It’s been a loong time since being active on here, and an equally long time dusting off the guitar and writing/producing something new.
Haven’t really had any discerning ears check this one out yet, so would be great to get some thoughts, comments and criticisms. Cheers.
This is the ‘final’ mix revision after pulling all the guitars down quite considerably, which really opened everything up, and gave some much needed breathing room to the drums and bass. Not sure there’s much else I can do at this point, but always open to suggestions.
Is it worth getting a proper mastering engineer to finish it off, and would it really achieve much or just be happy as is?
There’s those famous last word again hehe.
After a good hard listen I realized there were still some fairly noticeable errors, most of all being the guitars were still too loud, and the lowend of the bass was extremely weak.
Got on top of those issues and had to build certain elements back up around those changes, the biggest of which being the vocal levels.
The track now seems to have a lot more life and movement as a result of bringing the guitars down and getting some more energy into the bottom end.
Not gonna say finished, but I would say a huge leap in the right direction.
I’m listening on my ipad shit box, so it will be hard to hear the full details. I might come back to this song later and give it a listen through a better device.
Dramatic intro. Song sounds good on the first listen. Everything sounds quite good. The only thing that seemed a bit out of place was a part of the solo/ lead break. I’m not sure exactly why it struck me that way. I thought a few of the notes were a bit ‘hairy”. Or, it could be that the lead felt like it was too separate from the rest of the mix. I’ll check it on my headphones later to get a better sense of the mix. It sounds quite good through the iPad though.
Hey Terry - great to hear from you again after many moons - Good to hear you’re in a creative space again!
Some very cool melodies and hooks here. In fact, the song, the arrangement, and everything is really well done. Definitely no criticisms there…
The vocals are outstanding - A really committed and convincing performance, with great expression and emotion! I love the lead guitar work too - really interesting minor key excursions. Very cool.
About the only thing I think could improve is the mix - not so much the balance, as it seems really good too… More the lack of punch in the mix from the low end.
Actually, maybe the issue is just that the low end is just a little too high passed. Maybe let the kick and bass have a little more low end and fullness.
Hey Wicked, good to catch up again. I tell you what, that solo was one of the more problematic parts of the mix for me, just trying to get it to play nice with the vocal. In the end a fairly drastic pan out wide seemed to be the only way I could get the two elements to work with any sort of cohesion, hence the weird vibe. I doubled the solo gat and pan another onto the right to try and get a bit of balance without going full stereo mode, but as you can obviously hear, it’s still fairly thick on the left channel. Thanks for the feeback man, I appreciate it bro.
Hey Andrew, how’s things brother, long time no chat. That bottom end man, oh my lord, without a doubt the most challenging part of this entire track. To the point where I even programmed a synth bass to replace the lowend bass-double in an effort to try and tighten things up down the bottom. I should upload my second to last mix, which i was calling “finished” (famous last words hehe), which had a ton more bottom end, but it just felt too unruly and loose, so I got little enthusiastic on this mix with some selective M/B Comp (on the mix buss) from about 120H down in an effort to reign in the flubby bottom end . Maybe a little too much huh?
This is the second to last attempt minus the low end compression.
Thanks for the feedback mate.
Ah, that makes sense. At first in my reply, I wrote that it sounded like the low end was “compacted”, but then I changed that to something simpler to explain… Maybe I should have kept what I said!
That’s a little fuller in the low end, but I still have the same sense of something not quite sounding right…
I had another detailed listen, and I downloaded your latest posted mix (above) to see if I could work out what was going on.
After fiddling around with some mid-side processing and eq, here is my hypothesis: I think the bass and drums are about right in terms of the way they interact with each other. I think the problem might be that the guitars and vocals are just too loud overall. I reckon if you try dropping both the guitars and vocals around 3dB or so, it might all gel together a bit better.
Very cool song! The vibe reminds me a bit of Kings X or Silverchair maybe? And the vocals and lyrics are pretty clear, I think I got the message, so I’d say you’re speaking my language (social engineers, fabricated fear). If you’d care to elaborate on the inspiration for the song, and meaning/references, I’d be quite interested. It seems like there’s a new wave/generation of ‘protest’ songs emerging, also fueling newfound creativity.
I just listened to the first version posted in the OP. On cheap speakers it’s sounding pretty good, but I’ll try to listen to both versions posted on better speakers.
Oh shit, thankyou so much bro, this is instantly a better track after that quick move.
I tried your suggested 3db but it was a little too low in the mix so settled on a 1db gang-drop on all guitars and vocals.
Probably need s a little more tweaking here and there considering the entire mix has opened up considerably, but a massive step in the right direction from my ears perspective. What’s your thoughts Andrew?
Hey thanks for taking the time to dig into this for us mate, I never would have thought of doing that.
It (the message) means if we cannot see past the programming, and realize out true power as an individual, the outcome will not be pleasant for 99% of the human population.
‘References’ is a little more difficult, and really dependent on what stage of awakening you’re at in regards to the power-structures that are manipulating our society.
If I had to recommend one piece of media that I could share with anyone and everyone (Grandmas included), it would be James Corbett’s - How Big Oil Conquered The World &
Why Big Oil Conquered The World, 2-part documentary series.
There’s no editorializing or opinion, it’s just historical and current facts, colated and presented in a concise, engaging fashion.
Yes, probably way too much to say on that. I could go way off the hook, but I also realize this forum has a degree of censorship of unapproved opinions. Ironically, you can say whatever you want in song lyrics, as you boldly have, but to say it as a comment is somehow offensive to some people.
I’m in the USA, what’s left of it, after the Administrator/Comrade Joke Biden has taken over. I’m literally in daily angst seeing what’s happening in Australia though, righteous mates being suppressed by totalitarianism. It’s coming here (America) and everywhere else if we don’t stand up. As Americans, we’re supposed to have the 1st Amendment (free speech) - essentially dead, and also the 2nd Amendment (right to bear arms) - currently under threat.
People are fed up, they’re ready, anywhere you may live. As you suggest, the individual has a natural right to freedom, personal authority, and sovereignty. The big question is - what will we do? What are we willing to sacrifice to fight for our freedom? What “tables in the temple” will we turn over, regardless of the consequences? Become educated, or become enslaved, it’s anyone’s choice. And then take action. Many are doing it to great effect. Check out Patrick King in Alberta, Canada. He brought down the whole provincial government façade, from what I understand. Fight the Good Fight, every moment.
.
Yeah that sounds better to me… The vocals sound about spot-on in level, but I reckon the guitars could still come down a smidgen… might be a matter of personal taste.
Being a guitarist myself I like guitar my guitars loud and proud, but I’ve also realised over the years much a role bass plays in making guitars sound loud and thick, even if, when solo’d, they are not that loud and thick.
Yes, I’m very familiar with him, great stuff. Alternative media is the only possible source of knowledge. Mainstream media is only brainwashing you with propaganda. It has always existed, but now it’s at a level that is unbelievable. I was stunned as Sky News Australia experienced a YouTube ban. At least they were trying to be truthful. In psychology, they call it “narcissistic gaslighting”. Don’t be fooled by carnival barkers. You are being played beyond all imagination.
.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels
Funny you mention Sky News, they were my go to, “best of the worst” as far as mainstream garbage, and they were the ONLY news site within Australia to leave their Youtube comments section open.
Still a terrible media outlet all the same, but a real disgrace that they’ve been pulled.
This is where we are in 2021, shut down any and ALL voices that oppose or contradict the establishment agenda.
The Ministry of Truth is alive and well my friend.
It appears we’re fully on the same page which is great, always nice to run into another free-thinker.
Peace brother.
love that cadence with the first series. Alert…wow factor ahead. Ahhh another guy who talks like me…shit box. Love the slow down at 1:50…put down that phone.
congrats…ya dun well man
Okay, I’ve done 2 takes, one with an overall guitar level drop of .2db
…and another with a level drop of .4 db
I keep gravitating to the louder of the 2 mixes, just because, as you rightly mention as guitarists we tend to prefer them ‘loud & proud’, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to a better mix.
EDIT:
Actually after giving the ears a bit of a rest and comparing the 2 new versions I decided to split the difference and went with an overall guitar level drop 0f .3db.
Seems to be the sweet spot, as far as my ears are concerned.
Absolutely, the feeling is mutual. Peace. Strength. Resolve.
Such a great song, are you going to publish this somewhere or find a place to share it outside IRD? I’d also love to hear about the recording process if you have time to go into detail. Are the drums ‘real’ acoustic recorded with mics? It sounds like it, but it can be hard to tell these days when MIDI drums are done well. Did you record all this yourself, or did you have some other musicians contribute? Is it guitar amps or sims? Everything feels very organic and recorded like the good old days, but as I said it can be hard to tell as technology grows. The vocal performance has a story I’m sure, and you managed the ‘scream’ vocals very well.
