WIP - Everywhere But Here

[Tadpui]

This was born out of a simple late-night 1-man jam, and I decided to develop it further for the sake of practicing everything. I'm going to scrap this project and retrack everything from scratch to tighten up the timings, cement the instrumentation and arrangement, get rid of the odd "leftover" fragments of measures here and there, etc. But I figured this would be a perfect time to solicit suggestions about just about everything about this project since I'll be starting it over. I'm open to just about any suggestions.

I tried all sorts of new techniques, gear, different mics, etc. on this one so far. It's been a fun learning experience. I'd like to make attempt #2 better.

20210122 - jam-006.mp3

[SweetDan]

Groovy tune! Cool chord progressions and interesting harmonic twists.

I like the bass tone - it's round and thick and solid all at once. It's a unique sound too, so it would be cool if you could manage to keep that in v2.

The cymbals and toms sound great. My ears would like the snare to have more presence (but still keeping the present amount of punch), and the kick is somewhat low, volume wise, and indistinct sounding...I have to listen hard for it.

Arrangement-wise, the second verse sounds about like the first; some more "spice" to that part of arrangement would add more interest. Also more build-up in the last chorus would better signal the end is arriving, and maybe a more dramatic slowing down of the tempo on the outro would bring it to a nice close.

It'll be neat to hear how this ends up.

[Tadpui]

Thanks @SweetDan ! Yeah, the kick is giving me fits. I think I'm going to do some experimenting this weekend and see if I can come up with a better kick sound. I'd had it cranked up in the mix and I turned it down right before rendering this version. Same with the snare...I'm a little lost at sea on both kick and snare still. More experimenting to come!

Thanks for the suggestions on arrangement. Agreed on spicing up the 2nd verse, I'll noodle around and see what variation I can come up with. And I'll have to come up with a proper ending too

Cheers man, much appreciated!

[JD01]

This sounds like a great start, Tad!
When you go back into the intro bassline bit just after 2 mins, you should put a kind of fucked up guitar solo here before the verse comes back in.
Bass sound is great.
The way it blends into the next bit after "don't have any plans...." is really good.

There's a few wayward little timing issues throughout, but like you said, you're re-tracking it.
I wouldn't change much about the arrangement really, maybe let a few bits roll on a bit longer, bit more instrumental stuff in there.
This is really good, Tad.

[CrowsofFritz]

Is that your own drum set? I LOVE the snare sound on this.

[vomitHatSteve]

Mix wise, this sounds like it's in a pretty good place already.

[WhiskeyJack]

I fucking love your bass tone man. Shit tad. Out-god dam-standing.

Your overheads are freaking awesome too man. those are just awesome!!! You have got to be stoked on this new set up.

I might want that snare to crack through a bit more when you got all your pretty back up choir vocals going full mental anf the hihat sloshing around. See 1:10ish to 1:30ish. After 1:30 it sounds rad again. Something in the mix in that time frame is eating all your good crack and leaving the chonk.

not sure if it can be helped when the hihat is doing it's thing but in the other part's it's like it is sitting under the vocals and guitars and stuff.

Dude, that bass is just pinnacle. I love it.

[Tadpui]

This sounds like a great start, Tad!
When you go back into the intro bassline bit just after 2 mins, you should put a kind of fucked up guitar solo here before the verse comes back in.
Bass sound is great.
The way it blends into the next bit after "don't have any plans...." is really good.

There's a few wayward little timing issues throughout, but like you said, you're re-tracking it.
I wouldn't change much about the arrangement really, maybe let a few bits roll on a bit longer, bit more instrumental stuff in there.
This is really good, Tad.

Awesome, thanks JD! Good idea on the guitar solo, I'll see what I can come up with for the 2 minute mark, and maybe again at the very end.

The bass is through that same little Ampeg practice amp, although I tried a new thing with miking it. I put 2 mics on it and used one as a bright track, 1 as a dark track with compression, and balanced them that way. Probably could have accomplished the same thing by duplicating a single mic track, but this was a fun experiment. I've been watching too many YouTube videos about Steve Albini

Is that your own drum set? I LOVE the snare sound on this.

Thanks Crows! Yeah, that's my Yamaha kit set up in my living room with a veritable snake pit of cables and a forest of microphones and stands around it Greg has been a huge help in getting me this far in capturing a drum sound. That snare records really well, if I can get it tuned appropriately. There's some plate reverb on it, in addition to what the top, bottom, overhead, and room mics picked up. This weekend I'll spend more time trying a few new things and see where it goes from there.

Mix wise, this sounds like it's in a pretty good place already.

Thanks Steve, much appreciated! I got a new pair of open-back headphones and so far they're coming in really handy for referencing low frequencies throughout the mixing process. Between those and flipping between 2 pairs of monitors, I feel like I can finally hear the whole story with a mix.

Onward ho! I'll report back once I get version 2 of the project underway.

[JD01]

Yeah. The bass tone is great.

[Tadpui]

I fucking love your bass tone man. Shit tad. Out-god dam-standing.

Your overheads are freaking awesome too man. those are just awesome!!! You have got to be stoked on this new set up.

I might want that snare to crack through a bit more when you got all your pretty back up choir vocals going full mental anf the hihat sloshing around. See 1:10ish to 1:30ish. After 1:30 it sounds rad again. Something in the mix in that time frame is eating all your good crack and leaving the chonk.

not sure if it can be helped when the hihat is doing it's thing but in the other part's it's like it is sitting under the vocals and guitars and stuff.

Dude, that bass is just pinnacle. I love it.

Yeah. The bass tone is great.

Oh man, that's great to hear about the bass, fellas. I guess I'll keep doing that same thing, then

Thanks for the input on the snare, WJ. I'm planning on trying a couple of other tunings, and I should probably just hit the damned thing harder in the first place. I'm still in that drum-novice zone where separating the velocity of one arm versus the other is awkward. So trying not to blast the hats or ride while trying to keep a strong hand in the snare is still tough. I'll try a few things, keep practicing, and see what V2 sounds like.

Thanks guys!

[musicturtle]

Cool groove @Tadpui.

I echo the comments on the snare needin' a bit of pop and the kick kinda covered up.

Cymbals, toms, bass and vox sound really good. Love your singing and bg vox ideas.

For an arrangement note, in the second verse a little something on the "ands" of the beat, like a wood block, shaker, or something would be cool in the spaces of the groove. Just a thought.

[Greg_L]

and I should probably just hit the damned thing harder in the first place.

Definitely that. You don't need to break the rims off it, but a little more force and focus from your hand will yield benefits. Learn rimshots and when and where to use them. Also a proper grip, wrists, and posture will let you thwack the drums with good focus without having to use a bunch of swinging arms and elbows.

Anywayzzz.....the mix sounds great to me. I echo what the others have said about the kick and snare so I won't beat that horse, but the rest sounds really great. I especially like your vocals. Nice and clean and clear. I do my bass and guitar tracks just like you described - bright mic and dark mic. I skip the compression but I love using the two mics to sort of EQ without EQing.

[TripleM]

Let me put in another vote for great sounding vocals. Clear but not brittle. Nice performance too.

I'm almost a afraid to say this after so many positive comments on the bass. But I'll give a partial dissent. For the most part I like the tone as well. It's nice and powerful and in the middle of the song when it's playing with just the drums, the upper end sounds awesome. I just think the low end is just a bit too boomy. I think if you were to bring it down somewhere in the 80hz-120hz range it'd be a "perfect" sound.

[rayc]

Yes, terrific.
The bass tone is cool for the majority of the song, I like the bottom end particularly, but thin on the riffy bit - I reckon some overdrive or grit for that - on a send channel would be cool.

[Tadpui]

Cool groove @Tadpui.

I echo the comments on the snare needin' a bit of pop and the kick kinda covered up.

Cymbals, toms, bass and vox sound really good. Love your singing and bg vox ideas.

For an arrangement note, in the second verse a little something on the "ands" of the beat, like a wood block, shaker, or something would be cool in the spaces of the groove. Just a thought.

Thanks MT! Good idea on the upbeats, I'll see if I can work that into the arrangement!

Definitely that. You don't need to break the rims off it, but a little more force and focus from your hand will yield benefits. Learn rimshots and when and where to use them. Also a proper grip, wrists, and posture will let you thwack the drums with good focus without having to use a bunch of swinging arms and elbows.

Anywayzzz.....the mix sounds great to me. I echo what the others have said about the kick and snare so I won't beat that horse, but the rest sounds really great. I especially like your vocals. Nice and clean and clear. I do my bass and guitar tracks just like you described - bright mic and dark mic. I skip the compression but I love using the two mics to sort of EQ without EQing.

Thanks Greg, much appreciated! Good suggestions. So you're saying that I've got to practice the drums?!? Aw, man...

Ha, but yeah I agree...rimshots have eluded me so far. I try them and I don't yet have a feel for bringing the stick down at the proper angle to pull it off. I'll keep working on it, and getting a little more wrist involved as well. Cheers!

Yes, terrific.
The bass tone is cool for the majority of the song, I like the bottom end particularly, but thin on the riffy bit - I reckon some overdrive or grit for that - on a send channel would be cool.

Ooh, good idea! I might play with some saturation on the "bright" mic and see if it helps beef up the riffy part a bit. Thanks Ray!