I hear you. I am looking forward to hearing this. Pretty pumped.
I might know since you told me this is not technically live from your garage, Dan, but you have done a superlative job conveying that vibe! I haven’t read anybody’s suggestions or criticisms, and I’m not big on the technical points, but for me as a rock aficionado this is pretty satisfying on many levels. I like how the guitars come in and the bass, so they stand out briefly before becoming the onslaught of sound of a song like this. Drums sound pretty darn good to me, not overly complex but full of energy.
As far as your vocals, they fit the punk power of the music well. It is only a Ramones length song, so I didn’t have time to get too fatigued. I am guessing as part of a set of 5 songs it has some distinctive character, melody, mood, lyric, to keep it moving, even if you nearly blow out your voice on every cut.
You imply lyrics are not so important, and I can see that here. That being said, I thought the spoken chorus with the title line was pretty clever and a top feature of the song’s concept. Cynical enough for serious rock that is anti-war anti-industrial/military complex without getting political, and on a first listen that stuck in my mind while the rest of the words did not. To me, that’s an accomplishment not to be discounted.
Concept is key to any project, and if you come off as feeling inspired and emotionally invested, well, you might be on to something extra special, dude. This is a strong start.
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Thanks Steve,
I really appreciate those comments. This was designed to be a project that I could smash out pretty quickly and have fun doing it, not overthinking much, rocking out. The music came together really fast, as did some lyrics, but after the first couple of songs, I hit a wall vocally.
Turns out, these comments are what I needed - I was reticent to post this one initially as I am not a confident singer at the best of times, let alone doing something like this. I’m glad the reception has been positive overall!
And with that, I have now fully recorded 4 songs of the 5, with me knocking out 2 and a half vocally today. Turns out I am starting to develop a bit of a technique which is meaning my voice is relatively intact (considering the amount I did today) and I think I’m getting somewhere.
I will be posting an edited mix of 'Nam up shortly, to see if I have improved it or made it worse!
Lastly, the title is a based on a line I heard (misheard actually) on the radio (they were talking about banks, but that’s another story) and I liked my misheard version, so I built a story around that. It actually has zero to do with Vietnam at all, but the line is used as from the perspective of a paranoid guy who sees signs and indications in everything, ranging from minuscule relationship habits to world events to reaffirm his standpoint. Not sure if that makes sense but it’s not too in-depth anyway.
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Hi Dan, great to hear you putting out some new stuff! Sounding pretty ferocious! I had a listen to the new mix and these are my thoughts after comparing with the references.:
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Frequency wise, the mix is a bit “lumpy-sounding”. It is very prominent in the low mids , centred around the180hz mark extending down to 80hz and up to about 400hz. My guess is that there is a lot of energy from the drums in that area, as that is what gets softer when I cut some of that out.
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There is another big “lump” in the high mids, extending from around the 2.6k area up to about 4k.
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I think if you could craft the individual elements for a more “even” frequency response when combined together, the mix would sound both tighter in the low end and less abrasive at the top.
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The vocals still don’t “nest” well in the mix for me. I think that “lump” in the high mids is causing you to have to set the vocal level too loud for it to feel like it sits down “in” the music, rather than “on top of” it. (The frequency “lump” in the high mids is there before the vocals come in).
This is a really difficult style to mix, because it is such a “wall of sound”. Very difficult to find the balance between definition and that sense of power and weight. It’s also very easy for your ears to get tired, so I’d recommend lots of ear breaks and aural “palette-cleansers”.
Kudos on your productivity and creativity!
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Thanks Andrew,
Agree regarding the wall of sound. It’s a little odd, as while I’m ok with that feel, it’s crazy how it has occured given it is 3 guitars, bass, drums and vocals. The melodic (if we can call it that) guitar in the choruses is a stereo setup which will definitely be adding to that!
I will fiddle more and see what I can do.
Those references are more for vocal tone (silver devil) and genre/style (Whores) rather than mix per se.
Curiously, would you be looking at a frequency analyser and pulling out low/high mids in the areas you suggested from those instruments where they are most prominent? How would you go about what you mentioned above?
I definitely don’t recommend mixing via frequency analyser, but it sure is handy when you sense that something is a little off, but you can’t really put your finger on it… I usually pull it up to just to see if what I’m hearing is confirmed by what it indicates.
That said, things like room mics on drums and low end in guitars can really clog up the low mids, as well as bass. Sometimes compression on drums can really get the low mid frequencies “ringing”, which can contribute as well. It’s really hard to say without hearing the parts in solo.
If you have a reference of a similar style that you are using for the mix, it can sometimes be instructive to compare the overall frequency response of your mix with it. Also, soloing, say kick and bass together, and then bass and guitars together, and then comparing their frequency response can also help identify where there might be frequency overlaps causing a build-up.
I hope that answers your question.
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offtopic but I am curious what do you use? bird sounds? fresh air? wheatgrass shots? bergamot tea?? contraband stuff??? big box of dark chocolates???
nothing works for me the way I want it to ( not that I am admitting to consuming anything John Williams wont 
)
but I am open to ideas!
I had a good think of what sonic similarities a referemce may have @ColdRoomStudio and figured the song below has the most similar feel that I’d be after in regards to instrumentation, with the Silver Devil styled vocals. I haven’t imported into the session to directly cross reference but I can already hear the difference on my PC speakers. That said, I probably do want a little more mud (for lack of better terms) in this project, but a happy balance may be what I am after.
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Kick ass. congrats
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Very jarring with great energy. I can feel the anger. The only comment I have is the tails on the vocal might be a touch prominent compared to the other instruments. To me it makes it sound a little odd with the forward nature of everything else. Maybe bringing down the effect level a touch would be all you need.
Everything else slaps you in the face like it should. Great job.
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Yep, agreed, lot of good stuff in your work.
Matching one genre and mastering all tricks it requires is a hard task and from what I remembered in that genre, your recording, writing, producing and mixing nail it just right.
Very interesting to listen to and to read!
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That Deftones song above is a great reference . It is noisy and tastefully clumsy, yet you can hear each element. I am not sure if vocals were the centric piece of it. The drum attack is great, the snare is punchin with energy and the kick is great, guitar tones are good too… and to capture that on a youtube stream is super even after a 7 DB squash on youtube. Points for that.
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Yep, that works really well!
Hi Dan, the new version is much improved. Overall it has just as much attitude, but it sounds bigger, wider, fuller. The vocals sit much better in the mix too. Just much better overall. Well worth the effort.
BTW, the chorus of this track is super-catchy. I had been listening to it the other night, and as I was going off to sleep, I had this melody in my head, and I thought “Now, what song is that?” It just kept coming back to me over and over… and then, suddenly, the words came back too “I’ll just wait here…”, and it hit me “That’s Dan’s song!”
Nice work!
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Thanks mate! Appreciate it!
Thanks. I want it to be jarring but in a good way. this should have some looseness and rawness but also some production quality. I want to be able to produce more regular releases with this project more often, but I don’t want it to be jarring where people can’t listen to it from start to finish - I’m a massive fan of the above band, Whores., and whilst it is gracefully imbalanced, it doesn’t fatigue me at high volumes! I’m after a similar feel here.
In regards to anger, this is probably the least aggressive of the bunch. I have steadily but quite quickly learned to sing in the desired aggressive way I’m after since doing this song. I hope to have them all finished soon.
It’s funny and great that you say that. I have been re-reading Mixerman’s (I assume I allowed to mention his name here… 
) “Zen and the Art of Mixing”. I got a lot out of it on first read and again, it is reminding me of a few things I had either forgotten or neglected a few things - one of which was about what was the most important aspect of the mix, which may or may not be the vocals. In this particular project, I want the guitars to be the driver, the vocals are more of an instrument than something to be upfront as such. At the same time, I don’t want them buried either… Your comment just reaffirms my initial thoughts.
That’s funny, because I took your initial comment to be in regards of my second version anyway!!! I ended up running the Deftones and my mix through SPAN (spectral analyser) and they were remarkably similar which is great I guess. In both there is a big scoop in the mids.
I’ve actually gone and made some of the changes you mentioned since your comments and the second mix. there are a couple of fairly minor changes I am planning on making but overall I am happy with what it’s doing. Then I will be saving many of the settings and FX chains to apply them to the other songs and adjust as needed.
Interesting and flattering! I don’t intend on the vocals to be catchy per se (nor do I want them to be NOT catchy either though!) but I’m glad it had an impact.
I will likely post the whole EP when it’s done for a final review, more on the issue of finding out if it is too fatiguing over the long haul.
Thanks for the great feedback ad comments again!
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dan (the) man is a (rocker),
Tension filled intro. Glad when the bass and drums kicked in. Some guitar riffs and vocals are a bit repetitive, but otherwise a cool song. Audio quality is good, as are the vocals. Nice drums. I think the kangaroos would approve. Good job! 
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Thanks @aaron_aardvark !
The intro is weird as I often hear it backwards before the drums and bass come in… not sure if others have that happen too, which was kind of the aim.
Yeah, I’m trying not to think too hard with these songs in this project. I have a tendency to over do lyrics so that they don’t repeat a lot, even in choruses and so this project has more repetition in general in smaller packages.
That’s great to hear as the vocals were my biggest worry but they seem to at the very least not be terrible. The drums are my good mate and band member hammering them out pretty much in two takes (as he did with most of the songs as I want them pretty raw and on edge mots of the time with this project) on the electronic kit and then I constructed a kit on Slate Digital Drums that fit the style the way I felt best.
Quite funny actually, that were I live, we get kangaroos in our back yard often. So whilst you joke, they may actually have formed some form of opinion on the matter!
dan,
I replied to your private message by the way.
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Ok, given that the second song I posted was getting a few comments saying there was a harshness, guitars and vox mainly, I went and cut a few 3-5k from the lead guitar and vocals. There were not many comments on this one regarding that as an issue but I figure it will add up over 5 songs.
Using eMastered, I also pushed the loudness a little more too. I’m ok with the slightly crushed feel for this project, but if it’s lost impact, I’ll revert to only slightly pushed levels.
I am not sure if there will be much discernible difference between the last mix and this, I am finding it pretty hard to tell.
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It seems like your vocal is sitting lower in this mix and therefore blending better. I’m extremely tired and it’s possible I’m just hallucinating, though.
I’m only listening with my laptop speakers, but this sounds quite good. I like that industrial vibe you’re getting on this! Reminds me of the bands that my brother used to crank up when we would cruise around in his truck, back in the 90’s. Bands like Machines Of Loving Grace and Ministry and Prong. Very overdriven and dark.
I need to give this a listen through a pair of headphones once I’ve caught up on sleep. I can barely remember my name right now.
It is sounding good to me.
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