[domstone86]

So I'm not so sure about this track. I was pretty pleased with it at first, but I think the amount of time I'd spent mixing it has lead to a bit of resentment!

The mix in my opinion is questionable, so it's obviously a work in progress, and the vocals will eventually be done with a proper microphone.

But yea, comments and critisism welcome

http://soundcloud.com/domstone86/3-years-today-1

[Songsmith]

Hi Dom,

another nice track, good arrangement, good composition with nice instrumentation & sounds.
It would have been nice if you could have put the lyrics up to so that I could read & listen at the same time. It was difficult to hear what the words were as they were getting a bit lost in the track, maybe a bit too much effect on the vocal was making it sound a bit lost just in some places. Nice job though, keep it up

[Schavuitje]

This is really goof Dom. Probably one of my favourites of the ones you have shared

Your vocals sound really good and the tone of your voice is very listenable which is why I agree

that they deserve a higher place in the mix.

I personally don't think the mix (apart from vocals ) is far from what it should be. I think you have done a good job so far there too.

I didn't particularly like the tone of the lead guitar, I thought it stuck out a bit and could have been a bit rougher and not so sweet.

Good song mate. Good work   

[estreet]

Hi Dom,

Sounds really interesting. Sounds like there are a wealth of good ideas, arrangement and harmony in there - but this is one case I felt the recording was getting in the way of the song a bit and making it harder to judge. Certainly, the headphone mic is definitely failing you here as I can't hear the words much. I also thought it was over-cooked on the mastering compression (the waveform is a bit of a house-brick) and I tend to shut my ears a bit to that
everything-louder-than-everything-else type of sound - I would much prefer to hear some dynamics in it as I think the actual song would reveal itself more.

[pmarino]

Same impression as estreet. Clearly potential in the song, but vocals are getting lost in the mix. I enjoyed the piano break at 2:40.

[Ramshackles]

Hmmm I see you dropped the piano from the very start....perhaps I shouldnt be listening to this yet!!

The backing track is great, you know that, but Im not sure the melody of the voice compliments it well, at least not until the chorus. But it could be made to work with some nudging around. Perhaps when you get your mic!
So far I think it works better as an instrumental 

[cheff daniel]

i agree with ramshacles about the instrumental feeling in this one. words and music don't match sometimes wich makes it a little hard to listen. i would like to hear this stripped down. because i think you have a good song here.



gr.   Dan

[domstone86]

Thanks guys, I've removed the vocals now because I think I agree. Not sure what would constitute a correct melody though!

I also raised the piano by 1.5dB

It'll probably be up to a month before I get this mic, and if it's coming from abroad, who knows how long it'll take to ship!

[James Nighthawk]

I have only had a chance to listen to the instrumental. Which is very pleasant. Balanced, well thought out with nice compositional motifs/ideas.

The mastering/levelling sounds fine to me on the instru' mix! Have you edited it since the vocal mix? Or perhaps the presence of a badly recorded vocal was causing the compressors to act up; They do not like spikey/problematic sounds.

I'll repost when the vocals are redone

[James Nighthawk]

also

@estreet (and others of course)

I have only recently started looking into soundcloud, and something intrigues me:

You mention the "house brick" look of the wav file in this thread. I think soundcloud is misleading, but I am not sure.... The wave presented for songs on the player seems to always be normalised in soundcloud, visually at least. I have heard some very loud and very quiet recordings on there.

Studio mastered stuff along-side quiet, home recordings with no compression, can often look very similar.

This is an odd thing, but yet another reason to listen with one's ears, not eyes, especially in this day of home recording/mastering and online file servers.

(NB-- I am NOT suggesting you were doing that estreet, hence the use of the impersonal pronoun  )

[Kafla]

What can you say Dom - you have a fantastic control of arrangements , instrumentation - seriously first class mate.

I have said before that because your arrangements are so elaborate you leave very little room for a melody.

Seriously mate write the melody bare at the formative stage on guitar and piano then build one of your wonderful arrangements - if you can do that you wont be hanging about this forum much longer

[Dutchbeat]

Hi Dom,

great arrangment, you really do that  so well! people are talking about lyrics in the posts....there must be something wrong with my ears, or they were so soft, i didn'thear them


but lovely music, perfect, and i think the song can use vocals and the arrangment is not too full to have confident vocals blending together with this

[domstone86]

Thanks again

Dutchbeat: That's because I took the vocal part out! It seemed to be hiding the mix, so I'm going to wait till I have a fair enough mic to hold the parts. I'll put the lyrics in the description when I get back home, I'm at college at the moment. Thank you, I guess the vocals have a lot to live up to!

Kafla: Thanks Do you mean melody as in a vocal melody? Would you be able to show me an example as to what you mean, as I'm not too good at deducing such ideas from words! My latest track "Fly Away" was created in such a way that it would have worked with just the piano, (And I tried to make the bass as natural as possible as you can get from soft synths). And I'd like to think that what you say is true, but I'll give it a few decades! However don't worry, I'm sure I'll be sticking around regardless of what happens!