variaxman
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Please give your opinion.
Hello,In the middle of a nice snowstorm here in MIchigan,and I thought I would take advantage of being in and finish up one of my many half done song ideas  . Was hoping to get some feedback on this cause I have a hard time on the mix..especially with drums...also I think I tend to throw in to much stuff as far as percussion.My favriote band are bands like the Allman Brothers,Santana,Gov't Mule,etc. so Iguess thats what influencs me on my song ideas.Anyways the song is called Bruhaha.Give it a listen. Thanks. Gene http://www.soundclick.com/bands/1/lilpedroandtheseedpickersmusic.htm
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M
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/20 16:42:41
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Hi, variaxman!
I'm from MI originally - west side of Detroit (Westland?). Something's up at Soundclick. I keep getting:
"Windows Media Player cannot connect to the server ..."
Otherwise, I'd give it a listen!
M
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variaxman
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/20 18:26:00
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Hey M whats up?I live in Livonia which is right next Westland.Did you live here recently?Sorry you couldn,t connect...hope you try again!
See Ya
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M
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/20 23:54:46
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Okay, got it this time. The influences are obvious! More Santana-ish, to me, than Allman Bros.
Mix-wise, the guitars seemed to have too much reverb, relative to the rest of the instruments (especially with some of the percussion completely dry). And, some of the panning wasn't working for me. In particular, the conga bits (are those very thin congas or very thin timbales?) stood out as being very broadly panned, relative to the rest of the "band." And the lead guitar that enters around 1:45 or 50 is off to the right, as is the flurry of percussion that begins around 2:23. I'm not saying panning is bad - just that sometimes placement can be distracting. That's all subjective opinion, of course.
Compositionally, the form is not very evident. I've only listened two or three times now, maybe I just don't have it yet.
Yeah, Livonia! We called it Li-ZONE-ia, back when I lived there (pre-Westland). I moved to VA in Jan '99.
M
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Gray Crosby
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 00:50:04
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Had a listen. Nice flavor. Good guitar playing. I might try some more seperation on the first guitar leads....sounds like some of the leads are seperated ....some not. You have a lot of guitars flying around....so I understand the challenge of mixing it well. I also might lose the little drum intro...shorten it.....or just jump right in with the guitars.
Really nice tune....I think you nailed the Santana/Allmans influence. Thats what I hear as well.
Gray
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NC2
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 01:56:55
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Really nice. Definitely Santana-ish, but a little different too. Some of the things that i hear that may be able to improve it are:
1. wondering if the congo/bongos all panned to one side would be better, less busy a mix. There just seems to be one lonely one on the right with all the rest on the left.
2. the beginning drum intro seems empty. Perhaps a tast of guitar chords or sounds would give a little accent to the beginning.
3. I couldn't hear any delays on the percussion. Thinking that some coordinated with the track tempo may help them out.
Bear in mind that I am listening on some crappy headphones right now.
this track has some interesting possibilities.
I record & compose with my brothers. Give a LISTEN here. Studio set-up in my profile. Visit My BLOG.
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variaxman
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 12:49:42
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Just wanted to say thanks for the replies..I really appreciate the feedback.This tune was kinda challenging to mix as I kinda thru in the kitchen sink as far as percussion loops....I also just figured out how to pan idividual loops as opposed to a whole track,and I kinda went overboard with it.My goal is to try and get a nice full sound without instruments stepping on each other...and maybe I'm wrong by trying to achieve this by the placment in the stereo field of each instrument.From this I also learnd that a little pan goes a long way and it dosen't have to be sucjh a drastic,hard left,or hard right pan to achiveb effect.
Another thing I struggle with is reverb...I hate my guitar to sound "dry"when recording my tracks and usually have some 'verb,delay,or chorus on my signal from my POD.Iv'e read that alot of guitarist record there tracks "dry" and add effects afterwards in the mix...was wondering how you guys approach this.I think I tend to end up with doubled reverb cause I add some again in the mastering process.
Thanks again for the feedback...it really helps!
Gene
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variaxman
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 12:57:22
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ORIGINAL: M
Okay, got it this time. The influences are obvious! More Santana-ish, to me, than Allman Bros.
Mix-wise, the guitars seemed to have too much reverb, relative to the rest of the instruments (especially with some of the percussion completely dry). And, some of the panning wasn't working for me. In particular, the conga bits (are those very thin congas or very thin timbales?) stood out as being very broadly panned, relative to the rest of the "band." And the lead guitar that enters around 1:45 or 50 is off to the right, as is the flurry of percussion that begins around 2:23. I'm not saying panning is bad - just that sometimes placement can be distracting. That's all subjective opinion, of course.
Compositionally, the form is not very evident. I've only listened two or three times now, maybe I just don't have it yet.
Yeah, Livonia! We called it Li-ZONE-ia, back when I lived there (pre-Westland). I moved to VA in Jan '99.
M
Compositionally, the form is not very evident. I've only listened two or three times now, maybe I just don't have it yet. Hey M...did you go to school in Livonia?I'm a lifelong resident....I was curios about the "Compositionally the form is not very evident" observation.Could you explain what you mean about that?I'm really trying to improve my songwriting...kinda hard cause the band I'm in only does covers and the other guys don't have much drive to create anything original.Thanks!I apreciate your feedback,critiques very much. Gene
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ed_mcg
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 17:42:39
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Gene,
Overall, I like where you're going with this. I enjoyed the guitar work. What's not happening for me is the groove. You've got a lot of percussion, and most of it is just sitting on top. The basic trap set it solid, it's the extra bits; also some bits come and go oddly - at 2:40 a giuro comes in unexpectedly then just goes away at 2:57. The bass sounds a little thin, and rushing the beat some. If you clean these things up, this baby will be cooking.
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variaxman
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 17:50:14
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ORIGINAL: ed_mcg
Gene,
Overall, I like where you're going with this. I enjoyed the guitar work. What's not happening for me is the groove. You've got a lot of percussion, and most of it is just sitting on top. The basic trap set it solid, it's the extra bits; also some bits come and go oddly - at 2:40 a giuro comes in unexpectedly then just goes away at 2:57. The bass sounds a little thin, and rushing the beat some. If you clean these things up, this baby will be cooking.
Thanks for the listen..I totally agree..my bass playing is very primitve..never really played bass much till I started working on my own recordings,and I did kinda drift around the beat.Yeah, and that guiro I threw in during mixing and forgot to take it all the way out...left a few loops in there  Im working on revamping this one cause I think it's worth working on.Using all the great tips I get from this forum,I'll hopefully be able to improve on this.Thanks again!
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M
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/21 20:22:58
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Yes, Gene, I went to middle-school and 10th grade in Livonia. Then moved to Grand Blanc for HS. Moved elsewhere for college(s). Ended up back in the Detroit area as an adult. You can contact me outside the forum if you'd like to pursue this (there's an email address on the contact page at my site - see below).
Regarding the form: I hear the hook lines/sections that repeat here and there, but the overall form was not clearly apparent. Perhaps that's not a consideration, but I tend to like, compositionally, to have and to understand an overall form. Otherwise there's a certain meandering quality to a piece's general direction.
M
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variaxman
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RE: Please give your opinion.
2005/02/22 06:41:33
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M,I see what your saying about the "hook"...I'm into the jam band kinda thing so I guess I like a little meandering in the music,but I agree there is a fine line between improv,exploration and mindless noodeling.I tried on this bit of music to stretch a bit as alot of my other songs had seemed to be kinda "safe".I'm going to try out some of the suggestions you and others have given me and see if I can make this better.Thanks again for the advice, I appreciate your opinion.
Gene
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