Category: Jam Session
I realize this won't appeal to some as it's religious in nature, (PSALM 23) is the back drop, but, I entered this song in a contest to win a studio so I'd be interested in thoughts on the song.
Wrote, recorded, and mixed all in Pro Tools 11.
http://noisetrade.com/matthewdiemert/closely-ill-follow
there is a heading at the very bottthat says sample before you download. if you press enter on the song title it should play.
not bad, a little on the slow side for my taste, and I think it could feel more "authentic" if you added in more harmony. But It's good
Thanks for sharing this song. To my ears, it sounds like at its core this is a good song. Lyrically it draws on the original text, illuding to it while not parroting it. Good job. I love the guitar tones you capture, and the electric guitar parts have nice riffs. The tones and style of the electric guitar parts were a little too similar, though. You mastered a great sound, but I wonder if there is a way the various parts could be a bit more intermingled?
The drums sound good. This song is slow, but it is a reflective song. It did feel at points, especially near the end, theat they gradually slowed down. Not sure if that's just my ears playing tricks on me. I wonder if the sound might be richer if the stereo field for the drums was widened slightly. You opted to pan the drums to the centre, which gives a more balanced feel. But if the stereo field was widened (IE. separate the ride cymbal either slightly left or right and place the snare the same amount on the opposite side). Or at least maybe the accented cymbal beats (sounds like a crash maybe) they could come a little left or right of centre, just to vary the percussion sound. Maybe a tamberine playing a counter rhythm near the end might give some flavour.
I liked the instruments chosen. In order to build the song, though, some could be introduced as the song progresses. Its like you have all these parts, they almost all show up near the beginning, and the song runs out of room to grow after that.
I liked the acoustic guitar in the background... Sounded like it was tuned down a whole step? Nice variety there. Maybe you could have it begin in the second verse, with its volume much higher. Or maybe you could start with the acoustic and have the other guitar parts, bass, and drums fill in around it, coming in one by one to build up the song.
I enjoyed the vocals. The vocalist has a lovely tone. There are hints of emotion there, too. I enjoyed the harmony near the end. Maybe this could happen elsewhere too? Or maybe a third harmony could be added near the end. The lead vocal performance sounded good to me. I wonder if some double tracking of the lead vocal at points could give it some added depth, emphasis, or variety. Crowder uses some interesting delay in his vocals at times - maybe something like this might add more depth to the sound.
In my humble opinion, this is a good song. It has a solid structure with interesting enough melodies and chord changes. I just think that the instruments could be used more effectively to build the song. Again, these are also just opinions of mine - take them as you will. Thanks again for sharing.
Thanks for the comments.
I was very conscience to keep the song as simple as I could. I had expanded this arrangement a bit more and it was just too much for my taste. I originally wrote this on my acoustic tuned down and had just added strings and a bit of electric riffs. SO, I tried to push it about as much as I could while maintaining the original emotion behind writing the song.
As for the drum panning, the overheads are about 50% left and right, but unfortunately, it was too cold to use the barn, so we cut the drums in our pool room which just had a different room noise. This meant, a compromise with microphone placement, and actual drum mixing.
I do agree per the harms, but the singer who usually sings with me was out of town, so my wife did some quick takes for me almost at the end of the mixing stage, so nearly too late to even get them in. I am not a keys player, but I did the best I could on an M3 organ to get a bit of that whirly kind of sound involved.
Again, appreciate the feedback.
A simpler arrangement is great too. I just wonder if you could hold back some of the instruments for a bit to let the sound fill the space.
I wonder if the slightest bit of reverb panned left and right on the drums might help to enrich the sound?
Again, just some experimental thoughts.
I finally got a chance to listen to this. I think you did a very good job. I'm jealous of your guitar playing. I have to cheat with a midi keyboard, and while it sounds alright, it's not the real thing. My only suggestions aside from some of what others have said are that your bass is a bit much; you're clipping. Maybe a bit crisper lyrics. They're good as they are, but eqing them a bit would bring them out a bit more. Otherwise, I heard another voice nearer to the end which compliments yours well. I'd love to hear that brought forward a bit more. Otherwise that's great.
Thanks for the feedback. I actually did send the song back to the mastering engineer for a few tweaks specifically some clarity.
As for Bass clipping, I'd be curious what you happened to listen to the song on. I listened on everything from apple ear buds, to boom boxes, and $2000 monitors and never really felt bass clips.
As for the harms at the end of the song, I'd say it's more a taste thing than anything. I just wanted the end result to be huge at the end of the song, and wasn't extremely interested in the harms being a focal point with any real clarity.
But the harms sound so good. You don't even need them pulled forward all that much, just enough to hear them a bit more. As for the bass clipping, I listened on a pair of pretty decent quality sony surround sound headphoens (whcih also do stereo) and they sounded just a bit too bassy I found. I think it's just exceeding the 0DB limit.
In the actual mix, the bass meter shows at about negative 9 DB or so, the mastering analysys puts it at about neg 4.
Maybe grabb another mix that is fairly bass heavy and see what you think. Not sure your musical tastes, but something like Jamey Johnsons guitar song albam is pretty bass heavy.
I have for or five pare of sony headphones, including the 7506 and I often find they exaggerate bass at times.
I have two headphones. One exadurates the trebble considerably. My Sonys though are pretty reliable. I listen to some bass-heavy music and haven't had any trouble. But if I'm the only one who has said something, maybe it's just me? Either way it's well-composed.