"Headin' for the Weeds"

"Headin' for the Weeds"


hard rock, aggressive driving rhythm, anti war rant, written in '05, recorded in nov. 2011.

http://soundcloud.com/bat...8-headin-for-the-weeds

Great song. Very well put together. Thought the drums might come up a little.

It really kicks!  Guitars are great.  Love the break before the solo and the solo.  Vocals are super. 

Rimshot

Excellent song all the way around.  Very well performed, and consistent with your other songs.  This should be a shining light for anyone considering Sonar.

chasmcg
thanks for listening!
drums, yeah, folks always want the drums just slamming. me too!


i think if you listen to it at the volume i mixed it (just under 85 db) you'll see that the drums are well represented.

it's hard, to get that magic mix level, where everything sits just right.
still working on it.

this drum track was created in Sony Acid, and i could not remix any part of it, as i only had a stereo file to work with.
as it is, i hit it with some creative eq and multiband compression, and got a lot more out of it than the plain jane stereo file had to offer....

but i could not bring the drums up any further, without creating some masking effects, so i put it where it is.

rimshot
thanks for jammin with me...
the breakdown! with that cool tom fill section...yeah, i dig it.
appreciate the listen.

Lynn
thanks lynn, and yes, sonar makes tracking pretty easy, that's true.
just hit the red button.


i use sonar pretty much like a tape machine....
once i get levels set right, i can really run with this thing.

i'll even do punchins, instead of comps.
i NEVER do comps. i'd rather capture one good performance, than build a track from a bunch of different passes.
old school, that way........

if i don't like something, i just play it back, cue it up, start playing along, and reach over and hit the RED button (R on the keyboard) and go to town.
just like a tape machine.
it's pretty cool.


probably the only thing i do in sonar, that's really 'modern', is the panning and volume envelopes for mixing.
i love being able to do a mix (with automation), save it and walk away from it, and later make tweaks to the envelopes as i hear it in new ways.
i'll do this a half dozen times before i consider it 'mixed'.

Rocking the Studio here, the drums sound fine here, considering your starting point.

As for the rest smoking

Nice work! I love all the different flavors and those really nice OOOs. I have to agree about the drums. It's hard to get them right but I think just 1db or 2 should do.


Really nice work!

wow well done great song arrangement mixed excellent thanks for shareing  eric

Great tune! it ROCKS!

Always quality from you.

Reminds me of an OZ band called SkyHooks.

Great Job, sounds good too.

Neb

Great production. I love the guitar tone and riffs, and i have no problems with the drum volume, i think it's just fine, but that's me. The solo's really superb though, and the vocals are spot on too, very nice. But I don't know how to evaluate the structure and composition of the song.

Although i do want more of your power belting vocals.

wookie
thanks man, for rockin the studio.
 

guitarpima
appreciate the comments, thanks for listening.
 

eric paul
thanks eric, your welcome


quantum
nice man!! thanks for rocking with me.
now, turn it up some more........

benMMustech
alright NEB!
LOL
thanks man...
you know, i'm old enough to have seen the SKYHOOKS< 
they played at the jacksonville coliseum, opening for somebody i can't remember...
i always dug that guitar players style too, the guy that wore the face makeup/mime thing....
silly look, but he was tasty!

 

severed
appreciate the comments man, really.

structure and composition..... evaluation....
hm.

well, first off, it's just the way i write.
and i'm not following any formulas, and don't care about any particular genre, so i guess i'm just going for what i like.

i DO want to avoid cliches, if possible (by now, everything under the sun has been done)
and i'm trying to avoid strict genres, or anything else that would lock me into the proverbial cubby hole.

so if i did all that on this one, then i nailed what i wanted.

thanks again!

Would you please one time post something that doesn't kick ass so we know you are at least human?

What can I say?, this is cool on so many levels, arrangement, execution, mix, vocals.   Who are you and when did you arrive on earth?  The guitar work is not only hot, it's melodic and makes sense in the context of the song.

Smokin!  

Daryl

Hi BB, great stuff, needs more guitar though, .................just kidding ; )

Rik

Excellent. The mix to my ears is spot on.

Love that harmonized guitar squeal at 2:43.

You always capture such killer tones. Impressive stuff.

But I think the guitars dominate just a hair too much...I know if that was my axe-weilding I would put them even more front and center than you do! 

I listened to it around 85db and the drums were still too far back.

Ah! A sweet rock ballad with eclectic textures of Yes, and some 70's and '80's diversions.  That makes this extremely inviting compared to your former emulations.  There are a lot of great textures, tones, styles, etc. magically weaving.

1:34 is a magical diversion.

Genius as usual!  I don't understand the title, TBH,

Guitars sing sweetly as the song progresses.

KILLER tune/performace/mix!

DARYL
heheh, thanks man, made me laugh...
actually, i'm not on earth.
i have high speed everynet, here on Klaatu-Land.


morenoise
thanks rik, more guitar, CHECK! LOL

 
daryl1968
thanks for listening, glad the mix is translating on your system.
that's the goal

jamesyoyo
guitar squeals.
LOL
they're kinda cheesy, and at the same time, fulfilling.
heheh
like cheese whiz.
that's actually not a squeal...

it's a two part harmony bend.
just a straight up bend.

the solos are all DI thru a Palmer PDI-09, straight off the speaker feed on the boogie.

and well, this song IS a guitar heavy song, it's just one of those mix decisions i guess i fell into, after a dozen mix sessions, and back and forth and what not.
i know a lot of guys wanted to hear the drums louder...
but the mix landed where it did, as i heard it wanting the guitars to be the meat of the sound.
other songs on the album, featured more drum....
so part of that decision, was how it all played out with the other songs on the album.
 i mixed the entire project, with a continuous listen in mind. old school hope, that someone would actually listen from beginning to end, and get the overall vibe, instead of just having one song tell only part of the story.
\

thanks for the comments, i appreciate it.
still trying to dial things in....

philip
hey, i appreciate your comments!


hehe, but  i don't know how to take the term 'emulations'.
maybe i understand what your meaning is....
but i never try to emulate anybody else, i'm really looking for a unique thing here.

but folks often mention YES, i guess it's just a certain timbre of my voice? don't know, but i'd never compare my singing with jon andersons', he's just too good.

the title, 'headin' for the weeds', it's part of a colloquialism i grew up with....
could apply to golf, when hitting into the rough... could apply to a mix going wrong.... idea is, you're running off the track, losing direction, losing control, going in the rough, into the ditch, 'headin' for the weeds'.......

i'm glad i could magically divert you.
heheheh

LYRIC:


Headin' for the Weeds
 
and if you think about it
the guy that leads, is headin' for the weeds
and he's got zero vision...
it's just the stuff, they're putting in his feed.
 
another year has gone by
it just became a faded memory
like the ones before it
til they're home, we simply will not see.


i can't remove myself, from the controversy.
 
how long does the aggravation
take to fade, and the men go free
from their sworn duty,
put in harm's way, for the east to see?


and if you think about it
the guy that leads, is headin' for the weeds
he's got zero vision...
it's just the stuff, they're putting in the feed.


tell me when it's going to end
tell me.... will you be my friend
tell me when it's going to end.

drumstixkev
thanks for listening and commenting!

great work... You really have your own sound going on here... very recognisable... excellent performances & production...  well done...

Sounds cool ! Are you smoking or weed wacking weeds ! LOL

This tune sounds super charged to me , nice mix its really rocks !

Radio

Outstanding song and performance.

The mix is a bit lifeless. There is a lot missing from the high end. Not sure if fixing that would clean up the middle, or if that needs looking at too.

I am not sure I have ever been this critical of your mixes Bat. I recall them usually being outstanding so I am surprised to find myself saying this.

Cheers
Shad

HEY GUYS!
thanks for reviving this thread, i thought it was long gone....


notnat
appreciate the comments...
i'm definitly trying to craft some unique sound, it's taken a long time to get it there.
 
 
radio
hehe.... whacking weeds, smoking weeds, it's all the same..
getting rid of weed.
LOL

glad you like this one
 

 
folwolfen
hey shad, thanks for your candor about the mix...
i mean, i completely disagree!
heheh 
but, everybody hears things differently...

the sonic fingerprint of this particular mix (missing high end) was intentional, a loud 'high end' would be harsh on this particular one,
mostly because of my choice of crunchy guitars and arrangement....
a lot of syncopation, and with more high end, it all gets a bit nervous and disjointed...
i wanted to the listener to focus on the 'groove' and the lyric, and the voices sounded exactly the way i wanted them.

so i focused on the hi hat sound, as a 'high end marker', and left everything else more smooth sounding, except for the vocals......

this song works best extremely loud.
then, to me, it all makes sense.

but even really loud, it sounds smooth.
that was the sound i was going for.
it IS different sounding, on the album, from the song that is in front of it, and behind it....
which was the reason for the style of mix on this one...

i got to thinkin' about foxwolfen's post.....


i did a quick EQ analysis on the 'Weeds' song....... looking at the high end.....





any ideas?

this is my favourite one of yours for a while. the mix sounds spot on to me.

mgh

thanks, glad you like this one.

batsbrew


i got to thinkin' about foxwolfen's post.....


i did a quick EQ analysis on the 'Weeds' song....... looking at the high end.....





any ideas?

Sorry I did not actually see this till now. I had read your other reply and  said "fair enough". Just kinda accidentally bumped into this again. 


I took another listen to your song. I am starting to revise my opinion about the mids and high end. I could not turn it up too loud the last time, but this time I did and its somewhat fatiguing in the bass range. It might be that the bass was hiding the mids and highs at lower volumes by drawing my attention away. The dip in the 150hz range may need to be extended a bit into the 250hz range. I wish I had not broken my headphones. They sometimes tell me more about that range than my monitoring set up.


But, really, if this is the sonic design you were aiming for, then leave it as is. Your mix is still excellent.

Bats,
I think this song is sick as hell bro and the performaces are great.  I love the guitar work and the vocals sound awesome.  At fisrt, my initial though of the intro/1st verse guitars (while they sound good) sounded like maybe a hair too much highs had been rolled off.  Then after letting it sink in and a 2nd listen it works well.  It seems a hair low endy but I tend to like that sound on my own stuff too so I say if you're happy where it's at, LEAVE IT AND CALL IT DONE!   Nice job dude!

fox
it's cool to get feedback on this stuff....thanks

it does help, even if i hear it differently, from the 'engineer' point of view, it's fascinating to me.
i go back and look for these things, and tweak a little more, and learn a little more.

the 250 range in this particular mix (and this did not occur on any of my other mixes) has a buildup at about 180 and again at about 220, but is dipped at 250, as you can see on the graph.
i think the part that favors 200, is the partiuclar bass tone i used for this song.
it was kinda like a rush/geddy lee sort of frequency range, and imparted mostly from the use of my blended guitar amp signal from the palmer pdi-09 i use to capture most of my guitar tones.

i used a sansamp bass di to go direct, and split the signal off of it to my boogie, and took that signal with the distorted tube guitar amp, and eq'd it for the midrange bite....
and i think it added something at 200hz, that every time i tried to take it down, it took something out that i wanted in the bass tone.

so, i've still got to learn to recognize how to craft my blended bass signals.
and since i do it different on every song, every time, i never have a basis of regularity.
LOL

like prunes.

and baked beans.

heheh

chuckC
thanks chuckC, glad you like it.
the roll off, yes, i had all the guitars so bright at first, really in the face, and it's easy to say to yourself 'i want it all in the face', but honestly, it only sounds good at first blush..
and after repeated listens, you realize it's bit harsh.
i'm always going back to classic rock recordings, as a touchstone, i think i prefer the smoother eq's they used (maybe because they were going to vinyl? or because it was the tape medium that made it sound smooth on the top end with tape saturation being used as compression?)

and yes, like you, i like a slightly aggressive bass/low end mix, but lord knows i'm nowhere near where i want to be with mastering bass mixes.