Please review / critique "And Now I'm Free"

[rpw]

Hello all,

I am asking for your your opinions on my recording. I have a couple of specific questions, but feel free to comment on any aspect of the song or the recording. Does this meet "excellent home recordings" quality? Does it sound like it would fit a time period movie set in the late 60's to early 70's? I've probably spent more time editing and mixing this than any other recording and would appreciate serious critiques of the work I've done. It's on Soundcloud :http://snd.sc/15HWVqL

Thank you in advance for listening and any comments you have.

I know that this has a slow tempo, but it seems to have an early 70's, trippy/stoner/acoustic/folk/rock vibe that might have gotten some airplay back then. I've gone ahead and submitted it for listing http://www.taximusic.com/listings_popup ... =U130807RK. Even though the listing is asking for mid to up-tempos songs, I took the chance that they might find that it "sounds authentic to the era" and "would have been played on an FM radio station" "back in the early seventies" and find a use for it.

Rick...

[cassmcentee]

Rick,
The song sounds pretty close to a Young/Crosby/Nash feel
When your voice comes in I was expecting a Neil Young style melody
"Long may you Run" is my favorite album by them
If you have a copy, maybe A/B between your recording for production value???
Good Luck
Sounds Good,
Cass

P.S. I think our fearless leader Michael worked on that album!

[andygabrys]

sounds decent for the genre (and I am ref'ing Down by the River as an a la).

there are some rhythmic inconsistencies in the first half of the tune between drums and guitars.

the drums are actually the part that I think you would get a return on. the hi-hat and cymbals sound like they have really been cooked with eq, and the snare has an interesting boxy "poing". I don't think they are live - if they come from a drum plugin, you would have some other choices.

listen to the space of the drums on down by the river. they are fairly narrow. and very natural sounding. I would work principally on those rhythmic bits in the song and then get some less effected more narrowly panned drums.

[nick.moxsom]

Hey, Rick

Loving the vibe of this. I can hear The Band, Neil Young and a touch of R.E.M. (your vocal delivery), all of which is good, in my book.

But listen to Andy... I agree entirely that the timing issue is your worst enemy here... you really need to get those guitars locked in with the drums. And that snare drum just doesn't fit the genre at all, but that's probably fairly easily rectified. I think if you can re-track the gits and try some other kit samples, you're onto a winner – there's bound to be an opening for a song like this eventually, either in a retro film or as source music in a scene.

Good stuff.

Nick

[rpw]

Hey Cass - thanks for listening. I tried your suggestion of doing an A/B with the album you suggested (nice choice, by the way!). Unfortunately, I think I'll need better ears to hear what you're hearing...

Hi Andy, Nick - Man, excellent ears on you guys! I like your referenced artists and song.

You're right on the drums, they are sampled. So, it should be fairly easy to change the kit. I did use EQ and compression to try to tame the high-hats down (that's what gave the snare that unusual sound).

The timing issue you identified will be much harder for me to rectify, mostly because I don't hear/feel it. I soloed each guitar and bass with the drums and they sounded right to my ear. BUT, I figured you must be hearing something off so I zoomed in on the track and put the cursor on the measure marker and only then could I see what you guys were hearing: I consistently start nearly every note a fraction of a second before the beat. In the case of the bass, it's just ONE vibration cycle of the low E (at least as far as what I see on the screen of my DAW).

Nick, glad you liked the vibe and thanks for the positive words.

Anyone; any suggestions on how I can fix my timing issue?

[andygabrys]

hey Rick,

ah cool.

well I would pull all the fx off the drums. just let them be. usually those sampled kits are recorded well with a multi-mic setup and you shouldn't need much to get it to sound natural and minimally processed as a lot of those kits were back in the day. If something sounds too loud (like the cymbals) then go into your midi track and select those cymbals and make their velocity lower. usually that is very easy to do. This will not only make the cymbals sound a little quieter, it will also make their sound a little more nuanced. Often recording drummers are asked to hit their cymbals a little lighter. its the same kinda thing.

If the cymbals are still too loud - then go into the drum plugin and pull down the volume of the cymbals a little.

the timing - well what you are picking up is what it is. sometimes you can timeshift your guitar track a few samples or milliseconds so that it has a better feel against the drums. but what I think I hear was some wrinkles that are bigger than that. i will try and listen again and see if I can point some out.

are the drums themselves really on target the whole way through?

[rpw]

Hi Andy, thanks for your continued input. I've switched the drum kit and the high-hat is way down in this kit. I've used the plug-in's mixer to ensure that the kit has a narrow space too. I don't hear the high-hat in the mix now, but that could just be my blown out ears...

I used Melodyne to fix the timing issues on the bass and 1/4-note playing acoustic rather than trying to time shift manually. Funny though, on the first couple of bass notes in the beginning of the song before the drums come in, the fixed notes sounded behind the guitar so I moved those few notes back to ahead of the beat. That didn't work with the first acoustic though - it made everything sound weird so I didn't even try it on the electric. Also funny, even my vocals are ahead of the beat... The midi drums are visually lining up right where they should be timing-wise so it appears they are not the problem. And it doesn't seem to be a latency issue because then I'd be behind the beat. So...it must be me (ouch!).

I've uploaded the revision here: http://snd.sc/16ZylRq I'd be happy to hear what you think now.