New Rockier Song from Poppi
Hey all,
Just finished a new song with Anita, who I’m writing with at the moment.
You can listen to it here
http://www.mp3.com.au/Poppi/
It is the first song in the list on the right hand side "You Got Me Running"
It’s a bit rock-ier than our other acoustic stuff…
Jamstix is playing the drums.
Any feedback on the song itself or the production is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich
I like it. I would put some effects on the vocals though but I don’t know what.
EDIT
And the more I hear Jamsticks the more I like it
Thanks StuH.
A few people have said the vocals sound a bit dry so I might try adding some more reverb to them…
And yeah the more I use Jamstix the more I learn and the better I get at using it.
It’s like anything instrument/tool really… not too hard to get a result with it, but takes a bit of practice and learning to get good results or to master it.
Rich
Actually I like the way the vocals are recorded. The singer (singers?) has a pleasing voice quality. In a couple of places the vocals drift off pitch slightly. You might try running these parts through a pitch corrector like GSnap (a freeby to be found on the web). It works quite well for the minor pitch correction that is needed here. Instruments are well recorded. The lead guitar has 60’s sound that works pretty well to me.
I know that you might primarily be asking for opinions on the recording techniques, but because I try to write songs, I can’t keep from commenting on the song itself. The chorus has something going for it, and has a pretty good hook. But in my opinion the melody during the verses repeats too exactly too many times. A little variation (eg. descending the scale at the end of the first repetition of a musical phrases, then descending at the endo of the next repetition of the phrase) would be easy to add, and would add a lot of life and interest to the song.
Overall, a credible effort.
T
Thanks tspringer.
WEll if I have time this weekend (which I’m not sure I will at this point…) I’ll have a muck around with the vocals… try some mre verb and also try pitch correction. I downloaded Gsnap a while back but haven’t had a real good play with it.
Thanks for the feedback on the song too.
I kinda like the repetitive nature of the verse… but will discuss with Anita and see what she thinks and if she is up for som re-tracking 
Rich
I’ve just had a listen Rich - so here goes!!
- The songs cool. No problems there nice and groovy.
- I think some EQ of the kick and floor toms (Jamstix “overhead” tracks perhaps) is needed to get rid of “flub”, although the floor tom is nice and resonant. I think drums suffer a touch from jamstix tendancy toward overplaying too.
- I keep thinking I’m hearing a cowbell at the start of the song in a few places. While I’m a big fan of cowbell, it sounds a bit out of place here almost like a mis-hit (or a clip).
- Some of the playing is a touch out of time in places. Not too bad, just a couple of slightly missed cues, particular on the right.
- Bring up the bass guitar (is there one there?). I’m thinking there’s one, but it’s very indistinct from the guitar on the left.
- And the vocals are very upfront, as mentioned before.
- I’d double the guitar on the left and pan it right. Maybe open chords with a light overdrive?
I’d just like to hear a bit more on the production side, but it’s all there, especially the groove. And the chick sounds sexy. I’d be interested to hear what you’ve done with the vocals at this stage of the mix. Sounds like something tubey.
Willy.
Thanks Willy.
I’ve never really EQ’d drums… I’m not sure where to start - I’ll have to do some reading up
They are just the drums straight from JS on 4 separate channels with a bit of reverb on everything except the kick.
Definitely no cowbell or click track in there… I had a listen again and can’t hear it…
The timing I’ll probably leave unless I can be bothered to track the guitars again…lazy me!
There is a bass guitar. Just me playing bass so it’s not a really good bass track so maybe that’s why you don’t notice it cause it follows the guitar too much… I’ll eperiment with that when I remix.
Good idea about thickening the rhythm guitar up.
All vocals were recorded with a Rode NT1
Probably about 10cm from mouth.
Went into an ART DPS preamp and then a behringer autocom pro (basically to tame the levels going in) before hitting my soundcard.
Then on the vocal group I had the Kjaerhus Classic EQ, Kjaerhus Classic Comp and TLs Saturated Driver in that order.
Then had aux channels for a short and long reverb and a chorus. Chorus was only used during the bridge
Also had some extra reverb on the backing vocals in the bridge
I’ve only just started using the TLs Saturated plugin and am liking it on vocals. Just used the “Warming” preset and tweaked from there.
Hehe I’ll tell Anita you reckon she sounds sexy. She’ll get a laugh outta that
Rich
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| Hehe I’ll tell Anita you reckon she sounds sexy. She’ll get a laugh outta that |
Well, I was going to say she sounded horny, but felt that was inapproriate.
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| Definitely no cowbell or click track in there… I had a listen again and can’t hear it… |
On the MP3 I dl’ed from the mp3.com site, I get a single hit at 4seconds, a click-click at just after 8 seconds and a single click pretty much spot on 39 and 53 seconds. There’s a few more, but I haven’t logged the times.
I like the backup vocals when they come in, they don’t seemed polished and not particularly separated (is that you buried on the left?) but it seems to work together.
Edit: I’d just like to say that there’s something to be said for a sparse arrangement - I just had a listen to the stuff I’m working on and it sounds tinny and small compared to this. More polished perhaps, but lacking in something. The mixes I’m doing at the moment have 6-8 guitars, real drums, droppins, fancy pans and evolutions but it sounds less organic than this.
Actually, it sounds like we’re playing in a tunnel - I might cut back on the reverb on the guitars I think.
Willy.
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| On the MP3 I dl’ed from the mp3.com site, I get a single hit at 4seconds, a click-click at just after 8 seconds and a single click pretty much spot on 39 and 53 seconds. There’s a few more, but I haven’t logged the times. |
I think what you are hearing is the snare bounce or rimshot sound…
Yeah I was doing backing vocals as well as another girl, Tunde, who was also doing the quieter parts in the bridge.
Was trying to mix the BVs so none in particular stood out.
Usually when I record and mix I try and get it sounding close to what it would sound like live - but that’s just my thing. I wouldn’t know where to start on a big production thing ala David Lee Roth - Skyscraper
Rich
Hi Rich
I think that the Jamstix drums would really benefit nicely from some EQ work as someone mentioned earlier. I’ve noticed that you have spent a lotta time with Jamstix and I bet if ya spent a little time on the EQ ing part of it you would be amazed at the difference.
Does Jamstix let you EQ the individual pieces of the kit ? In other words when Jamstix is done writing its part do you end up with multiple tracks ( kick, snare, toms, etc. ) so you can adjust volume and EQ on each individually ? If so, their is a lot you can do to add some pop and interest to your drums.
Take Care
Ted
Yes Jamstix lets you output the drums to as many separate channels as you wish (up to 16 I think).
At the moment I only use the 4 default channels and have them as :
1- Kick
2 - Snare
3 - Everything else
4 - Overheads (which has all drums as if recorded with stereo overhead mics)
I could probaby add another output channel and have all my cymbals on that for mre EQ flexibility.
I’ve never EQ’d drums before so am not really sure what to do to give them more “life”… I have a busy weekend this weekend but will try and do some research
thanks,
Rich
Yeah, the eq channels in the mixer work on jamstix outs just like normal.