - to my ears - it appears to be somehow over eq-ed (boosted) in the high freq's.
[quote]
p.s. not sure who Shaun Ryder/Happy Mondays is but i'll be sure to look some of their stuff up[/quote]
Happy Mondays was one of the most popular british bands around 1990, Shaun Ryder was the lead singer. They broke up around 1993 and I don't think they ever got together again.
Check this out : http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000005IS7/qid=1025515516/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/103-2308163-0060660
Unfortunately, there are no audio clip of the song "Bob's Yer Uncle" but I think you'll be surprised when you hear this tune :).
Anyway, Pills'n' thrills... is a great, great record (the only one I know of this band) and I can highly recommend it.
Regards
Erik.