The Song Fight Bulletin Board

So I rerecorded my Bitter Orange entry, and I figure that I'll post the old and new versions of the song and you guys can comment on how it's improved, gotten worse, etc. and I can try and fix it. If any of you have old songs that you rerecorded, you can post them here so I don't feel like a moron for just posting my songs by themselves to be commented on. Just to warn you, I was having some serious problems recording vocals for the new version, so they're pretty poor.

Old Version
New Version

is there such a thing as a virtual "kick me" sign?

Is that from Schindler's List?

over all, the vocal tone/effects and performance are, as you said, tons better on the first one... as are the electric guitar noodles. the mix is way better, too. but, the new version's arpegiated guitars and drum direction are cooler, imo.

a pretty cool thing to do, regarding mixes, is take your mix and a/b it with a 'commercial' song that you like or feel is similar to yours... and listen for what you like more about the sounds of each. pay attention to the individual elements' levels relative to each other... and also listen to how the individual parts sound when you compare em... like maybe your guitar is more 'mid-rangey' or their vocal has a more 'constant' volume so they probably compressed it... or what ever. then, take what you learn and apply it to your mix. then rinse and repeat. do that a couple of times and you'll begin to 'get' how to get that sound you have in yer noggin'

good work on these and props for wanting to get better.

Thanks for the comments. I really am trying to get better at the mixing, performance, etc, but I just can't seem to get what I have in my head into my mix. Your comments are really helpful for that area. Maybe in a few songs I'll improve a bit on those aspects.

Kweep wrote:drum direction are cooler, imo.

For the drums, I actually just took my old tape recorder, pressed record, and played along with the old Bitter Orange in my headphones, since I was so sick of doing electric drums. In my mind, even a not so great drum take on tape recorder is better than my mediocre hammerhead programming.

Kweep wrote:over all, the vocal tone/effects and performance are, as you said, tons better on the first one... as are the electric guitar noodles. the mix is way better, too. but, the new version's arpegiated guitars and drum direction are cooler, imo.

a pretty cool thing to do, regarding mixes, is take your mix and a/b it with a 'commercial' song that you like or feel is similar to yours... and listen for what you like more about the sounds of each. pay attention to the individual elements' levels relative to each other... and also listen to how the individual parts sound when you compare em... like maybe your guitar is more 'mid-rangey' or their vocal has a more 'constant' volume so they probably compressed it... or what ever. then, take what you learn and apply it to your mix. then rinse and repeat. do that a couple of times and you'll begin to 'get' how to get that sound you have in yer noggin'

good work on these and props for wanting to get better.

I think a better idea is to make your own damn songs.

Denyer wrote:

Kweep wrote:over all, the vocal tone/effects and performance are, as you said, tons better on the first one... as are the electric guitar noodles. the mix is way better, too. but, the new version's arpegiated guitars and drum direction are cooler, imo.

a pretty cool thing to do, regarding mixes, is take your mix and a/b it with a 'commercial' song that you like or feel is similar to yours... and listen for what you like more about the sounds of each. pay attention to the individual elements' levels relative to each other... and also listen to how the individual parts sound when you compare em... like maybe your guitar is more 'mid-rangey' or their vocal has a more 'constant' volume so they probably compressed it... or what ever. then, take what you learn and apply it to your mix. then rinse and repeat. do that a couple of times and you'll begin to 'get' how to get that sound you have in yer noggin'

good work on these and props for wanting to get better.

I think a better idea is to make your own damn songs.

they are re-recordings of his own songs, dumbshit.

jolly roger wrote: ...In my mind, even a not so great drum take on tape recorder is better than my mediocre hammerhead programming.

it deffinately helps the 'vibe'.

I found this old song of my uncle's on an old tape. He was coming to my sister's wedding, and I decided that I'd rerecord the song and let him do vocals as kind of a chance to enjoy his old song. It was originally recorded when he was about 14 and just learning his craft. He's actually a really good songwriter now. He did the vocals in the new version, mostly for fun.

Thousand Miles - Old Version
Thousand Miles - New Version

blue wrote:

Denyer wrote:

Kweep wrote:over all, the vocal tone/effects and performance are, as you said, tons better on the first one... as are the electric guitar noodles. the mix is way better, too. but, the new version's arpegiated guitars and drum direction are cooler, imo.

a pretty cool thing to do, regarding mixes, is take your mix and a/b it with a 'commercial' song that you like or feel is similar to yours... and listen for what you like more about the sounds of each. pay attention to the individual elements' levels relative to each other... and also listen to how the individual parts sound when you compare em... like maybe your guitar is more 'mid-rangey' or their vocal has a more 'constant' volume so they probably compressed it... or what ever. then, take what you learn and apply it to your mix. then rinse and repeat. do that a couple of times and you'll begin to 'get' how to get that sound you have in yer noggin'

good work on these and props for wanting to get better.

I think a better idea is to make your own damn songs.

they are re-recordings of his own songs, dumbshit.

read what I quoted

Thought since my Convalescence mix was so bad, I'd make an effort to remix it. Mostly, I just lowered the guitar, and I think it made a huge difference. It'd be cool if you comment, but if you don't want to, don't feel obligated to.

Convalescence (New)

Cool song, rad drums. Love the guitar tone and the intricate snare stuff; both are mixed loud enough to really showcase the performance. The snare and kick sound a bit treble-shy, and the snare sounds a little out of place from the rest of the kit; I don't know jack about mic'ing drums, but if there's a way to get more kick and snare in the overheads I'd like to hear it. Some curious arrangement decisions here: the verse and chorus are the same volume as each other, but the bridge is super-quiet... weird. Now, the elephant in the room: what is the deal with the heavy pumping in the mix? I can't tell if it's causing or being caused by the uneven bass levels. Did you use a single-band compressor on the mix-buss? If so, I'd consider increasing the release time, or just scrap it altogether and compress the snot out of that uneven bass instead.

I think the drums could do with being louder in the mix by about 10-15% - or at least closer to the rest of the instruments (if you imagine the mix as a virtual rehearsal room) - they sound a bit dull and thin here - the snare especially.

the vocals are a bit ragged - especially the backing vox - i suggest doing another track matching the one there arlready and mixing them left and right, with the main vox down the middle. the song itself is good. the guitar playing is cute. Dynamically it could do with a bigger breakdown than the 'scary slow talking' section. maybe you could pedal the guitar into a different tone here? it's all a little mono-tonal. Variety is the spice and all that.

Still these are just looking for ways to make this super-sexy rather than just sexy.

j$ wrote:I think the drums could do with being louder in the mix by about 10-15% - or at least closer to the rest of the instruments (if you imagine the mix as a virtual rehearsal room) - they sound a bit dull and thin here - the snare especially.

the vocals are a bit ragged - especially the backing vox - i suggest doing another track matching the one there arlready and mixing them left and right, with the main vox down the middle. the song itself is good. the guitar playing is cute. Dynamically it could do with a bigger breakdown than the 'scary slow talking' section. maybe you could pedal the guitar into a different tone here? it's all a little mono-tonal. Variety is the spice and all that.

Still these are just looking for ways to make this super-sexy rather than just sexy.

Yeah - I think I pretty much ditto all that too. Big improvement on the mix from the fight though - I like the song a lot - good to hear you trying to bring it up to its best