YoungProdigy Posted May 9, 2015 Share Posted May 9, 2015 Hey guys, I wrote a new song "Time to Rock". It could probably be described as either hard rock or heavy metal. You can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/youngprodigymusic/young-prodigy-time-to-rock As always critique is welcome. I'd especially like to know if the mixing can be improved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Well, right off the bat, the guitar just sounds tonally and notationally fake, quite literally like a computer is playing it. :/ The writing isn't bad, but the fake guitar is really bringing this down. It's kind of inherent in rock and metal that you need realistic guitars. They don't have to be super convincing, but they aren't up to snuff here IMO. You're hitting point #2 on this post: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/40776-mixing-what-am-i-missing/?p=785497 and points #4 and 8 in the last section of this post: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/25003-post-most-common-mixingmusic-problemsmistakes-you-see/?p=784385 Basically, you need to train your ear to pick out good sounds. I honestly think this is more of a writing issue than a mixing issue. This can't be mixed to sound like a convincing rock track because the specific samples chosen here are pre-distorted and lack round robins. An example of a normal rock track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5nMWTR7wb0 If you compare the two, it should be noticeably different on the tonal realism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyril the Wolf Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 Honestly the composition of this is pretty rad! Cool riff, cool lead, a little repetitive at first, but I mean that's pretty chill considering how you use the key change and pads to change things up. Yea to be honest the biggest issue is that the composition is sweet but the sounds are terrifyingly off for this sort of piece. The distortion is really overtone-ridden. I'm not sure what sort of samples you are using but since they sound like they are pre-distorted. If you could take some time and program some "errors" in the playing it'd help, but also some velocity changes. I would suggest trying to get the guitar sound through an amp sim, and try a clean guitar sound that is really "dead* sounding without a lot of overtones... it helps the distortion. I mean if it sounds a little mechanical that can still be fine, but the biggest problem with sampled guitars is that it ends up sounding super fake because it's just like... straight distortion and the overtones don't get smoothed out by some kind of speaker sim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungProdigy Posted May 10, 2015 Author Share Posted May 10, 2015 Well, right off the bat, the guitar just sounds tonally and notationally fake, quite literally like a computer is playing it. :/ The writing isn't bad, but the fake guitar is really bringing this down. It's kind of inherent in rock and metal that you need realistic guitars. They don't have to be super convincing, but they aren't up to snuff here IMO. You're hitting point #2 on this post: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/40776-mixing-what-am-i-missing/?p=785497 and points #4 and 8 in the last section of this post: http://ocremix.org/community/topic/25003-post-most-common-mixingmusic-problemsmistakes-you-see/?p=784385 Basically, you need to train your ear to pick out good sounds. I honestly think this is more of a writing issue than a mixing issue. This can't be mixed to sound like a convincing rock track because the specific samples chosen here are pre-distorted and lack round robins. An example of a normal rock track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5nMWTR7wb0 If you compare the two, it should be noticeably different on the tonal realism. Well yes the lead guitar was made by putting a dry Sampletank 3 guitar sample through the free version of Amplitube 3. Should I perhaps try a different amp simulator to get a less nasally tone? Or maybe I should try to mess around with EQ until I get a realistic tone? I've also heard RealStrat is pretty good; but as of now, I don't have the money for it. But thanks for the critique I appreciate it. I'll definitely try to focus on improving on those points you made. Honestly the composition of this is pretty rad! Cool riff, cool lead, a little repetitive at first, but I mean that's pretty chill considering how you use the key change and pads to change things up. Yea to be honest the biggest issue is that the composition is sweet but the sounds are terrifyingly off for this sort of piece. The distortion is really overtone-ridden. I'm not sure what sort of samples you are using but since they sound like they are pre-distorted. If you could take some time and program some "errors" in the playing it'd help, but also some velocity changes. I would suggest trying to get the guitar sound through an amp sim, and try a clean guitar sound that is really "dead* sounding without a lot of overtones... it helps the distortion. I mean if it sounds a little mechanical that can still be fine, but the biggest problem with sampled guitars is that it ends up sounding super fake because it's just like... straight distortion and the overtones don't get smoothed out by some kind of speaker sim. Thanks for the critique man. What I did to get the tone of that lead was I put a clean guitar sample from Sampletank 3 through Amplitube 3. I may try to use a different clean guitar sample and see if I get better results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted May 10, 2015 Share Posted May 10, 2015 The problem with the guitar sample was that it lacked varying tones in each repeated note. So the way it's amplified, every repeated note sounds the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkDjinn Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I've gotten really lazy lately and don't record my own guitars much anymore (ashamed to say). When I need guitars, I use Shreddage II - it's great and pretty easy to get used to using. It's not expensive either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelCityOutlaw Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 I've gotten really lazy lately and don't record my own guitars much anymore (ashamed to say). When I need guitars, I use Shreddage II - it's great and pretty easy to get used to using. It's not expensive either. I've kinda gotten the same way, but not so much out of laziness from not wanting to play. Usually what I'll do now on songs that use a lower tuning than standard E or Eb is I'll sequence the rhythm guitars, but play all the leads and clean parts. Spares me having to re-tune and set the intonation again. I also discovered that my rhythm guitar parts run through the same amp sims as Shreddage II sound nigh indistinguishable in 90% of cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ofnir123 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 In terms of composition, this is a great track. Keep it, don't throw it in the trash. In terms of instrumentation and sound quality though, There might be a bit of work to do, the guitar sounds really too flat and dead. Also, I don't know if that's gonna help you or not, I just hope it doesn't discourage you from the sheer number of things, but here's a quick list of things that really change how your riff sounds when you're playing guitar. -Picking technique. (Upstroke, Downstroke, alternate picking, sweep picking, economy picking, pickslanting, pick angle... they all sound different) -Vibrato. (probably THE sound that makes a guitarist recognizable. It's when you play a note, bend it out of pitch, back again, repeatedly. TONS of nuances in there)Legato (Playing a series of notes without picking them, just hammer-ons and pull-offs. Could almost be counted in picking technique as far as sound is concerned) -Muted notes (Usually in a sequencer you can simulate that by having your note super short, but it's still not quite the same sound. Adds a percussive quality to your playing). -Harmonics (now there are pretty much different pitches by themselves, but you can get a bit of harmonic to ring at the same time as a regular note) Just combining those in a 10-note lick creates hundreds of different sounds, but it's also what really adds "humanity" to your sound. I'm sorry if this looked like a big wall of stuff you already knew, but just in case you didn't already know these, it's worth checking out each technique separately. There's literally so much a guitar can do, if you just take the extra time to modify the sound and add some irregularities, it'll sound 10x better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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