Goodbye, Fireflies - fourth out of five

[SweetDan]

Another one that's close. To my ears, the biggest weaknesses here are the vocal (obviously; I'm not a singer), and the rhythm guitar. I'm slightly unhappy with it, and am contemplating re-tracking the rhythm guitar. As I was tweaking the mix this evening, though, I did some things that made the rhythm guitar better.

What, to your ears, needs the most work here? Thanks.

[JD01]

I this sounds pretty good, mate.

I agree with you about the rhythm guitar - I think your playing needs to be more relaxed on it, also it sounds like you've recorded it on a pretty hot humbucker guitar and it has a sound that doesn't suit the song - I think it needs a clearer more articulate sound.

I think your vocal is pretty good although it sounds weirdly "tremoloish"

[rayc]

The keyboard is a little loud for me and the rhythm guitar is pretty good but possibly a little harsh -needs some gentling.
Nice song - I really enjoyed it.
Oh, it's quite a narrow mix - either go full mono, which would be cool, or spread things a little more I think.

[vomitHatSteve]

Yeah, those keys are a little shrill.

Otherwise, everything seems pretty balanced level-wise.

That chorus hook would sound pretty stellar with a really strong vocalist belting it out. Maybe see if you can get Michael Bolton or someone to guest on it?

[einstein magoo]

I think you are a good singer, but holding back to prevent others from hearing you while you're tracking is causing that warble. It's easy to listen back and say, hey, that sounds cool with that vibrato, but if you just sang louder some of that would go away and maybe put a little more conviction in delivery of the vocal. I really like the melody and progression. Nice.

[Armistice]

Hey Dan - to me, what the song needs is a some manipulation of the organ sound - usually that type of sound has someone introducing tremolo or vibrato via a pitch wheel or pedal or something else (clearly, not a keyboard player here!) at the end of a long chord - I'd also pull it back into the mix a bit. As it is, it sounds very midi...

Your voice is your voice - it's always about doing the best with what you've got. The problem is that you believe you're not a singer and that comes out in the performance a bit. I used to be like that too - a bit hesitant perhaps. And then one evening years back I decided to track some vocals to a band tune after drinking half a bottle of red, and damn me if they didn't come out really well - because I was half tanked, but more importantly, relaxed.

So I didn't take this as a sign that I needed to drink before tracking, but having the knowledge that I have done it before and analysing what it was that made it sound good, gave me a bit more confidence - and that made all the difference.

Nice tune though!

[musicturtle]

Dan, cool tune.

I agree that the sound for the keys is out of place. It's bit too bright for me, something a little mellower would suit it better.

As far as your singing, the pitch is good, I will just echo that you sound a bit hesitant sometimes. Try tracking sometime with one earphone half-way off your ear so you can hear your actual voice better, this helps me sometimes.

Lead guitar has a great tone for my ears and cuts right through mix, nice.

[TheTestingYak]

gud choon brav.

[WhiskeyJack]

SD.

I don't hear anything taking up any kind of residence on the left? Even the organ thing seems to sort of stop at about 40% to the left. A lot of space to explore over there IMO. The whole mix feels crowded right up the middle and all points in between headed right.

I don't know why you keep saying you are not a singer. I think your voice works for your style and your delivery also works quite well.

[SweetDan]

OK, I've got a trio of samples with a different rhythm guitar tone, and IIRC, that's the only change to the mix since my last post. If you care to "vote" for your favorite new rhythm guitar tone (or let me know if it's still not where it should be), it would be greatly appreciated.

a) just guitar -> amp/eq -> speaker -> SM57

goodbyeFireflies_newRhythmGtrSansFx.mp3

b) guitar -> tremolo -> amp/eq -> speaker -> SM57

goodbyeFireflies_newRhythmGtrWithTremolo.mp3

c) guitar -> tremolo + reverb -> amp/eq -> speaker -> SM57

goodbyeFireflies_newRhythmGtrTremoloVerb.mp3

d) the differences in the samples are so small it makes no difference


e) none of the above...the tone of the guitar part still needs tweaking


Ready? Vote (early and often - lol)!

[rayc]

I like them in the order they are stacked a then b then c.
A really cool melody.

[JD01]

I think they're really similar, mate. I haven't had time to listen to them back to back with the original, but from memory, they're an improvement.

[vomitHatSteve]

I couldn't hear much difference between a and b, but c seemed to have less attack.