[andy5544]

I've never done a surfing / life song ,so here's my offering.
It's supposed to be relaxing  This is the first mix attempt at this one , my friend said it sounds harsh , i'm not really hearing that , maybe it's his sound system ?
anyway your comments will be appreciated .
thanks in advance for listening 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30178688/Ride%20That%20Wave%20-%20full%20mix%20T.mp3

[estreet]

Hi Andy,

I leapt on this when I saw it because I am a Surf music nut and even have a Surf band that I haven't exposed here yet.
I'm unsure of your intentions - it doesn't sound like surf music - but I'm guessing that you are trying to make a musical nod to that genre due to the subject matter.

If you did want to make the guitar more surf then I have some advice  ... more reverb. There's no such thing as too much reverb on the guitar in surf music.
Also the lead guitar tuning is suspect and it would sound a lot more 'surfy' if you stuck to slides instead of the bends which aren't used in surf guitar much and do also sound a little iffy here. The raked guitar in the background would sound good with tremolo to make it shimmer. Anyhow, maybe you don't want it to sound more surfy but I think that even if the rest of it isn't surf music making the guitar more so would work well.

The vocals sound like you are singing very quietly near the mic and as such don't cut through the mix. You could turn them up but I think it would be better to sing it out a bit more thereby increasing the penetration of your voice. The mix doesn't sound at all harsh to me.
I think you could make this into a really good track with a bit more work - it does have a hypnotic vibe to it.

[cheff daniel]

nothing harsh here. vocals are very low in the mix. a song with a nice flow but too little variation. guitar sound is very nice but some of the bends are completetly off, and thats a pity. i think you need to make some chord and melody changes to make this more interresting.


gr.   Dan

[andy5544]

thanks for replies chaps , there are a couple of clams in the clean guitar bits which is being sorted very soon , and i will turn up the vocals as suggested on the next mix , this is exactly why i put this on here , thanks guys nice to have other ears on the job.

[Songsmith]

Hi Andy,

I wouldn't class this as a surf song, it sounds more like a Doors song to me. I would agree with Dan about the vocal & estreet on the guitarif you want to make it more surfy.
I like the song as it is & I wouldn't attempt to put a 'label' on it, let it run its own course after remixing it.

[andy5544]

Hi Andy,

I wouldn't class this as a surf song, it sounds more like a Doors song to me. I would agree with Dan about the vocal & estreet on the guitarif you want to make it more surfy.
I like the song as it is & I wouldn't attempt to put a 'label' on it, let it run its own course after remixing it.

Thanks for the comment, I suppose the title is misleading,
Not intentional , it,s a song about surfing with as the first poster said , just a nod in that direction , thanks for listening.

[James Nighthawk]

Promising. I agree with the "Doors" reference. With a careful balance of the right effects (wah, flange etc) this could be fantastic psychedelia with a nice poppy edge. 

As for harshness (yes.....I am going to say this again) re-record the acoustic with a mic or two. DI electro acoustic guitars always sound harsh and naff.

On the plus side again, the groove really take you, even after the verse chorus loop has gone round a few times 

[andy5544]

Promising. I agree with the "Doors" reference. With a careful balance of the right effects (wah, flange etc) this could be fantastic psychedelia with a nice poppy edge. 

As for harshness (yes.....I am going to say this again) re-record the acoustic with a mic or two. DI electro acoustic guitars always sound harsh and naff.

On the plus side again, the groove really take you, even after the verse chorus loop has gone round a few times 

thanks for the comment James, i'm not really sure of how one would apply the flange and wah , do you mean during the mixing ?
do you do collaborations ? if so would you be interested in taking this on as a mixing project ?
thanks again ,
andy

[James Nighthawk]

Flange and wah can be added either during the tracking phase, or as after effects. Although autowah can sound a little stilted. Nowt beats a wah pedal, but equally, this had to be used well!

Yes I do collaborations and produce for other artists. That would be what I do for a living! 

As such, I am here for the discussions, song writing critiques, song sharing and the community - not on-line collaborations. If you are after a producer in real life (based just north of london) you can message me directly for info. I don't want to advertise on the open forum, would feel rude. 

[Ramshackles]

Well, I saw 'surf' and thought beach boys...then it started and I thought, 'ok, youve gone for the jack johnson school of surf songs ' but not really....

I agree with people - the vocal is not clear at all, makes it near impossible to pick out the tune. Overall, the mix is very washy and hard pick out much....some weird reverb effects?

I didnt pick up much or any bass guitar?

From what I can pick out though; The groove is really nice, and some of the melody parts are pretty catchy; 'ride baby wont you ride baby' (i think thats what you are singing!)

Agree with James about recording the acoustic with a mic if possible. If not, I would pan it away from the centre in the mix to give more space to your vocal.
Dont agree about using wah or flange effects though I think they are tired, tried and tested. Clean guitars are more surf-pop anyho....perhaps some combination of subtle flanges/wahs/other effects. Personally I think the feel of the song seems original enough and clean guitrs/lightly overdriven like you have would suit it better.

Seems promising, doors-y, with some nice melodic/chord changes. It's just the mix/recording is really getting in the way of picking out the main parts. It's one of these occasions where I cant help but commenting on the recording stuff as it is kind of getting in the way of the songwriting. If you mix it again, start from the ground up. Set all your levels and panning first and just try to get something clear/coherent with only that before looking at effects, reverb etc.

listening again, I like the structure of the song, but another vocal/melodic part than the main 2, or a change in chord structure at around 2 mins could be good as that is when it starts to get a little repetitive...