Dark acoustic

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Checkrath
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Dark acoustic

Post by Checkrath » Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:34 am


Phil999
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Phil999 » Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:42 pm

good voice, but in my opinion not the right intonation and music. Too simple, not really interesting.

But I'm sure it pleases the majority of listeners. No doubt it will have some success.

jadmorffier
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by jadmorffier » Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:46 pm

I liked it. It sets a tone from the start and sticks to it which I think suites the lyrics perfectly. Very well done. Great vocal and mix.

If I was nit-picking the only thing I'd come up with was the accoustic guitar sounded a little too raw. I wondered if it might sound better with more effect and add even more to already great vibe you've got going there.
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sodium
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by sodium » Sat Mar 29, 2014 5:57 pm

Loved it . But then again that's my kind if music.

The production was good, vox were great. Loved the subtle underpinning of low bass and occasional thumps in the night. Personally I think the song may benefit from a bit more chordal development or tonal change at some point to keep the listener's interest piqued, but that's a strictly personal opinion and I understand the artistic path. You guys took in keeping it fairly linear.

Was waiting for a male Mark Lonegan type voice to join in on the first one....;)


Kudos, great sounding track.
"get down off that cross we could use the wood..."

Checkrath
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Checkrath » Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:09 am

Thanks, love the in-depth great feedback :)

The intension was to keep the mix and arrangement very raw & honest to keep to the theme of the lyrics. But agree, @jadmorffier, I have taken this too far. As the vocals are very dry, the guitar can certainly do with more treatment. This will also push them further back which will work nicely.

@sodium agree. Due to the lack of tonal change, the 2nd verse is probably the weakest part of the song. This was the hardest part of mixing this particular song as I usually remove elements to add interest in the 2nd verse. With only a single guitar track and single vocal, options were limited without introducing other parts.

@phil999, do you mind elaborating on "not the right intonation". Not sure what you mean...

Thanks again :D

Jus
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Jus » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:52 am

Real nice job there
Lovely mixed (well sounds great through my headphones )
I'm far from an expert not really got a clue but it is a nice job from what I'm hearing this end 8)

How'd you mix this , using monitors ,headphones , or both just asking any info very helpful and appreciated :P

I actually really like the dry vocals. Each to there own I guess

Checkrath
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Checkrath » Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:28 pm

Thanks for the great feedback @Jus :D

With mixing, I rely on my monitors 90% of the time. I occasionally use the headphones to check the stereo balance and just get another perspective. I keep the volume on the monitors quite low most if the time.

I bought my first monitors under a year ago and everything I mixed before then just sounds like crap. Didn't realize how important monitors were till I started using them.

Bob Amser
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Bob Amser » Mon Mar 31, 2014 11:06 am

I thought that was great.

Some range of opinion here, but all about style. I think you nailed what you wanted to nail - a sort of dark, brooding, cinematic feel. You could do something very different with the song, but then it would be a different sort of a song.

By all means tweak, but my personal vote is for you to leave it with the same sort of style. It builds as it goes along so I think the dynamic of the song is fine. (Although I may be saying that because I did a similar thing with one of mine recently!)

That said, there are some good suggestions above and you could always try some of them and ditch them if they don't work. I remember trying that with a song - I had a vocal and nothing else, so built a song around that. I had this great idea for an odd strings part and spent ages doing it all and... it sounded awful. Trial and error is a great recording technique :lol:

I went to bed singing the hook after listening to this song - always a good sign. :D

BTW - can you do a summary of what you did with the main vocal in terms of processing? I thought it sounded good.
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Checkrath
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Checkrath » Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:35 pm

Thanks @BobAmser :)

As for the vocal processing, there really wasn't much so will be easy to break down:
  • - vocal was recorded on an AKG perception condenser into my Focusrite 18i8 into Auria
    - I used the channel strip compressor with a 2:1 ratio. Attack and release down the middle
    - I used the PSP microwarmer with about a -8 drive. Love what this effect does to warm up vocals.
    - almost all my main tracks get the pro-q equalizer and this was no different. Plenty cut on frequencies below 800. 6db boost at 2.5khz and 7.5khz
    - other tracks, especially guitars were cut > 3db at 2.5 and 7.5 to get out of the way of the vocals
    - I had a 200ms stereo delay and Convolution ambience on the aux send. The ambience was very, very subtle to just glue the vox with the guitar. The vox delay send was very low in the verse and boosted quite a bit in chorus to widen it up
That about sums it up... Hope that helps

Bob Amser
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Bob Amser » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:29 pm

Helps loads, thanks. More knowledge, more power!!!

Thanks.
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rkmonkey
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by rkmonkey » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:28 am

Excellent. Great song and vibe. I get it.

Checkrath
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by Checkrath » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:18 pm

Thanks @rkmonkey. Your comment made me chuckle :D

pmsanders3
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Re: Dark acoustic

Post by pmsanders3 » Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:37 pm

Well done, listened on the speaker of the ipad, and sounds good, usually a good sign. Can't wait to hear it thru hphones.

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