At the half way stage of the new Salem album I thought I would check in with this one to see how we’re doing. #2 is the most recent.
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Cool song. I’ll have to listen again later to give any meaningful feedback, running short on time. However, I swear I heard something weird at 0:38, like someone standing in the corner with a guitar and accidentally hit a string or something (but it could be any extraneous noise in the room). I heard it in the same spot after repeating that section multiple times. More to the left side I believe. It’s pretty subtle, but those things stand out to me for some reason.
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Overall I hear a lot of vocal sibilance. “Staying out” on the 1st chorus especially.
The 0:23 passage with the clanky guitars sounds very familiar to something I’ve heard, one of the “city bands”, Chicago, Boston? Oh here we go, caught it:
The guitars, drums and bass sound pro level to me as far as production. The vocals need a bit more work IMO, sounds like it wasn’t tracked at with the right mic for this guy. Maybe a de-esser will do but it seemed rather heavy sibilant.
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Well, I didn’t see that one coming. Anyone else hearing excess sibilance?
This is sounding “fecking” good to me, to use the apropos quote… 
I thought of that Joe Walsh thing too when I heard that bit, but I love shit like that. Even unwitting hommage is splendid in my book provided it’s not overtly copycat, and this isn’t close to that area. Made me smile and say “oh yeah.”
I’m loving the combination of excellent low-mid punch with midrange guitars fullness. I am not getting any excessive sibilance at all in the vox. The amount that is there is entirely appropriate IMO. Just right for the vox to cut through the mix without undue harshness.
I think I hear what Stan is hearing at 0:38, but it’s so small a thing, I wouldn’t even mess with it. It’s the Slartibartfast feature.
My one nitpick is with the ending. There is just something off there, that final fuzzed out minor chord seems to have arrived a hair early. After the counterpoint between the cleaner “Joe Walsh” riff and then its fuzzier version, that last chord should hang back maybe 1/64th longer before it closes out the tune.
Good stuff Adrian! 
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Thank you for that Dave, I appreciate your input.
I totally get the Joe Walsh thing. I was in two minds to even record the track because of it, but then I thought “meh, who even gives a shit” so I went ahead with it, especially considering the rest of the track is unrelated to the Joe Walsh track.
I can hear 0.38 thing too, but really it’s just another ‘meh’ for me.
I also get what you mean by the last chord. It wasn’t supposed to be a rall, but the guitarist played it like that, ‘off the cuff’, and I was so made up with it at that time that I kept it. I think that’s good enough reason to keep it as is. In my book anyway 
Really well produced song and sounds great! Not to “pile on” similarities thing, but I was thinking “Running With The Devil” before the Joe Walsh lick kicked in. Similarities aside however, this is a really tight, well-balanced and slick production. Nice fat guitar distortion on the fans, and a great tones on the solo too. Excellent vocalist, but you can put me in the “sibilant” camp, or rather the over-“de-essed” camp. I am hearing some lisps.
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I had noticed the Joe Walsh thing too. When the vocals come in I felt a Krokus “Screaming in the Night” kind of vibe also. Those are the kinds of things I call “nods” to influences from the past.
I’m listening on my 2:1 system now and the sub sounds good. I hadn’t picked up on adverse sibilance until it was mentioned, and now I can hear maybe a few places where the de-essing sounds overcooked or something. But overall the sibs are sounding okay to me.
I know you’re big on your “posh” snare, and the intro fill (kick/snare) sounded a little odd to me. After reviewing the song several times I was going to say the snare seemed too “pop” or “plok” sounding … missing some good crack! (no, not the kind that is smoked) It could be heavy compression too? BUT, I noticed that when the snare comes back in big at 0:44 (after Joe Walsh 
) I think it sounds very good. It’s just that very beginning to 0:22 that it sounds kind of cardboardy. Or at least different somehow.
** oops it happens again about 2:11 until the 2nd round of Joe Walsh. The snare just sounds smaller and less impact.
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That might be nearer the truth.
I guess that’s an accurate assessment. Any song that anybody writes is going to have a chord sequence that’s already been ‘done’ before, and probably the melody too. Originality comes from the performances, the production, the mix etc.[quote=“Stan_Halen, post:8, topic:1134”]
The snare just sounds smaller and less impact.
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The snare has a very big reverb on the verses. It’s calmed down for the denser parts.
Could be lisps…just something off there.
I listened to this a few days ago on cans, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to listen on proper monitors… Very melodic piece!.. and yeah, my first thought was: “Uh-Oh, I can just see Mr Walsh marshalling his crack team of lawyers!” 
My second thought was that the bass sounded too loud, and then I thought “No, it’s just these cans”…
In any case, the too loud bass impression remains on my monitors… A tad too much low end in the kick drum for me too, although you can probably get away with more in a track of this tempo. FWIW, referencing it against a slower ACDC track kind of confirms my impression on that count.
I agree with the comments about the “popping” snare. To my ears, it sounds over-compressed (too fast attack, too slow release), and definitely on the “small” side. I think that impression is actually compounded by the fact that the low end of the bass and kick is so huge - it tends to somewhat “dwarf” the snare by comparison.
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Apparently I can’t post an updated mix in the OP?
Anyhoo, here it is, all issues raised in the thread so far have been addressed.
edit: Ok sussed out the OP, it is updated now.
Much better! :beerbang:
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It’s a very professional recording. Nice snarl on the guitars. I listened to #2, and since I’m at work, I’m not qualified to comment on much tonally, since my speakers have the frequency response of a snare drum. But, while we’re at it, I think the snare is great, and the reverb is very well done on it, since the track has room for it to breathe a bit. For what it’s worth, the Joe Walsh reference stood out to me right away, but he’s a big influence for me. I’ll give it another listen when I get home, but at first glance, everything sounds very well done to me, with the exception of the lead vocal needing a little more weight to it to fit the feel of the rest of the track. Great job.
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On second listen, the newer version, it’s great. The guitars are great, there is a great sense of depth, and it is polished to a high gloss. If the lead vox could channel a little Ronnie James Dio, it would go over the top. Thanks for posting.
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I like that - kinda fits in with the countless hours spent micro-tweaking, thank you!
Yes, sounds great!
That thing I mentioned about 0:38 I now hear a little more prominently between 0:53-0:59, and other places in the song. I believe it’s bass string/pickup click/grunt. Maybe compression or limiting brought it out a tad more? I’m not suggesting you change it, I [U]like[/U] bass grunt. I just wanted to know what it was! 
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Each prominent one is automated manually. There are about 30 ‘big’ ones in the track. That’s what you get for hiring a shit bass player.
After you had identified the noise, I honed in on a grungy fret buzz that one of the guitarists had made, so that had to go, then I realised he’s done it about twenty more times in the track, so I had to manually edit those too. Sigh.
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Glad I could help! 
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