Song Of The Month Club - June 2019

orchardman

Catching up on my comments for this month;

@Kitusai Great overall production with a thumping tribal beat and some interesting sounds. Loved the way the tension builds towards the end. Ultimately though it felt more like an introduction than a completed piece and I wanted that guitar at the end to burst into a maniacal riff.

@Multicellular great to hear some guitar based rock n roll on here. Loved the song particularly the chorus where the guitar riff and the vocals combined really well. The overall mix and production was a bit rough and ready but if anything that gave it a live feel.

@ Zetagy nice little doodle with interesting sounds. I like the way it seems to get a bit darker as it goes along. Overall though I think it gets a bit repetitive by the end.

@jhnk interesting piece with some nice melody lines and some great sounds.

orchardman

@richardyot said:

@orchardman said:
In answer to the clamour for more country ballads on this forum I respectfully submit this months song. This was the first one we wrote after a long break whilst my wife first waited for and then recovered from hip replacement surgery. Gone full circle and have gone back to Garageband as our main writing tool, ported into Logic for vocals and mixing. I did try using Finale on the iPad for mastering but couldn't get the sound I wanted so I have gone back to Ableton Live. Anyway hope you like it.

Very nice ballad, I love the melancholy vocal melody, it's extremely good and has just the right vibe. The guitar parts complement the vocal well and it's a well-constructed song.

There's too much reverb on the vocal though, and the overall quality of the reverb isn't good, it's metallic sounding and brittle (same for the guitars, the reverb doesn't sound too good). I would swap it out for a much warmer reverb (with a low-pass filter to get rid of those brittle highs in the reverb send) and dial it back. I'm wondering if you used a spring reverb in order to get a vintage vibe? Maybe, but anyway vintage songs would never use a spring reverb on a vocal, they traditionally used echo chambers which were really warm sounding, and later plate reverbs which again were generally warm and pleasant to the ear.

Otherwise it's a really good effort, especially the vocal melody which is terrific.

Thanks for the feedback Richard it’s really appreciated. As you know mixing vocals is an art form in itself and getting a professional sound in a home studio environment can prove difficult. Based on the feedback from you and others on here and I have swapped out the reverb for a plate type as suggested. The revised version has been uploaded. That’s the great thing about this forum it is like having your own production team. Thanks again.

richardyot

@orchardman said:
Thanks for the feedback Richard it’s really appreciated. As you know mixing vocals is an art form in itself and getting a professional sound in a home studio environment can prove difficult. Based on the feedback from you and others on here and I have swapped out the reverb for a plate type as suggested. The revised version has been uploaded. That’s the great thing about this forum it is like having your own production team. Thanks again.

It's definitely better now, although I think there's still a little too much top-end in the vocal, it might be the EQ. The reverb is definitely softer sounding now and suits the vocal much better.

Multicellular

@orchardman said:
@Multicellular great to hear some guitar based rock n roll on here. Loved the song particularly the chorus where the guitar riff and the vocals combined really well. The overall mix and production was a bit rough and ready but if anything that gave it a live feel.

Thanks. It was in fact largely recorded live in the studio. Drums, bass, and the rhythm guitar. Though I did do some doubling of the rhythm guitar, it is lower in the mix. So really just the lead guitar, vocals overdubbed, any synths I can't remember. Fun to record that way for a change. I usually do a very overdubby thing.

carbonchris

My first release! As always, after listening for a few weeks now theres a few things I want to change but i think ill save that for a "club edit" or something. This was done all in Cubasis with Sunrizer, Korg Mono/Poly and Thor and finished off on desktop for final mastering purposes. Hope you enjoy and feedback always welcome!

Kitusai

@carbonchris Very good music for the dance floors! Excellent sounding, with what are you mastering on desktop?

carbonchris

@Kitusai said:
@carbonchris Very good music for the dance floors! Excellent sounding, with what are you mastering on desktop?

Yeah that’s sorta my thing (dance floor tracks). And thanks for the feedback!

I’ve been using a smattering of things but my recent go to has been Izotopes’s Ozone for ease of use.

carbonchris

@richardyot

Really like this. The groove is like butter. Sonically i feel there not enough high end but i have a feeling that may be on purpose.

@orchardman

Into it. Nice ballad with great progressions. Big fan of the guitar. Vocals could use a bit more/different processing as they seem bit tinny and lost in the mix.

@Kitusai

Someone mentioned earlier how this could be a soundtrack and i agree. Sonically i think its great with good instrument separation.

@Multicellular

Found myself tapping my hand on my desk, well done sir.

@Zetagy

Its not bad at all but think it needs some more structure to it.

@Jhnk

Ambient textures and some nice string pads with those glides sound good to me. DBut i get the sense its not finished.

richardyot

@carbonchris said:
My first release! As always, after listening for a few weeks now theres a few things I want to change but i think ill save that for a "club edit" or something. This was done all in Cubasis with Sunrizer, Korg Mono/Poly and Thor and finished off on desktop for final mastering purposes. Hope you enjoy and feedback always welcome!

Very much old skool trance, I spent many a sweaty night dancing to music like this when I was a bit younger

The bassline is particularly good, and there are some nice leads there as well. I especially like the intro lead arp, but there is a good variety of trancey leads throughout, especially in the breakdown section.

It's all mixed and produced to the highest standard as well, my only criticism is that it's a bit long, I think the second half in particular could be quite a bit shorter, and the outro could be cut completely IMO.

Good stuff though, thanks for posting.

carbonchris

@richardyot said:

@carbonchris said:
My first release! As always, after listening for a few weeks now theres a few things I want to change but i think ill save that for a "club edit" or something. This was done all in Cubasis with Sunrizer, Korg Mono/Poly and Thor and finished off on desktop for final mastering purposes. Hope you enjoy and feedback always welcome!

Very much old skool trance, I spent many a sweaty night dancing to music like this when I was a bit younger

The bassline is particularly good, and there are some nice leads there as well. I especially like the intro lead arp, but there is a good variety of trancey leads throughout, especially in the breakdown section.

It's all mixed and produced to the highest standard as well, my only criticism is that it's a bit long, I think the second half in particular could be quite a bit shorter, and the outro could be cut completely IMO.

Good stuff though, thanks for posting.

Yeah I love my trance. thanks for the great feedback and yeah the intro and outro are meant for mixing purposes! I suppose it’s probably a good idea to create a “radio edit” for promo purposes.

orchardman

@carbonchris said:
My first release! As always, after listening for a few weeks now theres a few things I want to change but i think ill save that for a "club edit" or something. This was done all in Cubasis with Sunrizer, Korg Mono/Poly and Thor and finished off on desktop for final mastering purposes. Hope you enjoy and feedback always welcome!

Not my sort of music but overall the production sounded good and it had a nice summer vibe. You could have thrown in some vocal samples to break it up a bit.