Here is the completed final version of our first song on our album Better Than Green.
Take a look at our first attempt at this song at: http://forum.bandamp.com/Audio_Review/7376.html

By Walking Stereotype

This album is sort of a "concept" album. This is the final version of the first song on the album. Enjoy.

Craig: Rythm Guitar, Drums, Bass, Vocals
Antonio: Lead Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals

(Listen with headphones for best results as the whole track is a bit quiet as of right now, and we are trying to bring up the volume, but if we do this low sort of hiss becomes apparant in the background)

I really like this. I like the simple, melancholy sound with the quirky synth added in. A very good song. But, could a bit better with some volume.

This is a good song, you need to tighten up the performance slightly and you need to bring the volume up on the whole track.
It takes it's time getting into the song, very Bob Dylanasian, drums dont start till half way. it then really starts to sound good but theres no vocal and it's very short.
But first things first....turn up the volume!

Lovely Vib, hmm seventies feel, Floydish/Dylon.
The first verse is nice, second has minor timing issues, sounds like the vox are slightly pushed.
Lead guitar sounds a bit too loud.
I would have liked the drums and Bass to have come in earlier, maybe second verse.

Overall you are making great progress, you are now starting to sound like a Band, indeed I would imagine this going down well at a live function.  It's nice to see young Bands like yourself producing Classic Sounds, I hope you influence others in your generation to do the same.

WELL DONE

**Edit
What are you planning for part two, it may not require the Drums & Bass coming in earlier??

This is very catchy. After listening to it I had it stuck in my head for ages...
You've grasped the classic element perfectly, it's in the chord progression and the vocal melody.
But it sounds like just a short medley now like a loop that need to become a produced piece.

kings: Thanks for listening man! yeah, I'm working on trying to bring up the volume on the whole thing...for some reason whenever we record the volumes are always pretty quiet. Should I put the exported mp3 file of this song (I use audacity) in another audacity project and just increase the volume on the whole thing (maybe after tweaking individual volumes like the lead guitar as denis said...it is a tad bit loud in places)? would that work? there is a little bit of a low hissing in the background which becomes more noticeable if we turn it up, but part of that is just speakers and headphones and the computers itself. (i.e. all of this hiss isnt in the song, we got pretty good quality for a little xenyx 1204fx mixer and audacity.)
im glad its catchy kings! i suppose its supposed to be a short medly as the album we are making is SORT OF a "big" track. the album pretty much tells a story....listening to just this one part wont satisfy you. (thats at least what im thinking lol) thanks again!

denis: hey thanks for listening denis!! yeah in the second verse (not the chorus) i had to push the vox a bit (the second verse is where antonio sings those vocals) and for some reason his vox were pretty quiet and overly bassy and i was adjusting the crap out of the EQ on the mixer and i turned the lows WAYY down and had the highs almost all the way up and the mids about 3/4 up...and it still wasnt loud enough but it was less bassy and more clear so i just boosted the vocals a bit in audacity. also he was getting a nasty windy popping kind of sound when he said "picture". we had a sock over the mic for both our vocal parts but when he did his it was still popping or whatever you call it on "picture" so does anyone know how we can avoid that etc?
yeah i now notice that the lead guitar is a bit loud....once we get all of our tracks recorded we'll go back and do a final mix to get them all sounding good...maybe we can find someone to proffesionally adjust the levels for us...
the bass actually starts at the very beginning of the song, im just playing it kind of softly, and then i go up to like the 16th fret and on the G string and thats the high "meedly" part that comes in a few times...i dont know how to explain it but right before the vocals first come in thats what that is. lol.
I honestly wanted this song to be kind of a slow build up because this is the album opener so I thought having the drums come in much later after the song kind of "drags" out it would give it a nice ending punch. i dont know, i just like it coming in right at the solo, but thats just me. thanks again denis!

oh and regarding your comment: "It's nice to see young Bands like yourself producing Classic Sounds, I hope you influence others in your generation to do the same" thats EXACTLY what were going for. thats partly what the album and this song is about as well. good quality music, classic sounds...stuff like that, that is now being overrun by all of the mass produced stuff thats out. the album kind of generally deals with the music side of things, media, business, and the quality of food and that as well!
its a massive idea that i even have trouble understanding at times.

thanks again both of you its really encouraging that you guys are listening and helping us progress!

(if yyou have any advice on how we can adjust the levels, or get them professionally adjusted, and how to deal with the "popping" or whatever on the word "picture" please let us know!)
thanks!!!!
       

We aren't really sure what we are going to do for Part 2 at this point...pretty much all we know is that its going to be later on in the album (later on in the "story") and that it will kind of be a postlude to the events that have happened in the album, going back to the sarcastic theme that red cool-ade (ahem ahem) is better than green.

I think we imagine that part 2 is gonna be heavier, or at least a major progression from the first one, as the character in the album has developed a lot and knows whats going on in the world and all that.


thanks man! yeah i think we'll try adjusting the volume. i really appreciate you listening!

Popping cure:

Get a wire coat hanger, bend it into a circle about 6 to 8 inches,  then put an old stocking around it. It works perfectly well, just as good as one you would buy in a shop. You can use a bulldog clip or similar to attach it to your Mic stand. I position the shield about 4 to 6 inches away from the mic.
 BTW, with regard to recording the vox, I wouldn't mess with the eq whilst recording, it will take away the rawness/dynamics of the vox, better to adjust the tone by the distance you are from the mic, the further away the more treble, so experiment to find the ideal distance. It's always better to record everything flat when recording from mics and to try and get the eq right from source, so that in the final production there is little or no eq change. The same if your micing your Bass/electric guitar, experiment with mic positions, edge off speaker, center ETC. There are loads of tutorials on the web. Drums is far the hardest, again there are some great tutorials on the web.

Recording Tips:

Hmm, If you go into your sound card settings, I think you'll find that the recording level is set too low. When I used to record like yourself this is what I did.

1. Get the optimum quality for your mixer first, eq should be flat when recording form a mics, (you can adjust the eq later when you master) then the gain setting to the highest possible setting without hiss/noise. It's impossible to have none at all, but you can get it so that it's barely audible. Plus you can latter remove it with something like Adobe audition. On most equipment the optimum setting is between 50 to 80%.

2. When your happy with your mixer, set-up your PC as you would to record, go to your sound card settings and adjust the line in recording level so that it's more or less slightly clipping. You may need to alternate between windows and audacity to achieve this, hence you'll need audacity to see the recording level.

3. Now you have done the above, your equipment is now set-up to it's optimum recording quality, so all you would need to do now is set-up your levels from your mixer output, so they are not clipping. I personally try and record at the highest possible setting without it clipping, especially recording from mics.

Another good tip is to master as you go, in other words try and get the levels mix pan etc as you record each track, in that way when it comes to the final mastering it will only require minor adjustments, which means you will be getting a true quality sound, rather than using loads of effects that would indeed change the sound. It's OK if you want to create an effect obviously.

I can master your tracks for you if you like. Would be better to learn yourself, so that you can tweak everything to your own preference. I use Adobe Audition 1.5  to master my songs, it''s pretty good at removing hiss/noise and getting the optimum levels

Let me know how you get on

"Mama take this guns from me
I can't use them anymore (...)"

I think I'll keep myself away from the AMP for a while.
Sorry guys, but this TOO extremely Knocking-on-Heaven-Doors-ish for me.
I don't want to criticize but I'm still looking forward to new ideas, not just recycling.
I just hope you don't take this in a bad way.
Cheers.

             > Iszil

PS: I don't think the lyrics goes like that...

Holy freaking crap thank you so much denis. I will reply to your comment in more detail later with a few other questions I have (stuff about the audio properties and stuff.)

Iszil:
lol funny I just read your last comment on the other guys song where you said something like this. the song is sort of meant to sound like this...its super simple, just a simple chord progression...and its not for anyone. we realized that when we started this that we cannot expect EVERYONE to like or songs. So im glad your being honest and it might just be the way your feeling right now or whatever. thanks for your comment. we know that we cant be the best for everyone! thanks!

Maybe you did sign in to the AMP at a bad time.

Yeah, well, I wasn't going to lie. It's not that I didn't like the song, but I just felt it was Knocking on Heavens Doors with new lyrics. Even the "phrasing" (don't know if that's the word, but I mean the timing and rhythm you sing the lyrics) it's almost the same. I just couldn't help to start singing that old Dylan's song while listening to yours. I was to obvious.
I insist: There's no problem in using old and threshed chords progressions, but I think you need to have to come up with new and original arrangements... or at least change the tempo of the key!
I am aware that I might be sounding tough, but I hope you understand that sometimes there are some ideas that you either work them a lot or you just simply put the on the trash bin.
You just say that the song is meant to be like this: simple arrangements and simple progression. The problem is that Dylan came with that decades ago and now we need to renew it, no need to sound "modern".
I know you are a big fan of Floyd and I am a big fan too. The bassist of my band is coming up with some floydish stuff and sometimes I'm a bit suspicious to either sound boring or to similar to Pink Floyd. What we just do is develop the idea - that doesn't mean making it complex but making it sound original or at least different -. Just consider this: you don't need to change the chords progression but maybe just change the instrument you start with, a different intro, maybe change the key, the beat... there are many things you can do to a simple idea to make it sound original no need to make it complex.
Well, I hope this helps although I'm not trying to teach you anything but to make a point here.
Good luck with the band. I'm sure with all the good stuff you like to listen, good stuff is going to come out.

           > Iszil

I have no idea what chords he uses on knocking on heavens door, and no one else (here on the amp and my friends and others) has suggested that it sounds exactly like it. It is similar I suppose, but it wasn't intended to be like that, and we didn't purposefully make it that way. When you say we should have come up with new and original arrangements...this was original...its not a cover or anything.

who cares if we sound similar to dylans work...we arent trying to, and if we do, some people will like us for it, and some people wont. im sure some of our stuff will sound like pink floyd, some will sound like rush, heck some might even sound like weezer or some new band.

music has been around for a VERY long time and im pretty sure everyone is bound to sound a bit like someone else at one point or another. i dont think we are going to change anything because the phrasing or the progression or the style sounds similar...or "the same".

And again we arent trying to copy dylans piece! In fact, I never heard the ORIGINAL Knocking on Heavens door by Bob Dylan...I have only heard it by eric clapton....which sounds considerably different. I have just listened to it (the dylan version) on grooveshark, and the chords do sound similar...I was surprised actually....who knows if youll believe me but Im being completely honest when I say this is the first time that I have heard the dylan version of the song. My parents had this Eric Clapton CD and when they played it, thats the one I head.

Our song is at a different speed, a different feel, and maybe it will give people who listen to it a feeling of the past and they might enjoy it....if it reminds you of knocking on heavens door (the bob dylan one...as if you have heard the eric clapton one im sure youll understand it sounds much different) then it may be a good thing or it may be bad. We arent gonna change it because it sounds similar because we didnt even know about the other song. Ive probably restated myself thousands of times by now, but I am just trying to make this clear.
We are not trying to copy anyones stuff! I see now that it does sound similar, but this is an entirely different song, with our effort put into it. We cant change it now.

EDIT: Dylans has a MUCH different feel and expression on the guitar as well. Maybe we are playing one or two of the same chords in the same place...but its different.

Man, I never said you are trying to copy any artist. I'd never think something like that, and anyway doing it would be stupid.
I just said that it sounds a lot like Knocking ( Dylan's, Guns N Roses', or any other version). I know that Clapton did a cover but that's kinda reggae so I didn't even mention it.
Anyway, I won't start arguing cause that won't get us anywhere.
If you like your song it's OK. That's the important part of all.
Good luck.

           > Iszil

Sorry I didn't mean to sound like you were saying that we were trying to copy an artist, I know you werent saying that. I was pretty much just speaking my mind in a LOT of words.
The eric clapton one was the only one I heard until now. (I think I heard the guns n roses one as well actually).

I dont want this to be an argument either, as thats not what Im trying to do. I appreciate that you made your point in your comments, and I might have overworked things in mine.

Important:
(I dont know if this is possible but can we somehow delete this conversation as it kind of detracts from the page cause this is Audio Review...we could move this to the pit or something even. we can keep your first post where you bring up your feeling about it if you want. I just dont want this whole thing of our first song for the album being cluttered up by this.)
I know I can delete my posts, and I think you can delete yours too. I just want the replies to be about the song and not this huge conversation....