kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/01 01:32:37
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Lynn
Kevin, you have some good suggestions for the mix, so I won't go there. As for the bass drum click, if you have the Anderton collection of fx chains, then he put in a great tool for the bass drum; it's the Kickmaster which can be found in your browser under FX Chain>Anderton collection>Drums>KickMaster. It works wonders.
As for the song, I love it! It reminds me of the British invasion. Btw, I see you live near the Buffalo River, which is my favorite river in the Ozarks. I've spent several nights in Rogers over the years, and I always stop at the breakfast bar at Shoney's on my way out of town. Perhaps we'll run into each other someday ;)
Thanks, Lynn, good of you to lend your ear. It's nice to know I'm hitting the genre I was aiming for! I think I've got a handle on the kick but I've not played with KickMaster. I'm going to have to mess with it some. I'll be posting an updated mix pretty soon so I hope you'll give it a listen then. I have some bad news if you're talking about the Shoneys on 71B in Springdale next to US412. It's no longer a Shoney's, it's a FlapJacks, locally owned. On the plus side it's still pretty good and the breakfast buffet is still in operation, but it closes at 2pm now, so you need to hit it before then. Submit Post
post edited by kevinwal - 2016/04/01 02:10:00
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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Makke
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/04 06:49:21
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Nice song. I liked the arrangement and instrumentation. Good vocals and backing vocals.
My english is not very good. So please, forgive me for my short posts. BullHill Sounds Sonar / Roland Quad-Capture interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/04 16:47:03
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Thanks for listening, Makke!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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String Jammer
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/04 21:18:15
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Great tune. I see some EQ and mix efforts to come so I won't make any mix comments Nice performances all around!
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/05 17:40:49
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Yes, I'm working on many of the changes suggested here, I hope to have an update pretty soon. Thanks for listening and commenting, I appreciate your time!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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bapu
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/05 20:34:21
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☄ Helpfulby kevinwal 2016/04/06 13:21:46
I like the song. Not sure what I could offer specifically as I'm only listening on med quality buds. The wah-wah BGVs may be a bit too upfront to the point of def sounding auto-dyned  All the instruments sound good esp that bass.
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ABull
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/05 22:30:46
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I didn't read other comments...
From the opening chords I expected "Can't Explain" but that was just a bit. This is a very good recording of the song. It's well recorded and there are some very creative parts to the song. I do think that the main vocal could be up in volume a bit -- I really had a hard time hearing the lyric. I think the bridge brings down the overall feel of the song energy-wise. The arrangement is a bit too busy in places -- it could be edited and tightened. You've got some good stuff here to work with. !!
Allan
===
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Bert Guy
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/05 23:19:11
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Kevin,
I have pretty idiosyncratic taste, so you should take anything I say with a grain of salt.
I like this song and recording- its bouncy and catchy. I can't place it (which is good), but it has 60's/British invasion elements and some 70's elements as well-Boston GTR riffs and Yes/Kansas style keyboard parts?
I do agree @ the bass pedal. I prefer a bass drum that is more felt than heard, where it merges with the bassGTR tone on the downbeat. I know a lot of songs are recorded with an always audible bass drum, but I usually find that distracting. It may be that all you have to do is use a lower pitched bass drum sample and cut the volume. For that matter, maybe the whole drum kit is too high-pitched; a lower pitched snare (and toms) at lower volume might better support and highlight what I think is the best part of the arrangement- the GTR and keyboard interplay.
But overall, this is original & creative stuff, here. Pretty damn good as it is.
Cheers,
Bert
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Rikkie
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 03:32:05
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Hi Kevin, nice tune, sounds like you had fun making this.
Rik
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emeraldsoul
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 12:30:14
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Your vocal work has paid off. Nice ear candy sprinkles. I like how your main lyric lines continue across the end of the chord sequences (if that makes sense) - nice writing trick, very unexpected.
Mix-wise I'd also beef up the kick and maybe the bass a little. Lead guitars are shining.
cheers,
-Tom
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 13:09:12
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bapu
I like the song. Not sure what I could offer specifically as I'm only listening on med quality buds.
The wah-wah BGVs may be a bit too upfront to the point of def sounding auto-dyned
All the instruments sound good esp that bass.
Yeah, definitely don't want my slip showing, but since my really, really high harmony singer, Ms. Dyne works cheap, I guess I'll have to do something about that.  Those P-Basses rock, yeah? I appreciate you popping in on this one!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 13:12:56
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ABull
I didn't read other comments...
From the opening chords I expected "Can't Explain" but that was just a bit. This is a very good recording of the song. It's well recorded and there are some very creative parts to the song. I do think that the main vocal could be up in volume a bit -- I really had a hard time hearing the lyric. I think the bridge brings down the overall feel of the song energy-wise. The arrangement is a bit too busy in places -- it could be edited and tightened. You've got some good stuff here to work with. !!
Allan
===
lol, that never occurred to me. But sure enough, there it is. Maybe I'll change to end to fade out with "Can't Explain". Thanks for the feedback, particularly on the tune's weak points, it was my hope that the busy bits would work if I played well enough, but I didn't and so yeah, there's some slop that hurts the tune. I'm trying to tighten things up before I toss some of the arrangement. I appreciate you giving the song some of your time!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 13:16:05
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Bert Guy
Kevin,
I have pretty idiosyncratic taste, so you should take anything I say with a grain of salt.
I like this song and recording- its bouncy and catchy. I can't place it (which is good), but it has 60's/British invasion elements and some 70's elements as well-Boston GTR riffs and Yes/Kansas style keyboard parts?
Nailed it, that's my time, my life soundtrack right there. Bert Guy
I do agree @ the bass pedal. I prefer a bass drum that is more felt than heard, where it merges with the bassGTR tone on the downbeat. I know a lot of songs are recorded with an always audible bass drum, but I usually find that distracting. It may be that all you have to do is use a lower pitched bass drum sample and cut the volume. For that matter, maybe the whole drum kit is too high-pitched; a lower pitched snare (and toms) at lower volume might better support and highlight what I think is the best part of the arrangement- the GTR and keyboard interplay.
But overall, this is original & creative stuff, here. Pretty damn good as it is.
Cheers,
Bert
Thanks for your feedback, Bert. I'm working on the kick feedback now, trying lots of different stuff with it and thanks for the idea about lowering the pitch of the entire kit, cool idea! I really appreciate you giving the tune a listen!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 13:20:04
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Rikkie
Hi Kevin, nice tune, sounds like you had fun making this.
Rik
Rik, yeah, I did. It was almost equal parts pain and pleasure with pleasure getting the final nod only very recently. It's only been in the last few months or so that I've worked up the chutzpah to try something like this and though it's not quite what I really wanted, it's close enough that the tweaking is pretty cool. Thanks a lot for giving some of your time!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/06 13:22:45
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emeraldsoul
Your vocal work has paid off. Nice ear candy sprinkles. I like how your main lyric lines continue across the end of the chord sequences (if that makes sense) - nice writing trick, very unexpected.
Mix-wise I'd also beef up the kick and maybe the bass a little. Lead guitars are shining.
cheers,
-Tom
It didn't feel like a trick when I was doing it, it felt more like a spectacularly stupid idea for the longest time. lol. Thanks, Tom, I appreciate your feedback and, well, your appreciation.
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/08 20:24:41
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Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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dcumpian
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/09 08:17:17
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Kevin,
All I can say is, it's a completely different song now. Much more cohesive. Thumbs up!
The real question is, do you like the changes?
Regards,
Dan
Mixing is all about control. My music: http://dancumpian.bandcamp.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/dcumpian Studiocat Advanced Studio DAW (Intel i5 3550 @ 3.7GHz, Z77 motherboard, 16GB Ram, lots of HDDs), Sonar Plat, Mackie 1604, PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL, ESI 4x4 Midi Interface, Ibanez Bass, Custom Fender Mexi-Strat, NI S88, Roland JV-2080 & MDB-1, Komplete, Omnisphere, Lots o' plugins.
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/09 10:13:29
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dcumpian
Kevin,
All I can say is, it's a completely different song now. Much more cohesive. Thumbs up!
The real question is, do you like the changes?
Regards,
Dan
Thanks, Dan, yeah I do like this mix a lot better than my first shot at it. I took about a week off from this one, and when I came back to it I went back to the basics and it came out much better. I also re-did quite a few of the instrument parts to tighten some sloppiness up which helped pull things together quite a lot. But I still don't trust my ears when it comes to finding a good balance between enough compression to help things hang together and preserving the dynamics of the instruments. I appreciate your critiques a great deal, thanks!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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tcolton5
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/09 16:21:18
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Yeah... I like the vocals as well. (just my 2 cents) I would add an acoustic guitar to smooth the rhythm a bit. Reminds me of Emerson Lake & Palmer in parts.
TomC Lenovo T530 (Laptop) Windows 8 (64 bit) Intel(R) Core (TM) I7-3430(M) 2.90 GHz Sonar Platinum Presonus Firestudio, Faderport Universal Solo/610 Audio Pre-amp Nektar Impact LX 40 http://www.tomcoltonmusic.com
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/10 22:49:25
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tcolton5
Yeah... I like the vocals as well. (just my 2 cents) I would add an acoustic guitar to smooth the rhythm a bit. Reminds me of Emerson Lake & Palmer in parts.
Thanks for chiming in, Tom. There's two acoustic parts in there already, lol. I recorded two parts with a Martin D16 using an in-hole pickup rather than a mic. That tends to kill the "acoustic-ness" of that guitar but I don't have a set up for recording an acoustic with a mic right now. Do you have any particular part of the tune in mind that needs softening, or is it just a general thing? Thanks!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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Leizer
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/12 16:05:50
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Listened to the newest recording. Great mix! Love the vocals.
Dell i7-2600 3,40 Ghz, 16Gb RAM // SX1 drive: 240 Gb SSD // Windows 7 64 Bit // SONAR Platinum 64 bit // Focusrite Saffire 6 USB // KORG D888 Mixer // Roland JV-2080 MIDI synth // Guitars, basses, violins etc. https://soundcloud.com/lasse-williamsson
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/12 23:18:54
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Thanks for listening, I appreciate your comments!
Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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Zargg
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/13 05:29:14
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Hi. I liked this very much. Loved the keyboard in the sequences that swept from side to side. Good recording and I think your voice has a warm and personal feel to it.
All the best.
Ken Nilsen ZarggBBZWin 10 Pro X64, Cakewalk by Bandlab, SPlat X64, AMD AM3+ fx-8320, 16Gb RAM, RME Ucx (+ ARC), Tascam FW 1884, M-Audio Keystation 61es, *AKAI MPK Pro 25, *Softube Console1, Alesis DM6 USB, Maschine MkII Laptop setup: Win 10 X64, i5 2.4ghz, 8gb RAM, 320gb 7200 RPM HD, Focusrite Solo, + *
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kevinwal
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Re: New Song - "See Me" - My ambition is killing me.
2016/04/13 11:31:43
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Kevin Walsh My latest tunes are at Reverbnation, please give a listen! EVGA X58 Classified III, 24GB Kingston RAM, i7/970 6 core256GB SSD, 2TB HDWindows 10 Build 10586, Sonar Platinum, 2016.03MOTU 8Pre Interface
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