This was the first song that I recorded with the singer. He wrote the song and was performing it acoustically when I first heard it. I thought it was catchy and he told me how he heard it in his head, so we recorded what he heard. More wall of sound guitars. This was mixed before my last one, but I needed to hold off on one last part and that was the short guitar solo – I wanted a classic amp for it – a 68 Fender Princeton for the solo… sweet, sweet amp. I think I might need to bring the solo up just a hair.
Ha Ha Yeah!,… great,.. great,..lol,.. it is very catchy,.. and I swear, I have not heard a more 80’s, 80’s, 80’s sounding song on Freelabel yet, extra points for that oo la la!,.. This is what it would have sounded like if Neil Diamond went to Germany for a recording camp, and ventured into the new wave genre,.. to my knowledge what a pity he didn’t cause this was great, it works, a short amount of lyrics but they were the 3 important C’s,.. clear coherent and clever,..the music was well structured, it didn’t idle for me what so ever, the props were suitable and well meshed, never had a lurid aspect about it, the slight phase effect was cool,..
Now,.. there isn’t much to wish for that was different here,… but..I guess I would have preferred a fraction more of that ‘electric butterfly’ effect or, you know those little sparkling ditters?.. I loved that, I wished for a steeper volume swoop at the expense of the guitar-volume a touch, just in those areas that the effect was inserted,..I suppose you’re right about the solo volume,.. maybe that could have been a little louder,.. I noticed the singer had an effect applied on his voice in the beginning and it changed forever more, but I absolutely loved that,.. it made me think that the singer was trapped inside the television in the beginning because the voice sounded like it was coming through the little TV speakers,.. and then during the transition, it was good symbolism of perhaps the TV giving birth to him,.. as important, and as loved as if the Television was the singer’s own mother,.. lol,…
Excellent work,…
89%
Come on Simoners,… it’s been here a week, this song deserves quicker comments
>:( your sincerely, Angry Man.
Catchy Catchy shit you have written here..Ultra poppy.Crisp sounding….love the way you have filled the whole song and made it so clean……….I think there could have possibly been a back up vocalist on it…but im sure you know exactly what you are doing with it and it is a beauty…….80s maybe i think its closer to modern pop rock……..Im suprised your not a signed artist yet….really good talent for sure…..you piss me off its really good.. whats the trick?????EXperience??
Thanks for the feedback. This was a more difficult song to produce – the singer wrote the words and basic chord structure then gave it to me to flesh out. I agree it has a bit of an 80s vibe – I can’t help it, I am a product of my youth.
@Haverack – the trick is experience and patience. One thing that makes the difference between an ok song and a good song is the arrangement – it makes mixing easier. Here are some things to think about for "pop" or radio friendly songs:
1 – Make sure you have a song, and not just an idea
2 – About every 15 seconds something has to propel the song forward
3 – Get to the chorus as quickly as possible (less than 30 seconds if possible)
4 – Only one part of the song can be the star at a time. If some part of the song is at the peak of its excitement, other parts have to quietly wait. When the excitement starts to come down, then the counter melody or story can rise up to propel the song forward with a different feel.
5 – If Guitars are Big, then Drums will probably be small. Likewise with bass. Visa versa. If you want big bombastic drums, then everything else has to be pushed to the sides and will sound small.
6 – When mixing, muting parts and automation is your friend – use it – a lot.
7 – know when to ignore the above rules
If you have questions about mixing and tracking, ask away… there are things I might know that can help you.
As far as being signed… well… My first label was Atlantic in the mid 80s, then Doom Records for a developmental deal in the late 80s/early 90s and for about 30 days, Columbia. I would never do a label deal again – ever! I make far more money shopping my music to publishers and getting placements on TV, So far I have had about 50 songs in the past 3 years on MTV, VH1, Discovery, History Channel and some other cable channels, and I have come close to having one on network TV. The upfront money for the songs pays for the gear, the studio and other toys and its nice to get a small check twice a year for the broadcasts; those get used for vacations and such…
I’m not sure why, but this made me think of the first season of "Friends" way back when.. it has a very commercial feel, which still works for me, as it’s not trying to be anything it isnt.. hmm.. lol.. ok.. that last bit made no sense at all… but do you get my drift? Not my kind of thing, but again DC, sounds bloody great! Thanks a lot for the above post.. will put some of those ideas to good use next recording afternoon.. reading your pointers, it all seems so obvious, but i know i drift away from my original song structure within my first 60 minutes of recording. Actually.. all my stuff is just a chorus or a riff idea, and i record from there till complete (usually banged out in an afternoon.. and then i move onto something else.. thus – crappy results).. I’m going to try to complete the ideas that I think have potential, before i dive into cubase (can get my muck around time on the drum/bass tracks!).. cheers again for the tips..
thanks mate!..
@ greenblob thanks and no problem.
Number 1 (idea verse song)was one of the hardest things for me to grasp when pitching songs to publishers. I could not understand why a lot of my early instrumentals where not being picked up. They sounded good, but when i started listening to some other people’s music that was getting picked up (and that I thought was not as good as mine) it dawned on me that they had songs, just had ideas strung together that kind of sounded like a song, but really wasn’t.
I have really enjoyed working with a singer again and a good lyricist because it forces me to really pay attention to the song more.
Dc ,.. I got into the 80’s spirit of this, to such an extent that I was heartbroken to hear the verse,.. "Now I got TEVO" ….. no no no no no.. ,… damn!,.. that hurt my time capsule,.. the lyrics were great,..I just wish there was no indicators that presented the song in the light of the present day,..I was happy in 1986,.. and I docked your lyricist 1% for that, lol.
thanks for these useful tips. I definatly will be using this information. I see they work wonders. its good to have a man with such experience on this site. I can see your influence and knowledge bettering the quality of music for this site. Keep them comming. Your music if exiteing.
fuck this shit WHATS GOING ON LAZY BASTARDS…….GEt Rid Of Blime edgell the simonic experience and slide D C Into the spot…..He has defiantly earned it.And it appears he is an active member of the community here…………Simon "chi Chi BOOOOM!"
And chalk PonY what the fuck you should have to earn your spot in there …Under "artists" if you dont know what im talking about
Yep, I think we can pretty much forget about him,.. and also, "Finigan" … I dont know who St.Fawkes was but he probably will never be back either.
Hooray Thank you gods of thefreemusiclabel..my payers have been answered…..Thank you.
yeah very well produced song, everything super clean and tight, as we are becoming to expect from you DC, slotted straight from the top shelf again, agree with Brad about the beginning sounding like an early 90’s sitcom, only slightly but can see the reference, the vocalist seems to bang these out all to easily like he could do it in his sleep, would love to hear him a little more out of his comfort zone on a future track, like the crazy little hop out of the solo back into the chorus, threw me for a loop…..you continue to have quality sounding tracks DC, i think everyone on the site will be putting more polish onto their tracks now as a result which is great, also would love to see you throw up some rawcuts if you have any, i think everyone on the site could definitely benefit from hearing how you write and construct your tracks….stellar job once again sir!
@Dave J – I will post up some clips for a new song that we are working on. I will probably just link to a blog. I think our singer will be stretched a little on this one since it will be out of his comfortable key. But it will be a commercial sounding tube I am sure – seems to be my direction these days