No Choice - Version 2.x

[JD01]

OK, got around to completely re-tracking this today. If some of you remember when I first did this you must be sick of hearing it. But I've re-tracked and re-mixed the whole thing.

[Greg_L]

Not too bad. The vocals are really lagging on this one. Too much room again, unclear, buried. The reverb on everything is a bit too thick for me, but it does kind of create an 80s skate rock hardcore vibe to the mix. I'd like it all drier and a little slicker. While that metal mix thing you're working on could stand to sound more 80s, I think this one needs to sound more modern.

From an arrangement standpoint, which I don't really usually comment on, the backups are unnecessary and don't sound very good to me. Weeeee haaaaave noooooo choice isn't really adding anything and they don't sound particularly good the way they're sung. If you want those in there I think it'd probably be better shouted as a gang vocal than some wimpy pseudo-falsetto thing. Also, the double timed drum bit at the end is superfluous. It doesn't kick the song into another gear because nothing else changes. It's just faster drums. The rest of the song plods along like nothing's different. And it doesn't last very long either, so it's not really achieving the desired effect IMO. As someone who regularly blasts off on drums all the time, I get the idea. but it doesn't work for me here. I'd say go back to the basic drum beat in that part, or keep the double time drums, make them begin sooner, and ramp up something else to go along with it.

[JD01]

Not too bad. The vocals are really lagging on this one. Too much room again, unclear, buried. The reverb on everything is a bit too thick for me, but it does kind of create an 80s skate rock hardcore vibe to the mix. I'd like it all drier and a little slicker. While that metal mix thing you're working on could stand to sound more 80s, I think this one needs to sound more modern.

From an arrangement standpoint, which I don't really usually comment on, the backups are unnecessary and don't sound very good to me. Weeeee haaaaave noooooo choice isn't really adding anything and they don't sound particularly good the way they're sung. If you want those in there I think it'd probably be better shouted as a gang vocal than some wimpy pseudo-falsetto thing. Also, the double timed drum bit at the end is superfluous. It doesn't kick the song into another gear because nothing else changes. It's just faster drums. The rest of the song plods along like nothing's different. And it doesn't last very long either, so it's not really achieving the desired effect IMO. As someone who regularly blasts off on drums all the time, I get the idea. but it doesn't work for me here. I'd say go back to the basic drum beat in that part, or keep the double time drums, make them begin sooner, and ramp up something else to go along with it.

You know, I hadn't though of a gang vocal style thing. I think I'd just bought True North when I wrote this so I had harmonies on the brain.

That could be fun. I'll give that ending a bit of consideration too.

I think the guitars sound better now.

I'll check what I'm doing with the reverbs on this.

[rammer24]

I have to agree with Greg on most of this.

To me, the guitars are the best thing going on. I can hear the stabs on the right, the chugging on the left, the leads are distinct, and they all sound good to me. Bass too.

I think the vocals need to come up and be a little drier. I can't really make out much lyrics once everything gets going. The drums don't sound bad, but they need to drive the song more. Probably just a volume thing.

One more thing....but now we're going tinto "personal preference" and "take it or leave it" territory......

Your first two lines end in the word "say". It makes for an awkward rhyme when you use the same word. ("word I say"...."thing you say").

Not the end of the world, but it gives the subtle impression that you didn't put as much thought into it as you could have.Like I said, take it or leave it, I know I'm nit-picking.

[JD01]

I have to agree with Greg on most of this.

To me, the guitars are the best thing going on. I can hear the stabs on the right, the chugging on the left, the leads are distinct, and they all sound good to me. Bass too.

I think the vocals need to come up and be a little drier. I can't really make out much lyrics once everything gets going. The drums don't sound bad, but they need to drive the song more. Probably just a volume thing.

One more thing....but now we're going tinto "personal preference" and "take it or leave it" territory......

Your first two lines end in the word "say". It makes for an awkward rhyme when you use the same word. ("word I say"...."thing you say").

Not the end of the world, but it gives the subtle impression that you didn't put as much thought into it as you could have.Like I said, take it or leave it, I know I'm nit-picking.

Cheers, I'll work on the mix as you and Greg have said... I won't change them two lines though. I wrote the whole song around them, they popped into my head when I was driving home from work and I started singing them to myself. When I got home I wrote the song around them,

[rammer24]

I won't change them two lines though. I wrote the whole song around them, they popped into my head when I was driving home from work and I started singing them to myself. When I got home I wrote the song around them,

That's cool. I was being very picky there.

[JD01]

Regarding the reverb on this mix, ive noticed a pretty fundamental fuckup in my tracking...

The amp was loud and I had my headphones on... didn't realise that my fucking monitors were on the whole time... so it's like a room impulse.. of my living room. Only on the guitars, not the vocals.

I'm probably gonna have to re-track the whole thing.

[JD01]

OK - I'm having a busy weekend. I fucked this up quite badly last time so instead of trying to re-track bits of what I had, I just kept the drums and bassline and re-tracked the whole thing based on one of my newest projects. I found it easier to completely start a fresh project, rather than try a pull apart a project that I've been fiddling with and fucking up for about a year.

So, if anyone has any patience left with this bloody track, have a listen and tell me what you think.

I took Greg's advice on the backing and changed to gang vocals, much better idea and it was fun to do.

[rammer24]

I'd like to find something wrong with this, but I can't. Sounds solid to me. Maybe....and I really mean MAYBE the vocals can come up a bit. Let others comment on that. Other than that, solid playing, solid mix.

[JD01]

I'd like to find something wrong with this, but I can't. Sounds solid to me. Maybe....and I really mean MAYBE the vocals can come up a bit. Let others comment on that. Other than that, solid playing, solid mix.

Cheers, rami. That's great coming from you, means I'm getting somewhere.

[TripleM]

I thought this was great. Both crunch and clean guitars sound excellent. Bass is at the right level. Drums sound fine to me.

I think the vocal gets buried in spots.

The riff is cool. But it's playing over a rhythm guitar part that is clicking along at a quick pace - lots of guitar stabs squeezed into each measure. I think a simpler guitar riff might work better over that. Might be just me.