Updated: Hey Big Blue! Here's a song for you!

[devin]

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated on this instrumental!It was about 8 months ago when I logged on to the Taxi forum to be greeted by "Hey Devin! Here's some songs for you!"...they were from Big Blue, and of course they were rocking (and forwarded, with all 10's, if I recall for "Blood Inside Me").It's taken me this long to create a song that I'm not embarrased to post in repayment.Mucho thanks to both teleblaster and mojobone for their welcome feedback on version 1 last week!The song is for those extreme sports instrumental listings, I was thinking specifically dirt bikes and snowboards. The song title is going to be "Gravity Always Wins".I didn't want to run the bass guitar through the Marshall (as the genre sometimes requires), so I put one of Bill Gaunce's favorite plugs "Ferox" on the bass to get some more unique nastiness...don't know if I succeeded though?http://www.thepondstudio.ca/samples/Gra ... ysWins.mp3(may take a few seconds to download and start)

[teleblaster]

Nice job Devin,Great job Devin!Tune moves along nicely -- makes me want to drive my suburban 100mph against traffic on the freeway.....Drums feel a bit squashed and distant to me -- might just need a small volume boost. Phrasing on the lead guitar feels a little forced and out of the pocket on the hammer/pull off riff that shows up the first time at 40secs in -- not a show stopper by any means. IMO a more relaxed, in the pocket take and that section will shine even more..Best of luck with this one!eR

[marcblack30]

i love the guitar tone on this, very fitting.it sounds on track to me for the sports listings.i think the bass could be bigger and raunchier if you know what i mean. search "death angel" on iTunes and listen to "buried alive" as an example, you will hear what i'm talking about.i bet this will fly as is, but i would tweak it just a smidge.nice work devin!peace,marc

[devin]

Thanks gang...I'll be following these pieces of advice!!And tele...let me know when you're firing up that SUV, so I can grab my video camera and shoot the accompanying video!

[bigbluebarry]

AWWWWW YEEEEAAAHHHHH DEVIN!!!! MONSTER Guitar Tone! The Drumkit From Hell!!!!! Now that's what I'm talking about! Couple thoughts... GUITARS:First off, that is some "thick as a brick" guitar tone. What did you do to get that tone????? It makes me want to go hit somebody or some thing! BAM!!! I L-O-V-E LOVE when you drop everything out except the guitar at the 0:53 point, that makes for a nice change. Depending on how you set your session up, the part that occurs on the 4 and the "and" of the beat in the 2nd measure seems rushed a bit. It's between the 0:04 and 0:05 second mark, the "dah-dah" part on the Left channel guitar. Not a deal breaker, just caught my ear.DRUMS:The drum mix as a group sounds really good, so great job on that! Do you have the Room mics on EZ Drummer up really high in the mix? If so, I'd consider lowering it a bit and boosting the overall drum sub group, that should help the drums feel a bit more upfront in the mix. And if you have the drum group running through an additional sub mix with a compressor on it (I think you do that, right? ) then I'd bring that one up in the mix instead of the main drum sub group.Nice job of adjusting the velocity on your hats. One thing, from a performance standpoint that I would consider, would be during the part where the drums are going double-time (0:14 mark), I would consider using 8th notes instead of quarter notes (or 16th instead of 8ths depending on your session tempo). If I were actually playing this song live, that's what I would do. Just a thought.BASS:I'm always reluctant to talk about bass parts because I consider bass a weakness of mine but I agree with Marc, I think the bass could be a just bit nastier sounding. The rest of the track has this great energy to it and the bass sounds like "it's just happy to be there." Does that make sense?OVERALL:Dude, this is a REALLY good track Devin! I think you did a nice job of changing things up enough to keep it moving and interesting. Definitely has an extreme sports vibe to it. If I were a screener, I'd forward this one for an extreme sports listing.ROCK ON MAN! Now, go write some more like that! - Big Blueps - You've inspired me to write some metal now!!!!

[ideascapes]

Nice job, Devin. I'll have to defer to BBB on guitar tone comments, but sounds great here. I could hear both the bass and the drums being a little raunchier, but the drums are really well done.Love the title and the ending (although it did cut off as things were still trailing off).Sounds like a winner to me in the sports category!Vince

[deantaylor]

Devin,This is very cool. On target for extreme sports. Dean

[devin]

Hey thanks all!!Blue: Ah heck, I just love ya. 'Nuff said!That's only two tracks, one left, one right, through a Top Hat amp using a proprietary stomp box (that Terry sells on the side...PM me for prices bwahahaha!). Actually, I don't remember what it's called...but I'll find out. That's an SM-57 feeding a Boss BR-600 at 44.1KHz 16 bit (he lives 750 miles away...*sniff*).Vince: yup, sounds like I truncated the ending a little bit. I think I'm going to boost that 'verb on the last hit and really let it ring another second or so...nice catch!!!Thanks Dean! This was a *little* different from my banjo attempts....but I'm still going to find a way to metal that instrument up!

[kitz]

Devin,Really Rocking Cool Rocking Rocker!!Bass could be a little more explosive. Probably a volume or eq thing. Maybe I need a sub for this tune. Great guitar sounds and a really cool part. Ending sounds good and I love the title "Gravity Always Wins"Great work - let us know how it goes on the submission - I think it should slide through like butter.Kitz

[devin]

Thanks Kitz! It's taken a year before I could afford the drums that keep up to the riff...(thank you Santa!)I've done some updates on this version. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions...you're the best group on the planet!- Drums aren't quite as "tight" anymore- better tail after the last cymbal hit- more upfront drums- bass is just a bit nastier...may have more to goI'm having a lot of fun with this one...http://www.thepondstudio.ca/samples/Gra ... ins.mp3P.S. @Blue: that's a Zevex "Box of Metal" pedal in front of the TopHat amp.