Hard rock song....I need a review

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:03 pm

I could use some input on this song. How is the mix, song structure, performance or any other observations you may have. Please be brutally honest.
Thanks

Ps. I'm new here. It's probably simple but I'm confused,
how do you properly attach a song ? What do you do after you click on insert URL ?

http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/music/play.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=13149&song_id=30220

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:06 pm

First Off...welcome to UBW,
the mix sounds like it is far away and tinny,,,,you need to bring it more up front,
the vocals are very good..need to bring those up the mix as well....other than that..the structure is good...i like the way the song flows....good job.

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:35 pm

Nice song. Things sound well recorded. good song

It's hard to tell from computer speakers, but it does sound like a very trebly mix like gunner mentions - lots of sizzle on the top end - particularly noticeable on the drums. The drums are way forward in the mix - a tad distracting, maybe it's the e.q. - or maybe it's just that they're going crazy the whole song. My rec. would be to try to pull the drums back in the mix a bit and maybe ease off the top end sizzle on the drums and see what you have.

Again, good overall song though.

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 8:50 pm

Thanks for the advice. The drums have been a big problem. there is some frequency thing going on that I haven't figured out yet. If I push the drums back in the mix the bass drum disappears.
On my monitors the song sounds bassy and it sounds the same way in my headphones. On my computer speakers it does sound like tin but so does everything else I have listened to on my computer speakers. Again, thanks for your help.

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 1:26 pm

IMO a song review is about the song, not about a particular performance or the quality of the recording.

And the song is cool, as are its lyrics! Really good stuff!

As for the recording: it's a pity one can hardly understand the text (except the line "I can't believe what this world has come to" - the rest I had to look up). And the piercing sound actually hurts (is that what they mean by "tinny"? Anyway, much too high pitched). But never mind! Perform the song, spread the song, it's sure worth it! And replace the recording once you've got a better one.

Bernd

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 2:57 pm

Thanks for the review. It's good to hear that you liked it. I have been tweaking the song the last day or so trying to eliminate the tinny highs, I boosted the vocals and tamed the drums a bit.
I just updated my Artist page by replacing the old version of the song with the new one. I don't know if that was the right thing to do because now there is nothing to compare the second version to. But anyhow ,if you get a chance let me know if it sounds less tinny. [url=http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/music/play.php?mode=song_hifi&band_id=13149&song_id=30220]

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:59 pm

Had texter-bernd noticed in the original post he wanted to know about the mix, performance and such... so.... IMO the song is good, the performance is good the song structure is good...it is the mix that is killing it...sorry to be so brutally honest rtlane, but ya gotta get that mix fixed.

ubw rookie Joined: Sep 27, 2005 Posts: 147

Hey rt,
I listened to the remix. I like the song. Good force of melody. My take on the recording. I can't hear any seperation or spread (stereo width) which tells me everything got compressed in the box (computer) and sqeezed to death and then you post eq'ed it. You need to eq and compress each individual instrument or track so you have more controll over the whole original mix. You'll find that things will change. It's a lot more work but that's what a good mix is and judging from your song, it's worth fixing. -rl

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 10:33 am

lodato
A forensic musicologist is just what I need. " everything got compressed in the box (computer) and sqeezed to death and then you post eq'ed it. "
You pretty much nailed it. I had it mixed then I just started compressing and eqing the master output. Thanks for the great help.

gunner
No need to apologize for the brutal honesty. That's what I was looking for.Thanks for your input.

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 11:09 am

Heya, just finished listening to the song.

First off, I really liked it. I thought the structure was spot on, very easy to listen to as it flowed perfectly. Didn't drag on either which was good. Guitars and drums seemed to be performed well. One thing I think would make it better is if there was some layering with the vocals. The vocals themselves are strong, it'd just be nice for some bits to be doubled up with harmonies etc.

The chorus is great, but it always felt like it needs even more there vocal-wise. a strong harmony would really make it stand out in my opinion. Just something to make it a bit more dynamic, as the guitars/drums are already quite busy.

Also, with a good mix this song would sound 100% better! Its just very muddy with quite a bad hiss in the background. A shame since I think the song is very strong. Well done, looking forward to hearing more from you Smile

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:37 pm

LunarRising

Thanks for the review. I'm glad to hear that you liked the song. I'm totally in the dark when it comes to mixing. The more I tweak it the more I screw it up. I have someone else working on mixing the song for me. I'll repost it once they're done. Thanks again for the review.

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 7:55 pm

I'm by no means a pro at mixing and it's been several years since I was really into it, but I've found it helpful to think of mixing as the art of subtraction.

Whenever I want to push a fader up I try to stop and ask whether there's something I can move out of the way to achieve the same effect, whether via EQ, panning, or overall loudness.

Everything can't be louder than everything else. I went through a phase of making really dense mixes (I actually like the sound) but they are limiting in your ability to let a track live and build, and are kindof tiring on the ears. After listening back and analyzing some of my favorite recordings I found that to make a track sound really big often means you have to make it smaller rather than try to pack more in. Cut extra instruments out of verses, cut back volume, pull everything back, and then when the big part really gets there you've actually got room to slam on the accelerator. If you're already maxed out from the get-go the song has nowhere else to go but downhill.

Anyhow, my $0.02

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 1:38 pm

Thanks for the advice. It makes perfect sense. I think I mentioned before that I have someone else with mixing experience working on this song. Hopefully he can clean it up. Thanks again.

moderator Joined: Jun 30, 2007 Posts: 567

good music, singer is skilled, however your mastering sound flawed, just apply some overdrive filter and enhancer (like in soundforge), signal must be squeezed, signal is too sinusoidal making a below absent sound, just work on mastering/sound engineering and you got a pretty nice song.
I can say this is good music however.
Your avatar is very nice man Smile

it gave me a dark idea for a pic on my own band Evil or Very Mad

cheers...the place to be reviewed without a flawed nerd fama optic.

and if you want some hard input i have to say you wouldn't arrive to 50% rate on pro with a such poor mastering, with a good one you'd be up to 65%-70% in this state knowing how official compo rate (not shitty paid to stealers ones) you'd be 35-40% rated.

My advice is that you take the challenge to experiment more DDD music and vst/i for your personal experience of sound enginering.
Your are good musicians but as i see there isn't mastering skill at all in your stuff i advice to collab nor work the hard gecko work of formatted producer...you need the scientific release now cause you yet know music and doing what i would call like that.
I'm bit annoying cause the fact is i have well charted song here in electronic genres that are just basic scales but they are phattened to the max so peoples just trip on its...
When i make a real and good composition that override my producers skills if i'm in a cloud it will be less well charted and peoples never make the noise on music that doesn't sound "big n phat"
I can say your are real musician however, needa a post working stage for you job.

ubw newbie Joined: Jun 02, 2009 Posts: 4

Shame about the sound quality but when u look past that its a good track!

Hard rock song....I need a review

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