My band's new song Arisen - MTS in here!

[Corium_AZ]

New song from my band Corium. Just finished up final (well, final for now, lol) mix/master. I am the lead singer and play rhythm guitars. Given that, all of the dirty rhythm guitars are mine. On the choruses and during the solo, the rhythm guitar on the right is my JF Blackout (modded Erect), left is my Salvo 50R, using my LP Classic w/an A8 Duncan Custom (bridge) pup. During the 2nd verse, the dirty rhythm is the Blackout using my Tele Deluxe w/WRHB pup. The arpeggiated clean parts on the bridge is my JF Vybe Deluxe, also using my Tele, but on the neck WRHB - delay/verb FX are using my VOX Tonelab. All are using my RM100 loaded w/2x=C= EL34's & 2xMesa 6L6's.

http://www.reverbnation.com/corium/song/22114891-arisen-new

Let me know what y'all think. And those with a keen ear, pls provide contructive criticizm on the recording itself (levels/timing/etc), as we still have a few edits to do before it hits iTunes/local radio. Curious if unbiased ears hear the same things I do... PM if you prefer.

All lead guitars are my lead guitarist using his fantastic HSS Strat (a '60 RI w/Erik Johnson maple neck I believe, and a Duncan JB in the bridge), cleans are through his vintage '66 Bassman, and dirty parts/solo through his RI Marshall 1959 Plexi, all with various FX out front.

This was actually the result of a free recording that we won at a local battle of the bands kinda deal. The studio we got the free recording at royally f'ed up everything but the drums. So, we took the masters to our 'normal' producer/engineer (Larry Elyea @ Mind's Eye here in PHX - he's awesome btw) and he fixed what he could. He managed to salvage the drums, bass and most of the lead guitar parts. Had to re-record all vocals and rhythm guitars. I did the vocals in his studio, but did not have the free time to redo guitars at his studio. So, those were recorded at home, on my 'silent rig' - guitar -> ToneLab -> RM100 -> THD Hotplate -> Direct Out to interface -> Reaper -> Poulin LeCab -> Redwirez cab sim IR's. And, I just sent Larry the raw .wav files... Turned out pretty **** good IMO. Prolly been a bit better recorded through my 'real' cab, but for the time & $ saved - turned out just fine...

 

[JKD]

Can't really listen @ volume right now, missis is not well...downloaded it for later enjoyment! \m/

 

[amesav]

Blackout sounds awesome definatley my next mod Ya band sounds awesome too well done

 

[suphuckers]

Great stuff!

Since you asked (...otherwise I would have just left it at the statement above)

The 1st couple of things I hear (...and I need to listen again but...) the clean guitar in the beginning has quite a bit of buzz... (D`Adarrio strings?) Then when the rest comes in, it seems kind of out of balance to me (The 1st guitar and vocals are quite a bit above the rest of the mix). Later in the song it's better, but... I'd need to listen a lot more to give more/better input. At 1st I thought the vocals and lead guitar needed to come down, but after my 7th listen... I think the rest needs to come up.

I'm listening on a sound bar on my computer, which isn't bad, but it's no where near studio monitor quality.

Hope that helped.

It's certainly better than anything I've done in the last 6 months. Also I probably have no idea what I'm talking about

...and on a side note, the woman says "I don't hear a thing wrong with it"

 

[suphuckers]

yeah Bruce, after 25 listens.... (just my opinion but..) that Bass especially really needs to come up, and the two guitars need balanced better. When I pan my speakers it's hard to pinpoint, but when I sit back and listen I keep hearing it out of balance. Maybe my head is out of balance lmao. If I get a minute later I'll open it up back there where the monitors are, and see what it sounds like through some real speakers.

I'm trying to help, hopefully it's seen as that.

One day I'll finally get back to recording something, and you can pick my **** apart. Which it probably wont be hard to pick to pieces lmao

Edit: After I posted this I went back and listened to it again, and this time I panned the entire mix. Either my right ear is clogged, or the master needs to be panned a few cents to the right. (Or left in case my speakers or my head are upside down ) I think that will take care of a lot of the out of balance that I am hearing. Maybe someone was sitting closer to the right speaker? ...but I still think the bass needs to come up and the vocals and lead guitar are too much above the rest of the mix. I won't say anymore. You have my number Bruce if you want to hear any more of my input.

Good stuff! I'm jealous!

 

[Corium_AZ]

All good man, thanks for the feedback! I'll see if I can hear the same balance issue (I've not heard this). I am in agreeance on levels - especially the lead guitars on the choruses & the solo... Definitely see it as trying to help, so no worries.

Glad y'all like it.

yeah Bruce, after 25 listens.... (just my opinion but..) that Bass especially really needs to come up, and the two guitars need balanced better. When I pan my speakers it's hard to pinpoint, but when I sit back and listen I keep hearing it out of balance. Maybe my head is out of balance lmao. If I get a minute later I'll open it up back there where the monitors are, and see what it sounds like through some real speakers.

I'm trying to help, hopefully it's seen as that.

One day I'll finally get back to recording something, and you can pick my s*&t apart. Which it probably wont be hard to pick to pieces lmao

Edit: After I posted this I went back and listened to it again, and this time I panned the entire mix. Either my right ear is clogged, or the master needs to be panned a few cents to the right. (Or left in case my speakers or my head are upside down ) I think that will take care of a lot of the out of balance that I am hearing. Maybe someone was sitting closer to the right speaker? ...but I still think the bass needs to come up and the vocals and lead guitar are too much above the rest of the mix. I won't say anymore. You have my number Bruce if you want to hear any more of my input.

Good stuff! I'm jealous!

 

[MarcoR]

Really good man! The vocals were excellent! Overall, I thought the mix was pretty darn good and couldn?t find much to critique. If I were to be critical, maybe the clean picking and the single note melody line were a bit too out front and I wanted the solo to be wetter and have a little more stereo separation. Great work!

 

[chas_w]

I think the mix needs to be louder. Man that mix is really squashed for loudness.

It does sound great though. I'm hearing the opposite of suphuckers. If anything the right channel guitars should come down a hair. I think the bass is fine and it really is filling out the bottom. There would zero bottom is that bass track was muted. If the bass player is happy with it then it must be fine.

You have a great voice for that style of music. Probably for any type.

Just move onto the next thing. Tweaking mixes can drive you insane. Post up the same exact mix (file) in few days and tell us all the stuff you changed (but didn't) and I'm sure we'll hear it differently. :lol:

-Charlie

 

[suphuckers]

Well here's what I hear Charles, Let's see if one of our speakers are backwards lol

I hear that clean guitar predominately in my left speaker in the beginning, then when the rest comes in... there's nothing in the right speaker to balance against it. So I hear more sound in my left speaker overall. There's more to it than that but... I'm curious about the opposite comment

You hear it different?

...and yeah don't let it drive you crazy Bruce. One life, only so much time

 

[chas_w]

Exactly what you said except it is all predominate in the right speaker (ear). The vocals come in dead center.

We are both north of the equator so our left/right should be the same.

I just checked and can confirm my monitors are cabled correctly. As a test I sat facing away from my monitors. Interesting results with that. It was more predominant left ear (expected) however not as much and sounded more centered.

 

[suphuckers]

Yeah you must have a wire crossed. My stuff's all USB and I couldn't reverse it if I wanted to

...but who knows
Stranger things have def happened
Anyways we hear the same thing
That's the important part

 

[chas_w]

So guess the mix is balanced. You hear it heavy left I hear it heavy right.

Sometimes in software there is a setting for swap left/right regarding the channels.

 

[suphuckers]

Ehhhh
No.... LoL
I think we are hearing the same thing. Just that our speaker cfg's are reversed from each other.

Who's is backwards really doesn't even matter

 

[Jaymzrock]

Hahahaha this is too good!

Anyway, sounds great! I'd say bring up everything under the vocals as long as you aren't gonna clip out, in which case just bring the vox down a hair and remaster.

Your vocals sound killer and the guitars are bellissima! I regret selling that my Blackout even more now! Hahaha you make her shine, brotha! Never fear, I'm ordering a new one from Rob at my very next convenience! I'm actually quite relieved he kept all of the notes and tweaks to the final product. Again, sounds awesome! Keep it up.

 

[Corium_AZ]

Thanks everyone, both for the compliments & the critiques. I'll take all critiques into consideration, as well as my own. Don't worry, we won't be tweaking forever, that costs $, lol. We'll likely do one last round of tweaks & be done with it. I'll post here when all finished.

Again, thanks, and for anyone who hasn't listened, or commented, please do so!

 

[Mattfig]

I think it sounds good. I enjoyed the tone and your voice. I would recommend revisiting the panning as suggested above but otherwise it's cool....Nice job!

 

[Corium_AZ]

I think it sounds good. I enjoyed the tone and your voice. I would recommend revisiting the panning as suggested above but otherwise it's cool....Nice job!

Thanks Matt!

 

[warlok]

I'm no critic.. I just liked it. Nice job man!

 

[Corium_AZ]

I'm no critic.. I just liked it. Nice job man!

Thank you sir!

 

[Mattfig]

Thanks everyone, both for the compliments & the critiques. I'll take all critiques into consideration, as well as my own. Don't worry, we won't be tweaking forever, that costs $, lol. We'll likely do one last round of tweaks & be done with it. I'll post here when all finished.

Again, thanks, and for anyone who hasn't listened, or commented, please do so!

Sounds nice and full.....Good songwriting and performance!