The Renegade

Here's a new song from my upcoming album "Tornado". This song was based on a couple of chapters from the book "A Game Of Thrones". When Arya escapes Harrenhal and intends to flee back to Winterfell.
 
This song I've had for a while. It was recorded on my Roland VS2400 just before I made the conversion to a PC and Sonar. After making (and learning from) a few mistakes the stereo track is all I had to work with, so no Melodyne on this one I'm afraid. It's not perfect in anyway, but there was something about it that I liked and I didn't want to lose whatever that was...so here it is, warts and all. Once again I ran this through Harrison Mixbus and used the EQs and tape sims, then back to Sonar for a little Pro-Q and Limiter No.6.
https://soundcloud.com/clintmartin/the-renegade-wav
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnOY6oXDPZ0

Oh yeah, great slippery riffs Clint! Love your playing on this.

I am probably considered a heathen as I have neither read the books nor watched any of the "Game of Thrones" thing.
 
Sounds OK here considering its origins .

Wookiee
I am probably considered a heathen as I have neither read the books nor watched any of the "Game of Thrones" thing.
 
Sounds OK here considering its origins .

I have never seen the show...I prefer books and HBO has a way of making a good story sleazy. I'll pass on the show, but I do recommend the books...thanks for listening!

Thanks. I would let Tommy Shaw do it for sure! ...The vocals are a bit weak, but I can't fix anything now. I would have to re-record the whole thing, and to be honest...I have too many other songs I need to do. Thanks for listening and giving your opinions...It helps validate the flaws that I'm hearing as well.

Clint,
 
Excellent guitar work, as usual, and I love the vocals during the chorus. This is really great work.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

That's is a really top tune. The vocals and melody are the star. A few things that popped out to my ears are the guitar, it seems missing some EQ, I don't know what frequency, but to me it's a bit flat sounding, needs a bit more sparkle on it. Top playing and riffs btw. Also what is really missing is some highs and lows in dynamics, the choruses should soar higher than the verses, so add more guitars or some, give us some lifts. Cool work though.

love the bite of the guitar....cool tune! I think I've pull the lead vox up a bit she sits too far back for me...same goes with bvox...
 
great job!

Yeah, I need to get into it and get better at that. Like I said I can't fix this one (I don't have the tracks anymore), but I have called a couple of drummer friends and they have agreed to come over and help me with a few of my newer songs. Need a drummer? Call a drummer. Strange concept huh?

Drums are the hardest thing for me. They take the longest? Now I don't condemn anyone for using loops, I don't use them personally, but many do to great success. I play them with two fingers at a time and my drum toys, then edit them, time and velocity, bus, compress, excite, distort, limit, etc... Average for me is 2 weeks to do a drum track :-( And the bad news is? Sometimes, they're still not good. But I'm getting better at it ;-) 
 
I can't say enough about the technique of taking in a similar cover, whatever you like? Put it on track 1. Then use channel tools and "narrow width" listen to the middle (we know what lives there) 
 
Then, kill center and listen to the sides? Pan Left, Pan Right. You'll be surprised to learn how some of your favorite music is mixed. Finally, take these same techniques and apply EQ, using sharp bell curves. You can hear how specific components are EQ'ed, and where they appear in the mix, and where their FX appear in the mix. Using this knowledge (from your own ears, on songs you are trying to either cover, or that are in the genera? you can really learn a lot) And you can A/B your mix, vs. the techniques described above and make some pretty dramatic improvements on what you're doing vs. what you really like/are trying to emulate. It's all been done? And we're trying to do something similar, or at least mix wise as good. I say, stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. This comes in particularly handy in the following areas;
 
1. Instrument placement (pan), compression, and importantly "EQ"
 
2. Overall Busing, MB Compression, EQ, and limiting. 
 
i.e., I use multiple tracks for different drums and may have a Snare bus, a Tom bus, an OH/Room/Ambient bus, a kick bus (w/multiple kicks, parallel compression, etc, snare as well, i.e., same technique) and send all to a drum master bus, then to the mains. Where "things" are done at each step?" And the use of an Instrument master and a Vocal master, where both are sent to the mains? And then things are done on the mains with for example Ozone, to glue it all together. 
 
Then there's all of the automation, etc... If you can get it right and recreate it? :-) Then you're in like flint! What is key IMO are the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs. Take it in, break it out, and stare and compare. Between what you're doing, and what you like. Then adjust yours until it sounds more like there's. 
 
Of course, all of this will add days, and maybe weeks to your process? But give it a try at least once. 
 
H-

Clint,

This just goes to prove that there is still some really good music being written out there, inspire of what the industry try's to shove on us. Two songs in a row that I really dig. Good work brother.

MakeShift
Clint,

This just goes to prove that there is still some really good music being written out there, inspire of what the industry try's to shove on us. Two songs in a row that I really dig. Good work brother.

Thanks man! I appreciate you guys giving them a listen, and I really love the crits on the mix and levels. I still have so much to learn about engineering...(and spelling)

@Guitarhacker...Thanks! There is a 80's sound there I'll admit...showing my age perhaps! I would say you need to read those books. They are all over a thousand pages each, but they are great! Some of the best books I've ever read. I've never watched the show.