"Gritty" and "Down and Dirty" help

[bigbluebarry]

I've got a tune that I just finished last night for a "gritty" listing.ROCK CUES (SONGS AND INSTRUMENTALS) NEEDED for a couple of new reality shows slated to air on the world's largest music cable network. The Music Supervisor for these shows needs to hear a variety of "gritty rock" - styles can range from Rockabilly, Punk, Swamp Rock, Metal, Southern Rock, etc. The pace needs to be fast and the tone should be wacky, high energy, dirty and fun. You can think in the reference range of Black Flag, Hank Williams III, Suicidal Tendencies, Reverend Horton Heat, Social Distortion, Minutemen, etc. Songs with vocals and instrumentals will be considered - be sure the tempos are fast and the vibe is gritty and "down & dirty". There are no lyrical restrictions here, but the tone should match that of the music - instrumentals are okay too. You can also think along the lines of the music behind "Jackass", for more direction and inspiration. Recordings must be Broadcast Quality (great home demos should be okay). Please submit one to three songs online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS - NO CRITIQUES FROM TAXI - and must be received no later than December 4, 2008. Here's a link to the "work tape" of the "un-mixed" song:UPDATE: I just uploaded my first attempt at an actual mixYou Can Call Me Jack - http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... ream=trueI think I've captured the general essence of what they're looking for, but I'm afraid my production may be too polished and not "gritty" enough. The stuff I typically do needs to have more of a polished sound to it so any advice on how I can make the song sound a bit "grittier" would be much appreciated. Thanks,- Big Blue

[geo]

Hey Barry... good stuff!!!I'm still struggling to make it clean so no help on gritty....Only suggestion is maybe break up the song with another stop or two....I look at "cues" and think they might want stuff for intro and outro.... Maybe bring the lead up a tad?Good stuff!!!Peace, Geo

[zoom]

Heya Blue!I don't think that the production needs to be "gritty"... just the overall feel of the tune.... and your guitars definitely fall into my definition. I would probably put this as a gritty pop/rock, but definitely high energy and fun . I would say that you might want to take another listen to the mix though, as it's a little heavy in the mid-range IMO. Just my 2 cents... good luck with the submission!

[bigbluebarry]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick response... I failed to add in my first post that this is a "work tape" mix. I haven't actually "mixed" it for real yet. - Big Blue

[daniel481]

Cool man, it's got a bit of Social D in there, and it's nice and hooky with energy. I think that making the drums a bit less hard-quantized would help it feel grittier, and maybe using a bigger sounding snare. Right now they feel a little too tight in both sound and feel to me, but a final mix will probably help with that, too. BTW what do you use to master your mixes? They've always got a nice amount of volume without feeling too squashed.

[billg]

Blue, music wise this sounds right on target to me! I'm going to ditto Dan on the bigger sounding snare, otherwise my old tired ears don't hear any real problems. This will be forwarded for sure (don't worry, I stood up & turned around three times counter clockwise so I wouldn't jinx you with that last statement)

[bigbluebarry]

Dec 1, 2008, 11:25am, daniel481 wrote:Cool man, it's got a bit of Social D in there, and it's nice and hooky with energy. I think that making the drums a bit less hard-quantized would help it feel grittier, and maybe using a bigger sounding snare. Right now they feel a little too tight in both sound and feel to me, but a final mix will probably help with that, too. BTW what do you use to master your mixes? They've always got a nice amount of volume without feeling too squashed.Thanks for the tip Daniel, I'll give that a try later tonight.As for Mastering, I do it all in Pro Tools using a multi-step process. First I export a stereo mix of my track as a .wav file, then I create a new session in Pro Tools and import the .wav file I just exported. I add the stock Digidesign 7-band EQ as my first insert and adjust 3 frequency ranges. I then add a Massey L2007 limiter on my 4th insert and give myself about 3db of gain.I'll then add the Waves SSL4000 Master Buss compressor on my 2nd insert, adjusting it so that I'm getting an average of about 3db of compression on the mix.Then I'll add another 7-band EQ on my 3rd insert and adjust some different frequencies, usually rolling off the lows and highs.Finally, I add another L2007 limiter on my 5th insert to get another 3db of gain for the overall mix. I've found that by using 2 limiters to get about 3db of increased gain each as opposed to using 1 limiter for 6db of gain helps me get the loudness I want without sounding too squashed.- Big Blue

[bigbluebarry]

thanks Bill

[jay10music]

BARRY...JUST WHEN I HIT THE PLAY BUTTON.... Bang There went my coffee all over my self.. Better post next time....." Please beware...CAUTION....LOUD HEAVY DUTY TRACK.... Jay......

[bigbluebarry]

Jay... LOL... sorry man, next time I'll put a disclaimer on there - Big Blue