4 instrumental songs for review

[Johnny Belmont]

Hi. I have four instrumental songs, that are waiting for vox recording, so, I thought I should post them here, for anyone that could give some insights, opinions, and feedbacks. I'll tell you the equipment I used to record and mix them, but not separating by songs, because it wouldn't fit here, I guess. You will see that what I have is far from what I could call an studio.

I started using a crappy mixer (Wattson MXS-12) on the first two songs, and then used the Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer. The audio interface (sound card) used was Creative Audigy.

So, for the electric guitars:
I used a fender mexican strato in all of them, with a Line 6 Spider II 212 amp. For the pedals, I used a Boss BCB-60, that contains: Boss DD-3, Boss CS-3, Boss SD-1, Digitech Metal Master, Sound One Wah, Digitech RP-50 (for tremolo and phaser) and Marshall Jackhammer. Some effects, like chorus, I also used directly from the Amp. The connection was: Guitar -> Pedals -> Amp (Line out - no mics) -> Mixer -> Sound card

The bass:
I used a Memphis (it's a subdivison of Tagima, a Brazilian trademark). The connection was: Bass -> Boss CS-3 (Line out - no mics) -> Mixer -> Sound card

Acoustic Guitars:
I used a Takamine guitar (Line in on Mixer) on some, and Music Lab Real Guitar VST on others.

Drums and Percussion:
I used EZdrummer, with Pop Rock, Latin Percussion and Drumkit From Hell expansions.

Keyboards, Piano Violions and Sax:
I used Bome's Mouse Keyboard, with my PC keyboard, and played simulating a Midi Input on the program. The Connection was: My Pc keyboard -> Bome's Mouse Keyboard -> Passing Through Midi Yoke -> and recording Midi on Acid. I used some Vst's: Pianissimo, True Piano, Musicrow Container, Luxonix Purity, Korg M1, Garritan Groffiler Cello, Sample Modeling Mr. Sax-T.

On the mix, I used the directx plug-ins:
Transiest Shaper, Voxengo Elephant, Stillwell Verbiage, Waves Super-Tap, Waves X-Noise, Amplitube X-Gear, Waves R-Bass, Guitar Combos Twang, Studio Devil Guitar Amp, Studio Devil Bass Amp, Vintage Amp Room, Audio Ease Cabinet, Waves C4, Sony Express EQ, Voxengo LM Max Punch, Nomad Analog Valve Driver, Waves RComp.

As the client request, I did a "fake live song", I put some cheers (on beginning, as musicians enters stage, and at the ending), and some reverb on master.

What I did was, the guy sent me acoustic songs with only Acoustic Guitar and Vocals recorded, for me to create the arrangements, record instruments and program samples, and mix the whole "shbang".

The Link: SoundClick artist: Johnny Belmont - page with MP3 music downloads

That's it I guess. Hope you'll help me. Thanks!

[Johnny Belmont]

Anyone?

[kafka]

Songs 1 and 2 had me bored within the first 11 seconds. Didn't want to bother to listen past that. Song 3 had some kind of error. I gave up at that point.

[Johnny Belmont]

Originally Posted by kafka

Songs 1 and 2 had me bored within the first 11 seconds. Didn't want to bother to listen past that. Song 3 had some kind of error. I gave up at that point.

Of course it's gonna be boring. They're songs wich I made the arrangement, waiting for vocals to be in it, so, I couldn't put some crazy beautiful melody, on guitar, or keyboard, or whatever, 'cause It could mess up the voice's melody.

When u say error... that are many different meanings in it. It can be an error in mixing, error in chords, etc. You have to be more specific.

[kafka]

By error, I meant it wouldn't load. It works now, but the intro has to be stronger. Four measures of the same chord doesn't cut it. At the very least, put a melodic bass line on it to bring you into the song.

I'm not sure that it has to be boring. I wouldn't start a piece with atmospherics unless I had a good idea someone was going to be willing to sit through them to get to the song. The radio dial thing is just a sound that we've all heard before, and doesn't give any indicator that there's anything coming worth waiting for. You have to get right in there and give someone a reason to keep listening, right from the first note - even before the vocals.

[Johnny Belmont]

Originally Posted by kafka

By error, I meant it wouldn't load. It works now, but the intro has to be stronger. Four measures of the same chord doesn't cut it. At the very least, put a melodic bass line on it to bring you into the song.

I'm not sure that it has to be boring. I wouldn't start a piece with atmospherics unless I had a good idea someone was going to be willing to sit through them to get to the song. The radio dial thing is just a sound that we've all heard before, and doesn't give any indicator that there's anything coming worth waiting for. You have to get right in there and give someone a reason to keep listening, right from the first note - even before the vocals.

Ok, you're right with your statement. But, the radio thing wasn't my idea, it was the client's idea. If it was for me, I'd begin with the orchestral stuff, without the radio thing.

But thanks for the comments.

[kafka]

Try to suck them in from the first note. You have about one measure before the hand clicks the mouse button or changes the channel, and then the listener is gone.

[CubeCity]

I thought the two songs were fairly well produced.

All of these songs are missing a melody line.

Song 1: I like the spaciousness.

Song 2: I don't think the radio stuff at the start works. The opening bars are nice, remind me of happy commericals about compact European cars, or banking, or something. The sim. strings didn't work for me. I'd mix them way back, or change to a more acoustic sound. Also, when the crunch guitar comes it, I was expecting the song to bounce instead of drive. It stops being playful. But you know what you're going for.

Song 3: No catchy riff to grab you right off the bat. The chord progression on the third piece didn't excite me. The guitar sounds are nice, and they keep changing, which is good. Again, no melody.

Song 4: Go to your piano midi part and move the notes around slightly. Piano players don't necessarily play every note in a chord simultaneously. One note comes slightly before the next. (Think "guitar strum")

IMO, these are fine backing tracks for STRONG melodies. Hope you have them.

Regards.

[TonyV]

song one sounds like a long intro. like its trying to find somewhere to rest but never finds a place to .try some modulation. Pink Floyd were great at doing this.Modulation