OM : Collaboration between Mobius and Lppier

[lppier]

Hi guys, here's an original entitled 不能唱摇滚 (I Can't Sing No Rock Song) by Mobius and me. Warning : Chinese lyrics.. heehe

http://www.soundclick.com/xiaokongjian

Mobius - all electric guitar parts
Lppier - lyrics, melody, vocal, arrangement

Comments much appreciated, thanks!

Pier.

 

[purplehaze3691]

The music is ok , the singing is not powerful enough for this song

cheers
purplehaze3691

 

[lppier]

Hi, thanks for listening... ya my vocals is quite weak, but I'll keep working on it, and perhaps write songs more suited for my voice.

Pier.

 

[Mobius]

Thanks purplehaze for the comment!

Anymore comments from anyone? Good or bad comments we are glad to accept. Cos we wanna know wat weakness are there so that we can improve

 

[Chang]

1. Vocals not strong enuff, not harsh enuff for the song. There isnt tt much kick in it too. In my mind the type of vocals tt will suit this song will probably like beyond. The pitching miss abit here and there, but not major enuff to be very noticeable.

2. The intro riff pretty much sets the mood for the song, other than at the intro i can't hear the riff anywhere else. Im more of a "riff person" so i prefer it to be repeated more often. It's what they call a hook, the catchy riff to catch ur attn.

3. Solo is very lacking imho. It sounds stuck in the same position, just varying it the lick alittle each time. Like my friend said, how many lines of i love u do u wanna sing? I believe this solo is pretty impromptu. Can be improved to have more variety, wider usage of notes and played at different speeds.

After so much bashing, i still feel this song is pretty decent. Just need polishing up and it will be a very grungy chinese song.

The quality of the recording is excellent btw, at least better than what i can achieve. Care to share ur recording technique? And also the drums... recorded live or digitally programmed?

 

[Mobius]

Thanks for the comments Chang. Those are not bashing but construtive comments that will help us alot. Think I have to work on the solo The riff is actually played at a softer volume during the verses, maybe its too soft to be heard :lol:

We used Sonar 4 for recording. For my elec guitar part I line out from my vox ad30vt, using the vox ac30 and marshall jcm800 amp mod. If u dont have amp that has line out, I would suggest using a DI box or mixer before the soundcard cos this will strengthen the signal and remove the buzzing. Cos pluggin direct to the soundcard, the signal will be too weak and u might turn up the volume to compensate. This in turn will cause a lot of buzzing. That is wat i experienced in the past. A good and cheap DI will be the one by Behringer, less than $100 i belive.

Vocal wise, Pier used a condenser mic plugged into a Crate 4 channel mixer if I am not wrong. U have to confirm with him on this one. A condenser mic really does wonder for recording vocals.

The drums were programmed by Pier as well

 

[Chang]

my cube 30 can line out, but still has this v little underlying buzz when u up the gain. it adds up when layer abt 4-5 guitar tracks. Nagging problem. Anyways im not too concerned abt the guitar part so it's still not so bad.

Vocal wise.. condensor mic so impt? A normal shure sm58 cant do the trick? Hmm... think i will look into this. The mixer helps clear up the sound too? what if i jack the mic direct into the comp?

And pier if u see this mind telling me the drum program u are using? Cos im really tired of GP4's midi drum tracks. Haha.

Thanks a million, and keep working on ur song!

 

[lppier]

I'm using BFD from Fxpansion. It's a cool program but you need 1gig of ram to run it properly - memory sucker.
Thanks for the comments, I appreciate all comments good or bad. I know the vocals not up to snuff, wish I had rockier vocals sometimes... The title itself is a parody on my voice la haha
Condensor mike doesn't do wonders, if your vocals is good it is good la, but it is definitely clearer. I'm using Studio Projects B1, the lowest priced large diaphragm condensor i can find.

Pier.

 

[turbochicken]

the melody is ok.
the drums need work. the humanising and mixing. esp the cymbals; they stick out. bfd can do much more than this. the other instrumentations also lack balancing.

melody's the best of it all. work on it, it has potential.

2cents,
turbo

 

[lppier]

Hi turbochicken, are you saying that the cymbals should be softer? I'm still quite new to BFD, can ask you some stuff? When the drum midi tracks are on my sequencer, will the humanisation added in the bfd console effect the midi tracks?
Thanks.

Pier.

 

[turbochicken]

Hi ippier,

you mean will it affect? it will, if that's what you're asking. but i don't utilise the humanization in the bfd often; i tweak the midi myself (i'm a drummer, so i can imagine myself drumming it).

as for the cymbals, maybe not softer, you can try reverbing it a little to bring the cymbals back slightly, coz now they sound more front than the snare and else.

btw, do you render all the different parts out in wav and mix them? or just render then entire drum track out? pm me.

 

[Mobius]

Thanks turbo for listening! Wat do u mean by lack of balancing of instrutmentals? Is it too loud or too soft? Or is the whole thing just too chaotic?

Chang:
I never tried jackin mic to soundcard before. But jacking into mixer allows u to eq ur vocals or add effects(if ur mixer has one). But then of cos u can also do that using software to eq. I dont do that cos i dont really like using software, I am more of a "tweak the knobs" kind of person. hahah..And i am using a low memory P3 pc so i don wanna crash my pc too often..haha

A shure sm58 mic is a very good mic itself, but if u have enough $$$, a condenser mic will be a good investment.

I have also have the same prob if up the gain for the guitars, anything beyond 2o'clock for gain and there will be a buzz. I wonder if its due to soundcard cos i got a pretty lame ass soundcard ..hahah..Or it may be due to the unearthed 2 pin plug thing.