Help me choose a song please...

[MarkTiarra]

I need to submit one of these to a hard rock station and I would really appreciate some of ya'll folks picking which one I ought to use.

A Case of Lies

Thank You

[DeanCapture]

Listening now........

[DeanCapture]

I liked "Thank You" best!

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by DeanCapture

I liked "Thank You" best!

Thanks for taking the time to listen.

[split_joel]

Originally Posted by MarkTiarra

I need to submit one of these to a hard rock station and I would really appreciate some of ya'll folks picking which one I ought to use.

A Case of Lies

Thank You

I am not trying to be a dick but what rock station would play either of these songs. The mixing is horrible, the drums don't go with the hard style of the guitar and vocals, and the vocals are just horrible. The only thing decent is the guitar.

If i had to choose though i'd pick "thank you"

Sorry if I am coming off as a dick but I am being honest.

[ExLust]

"Thank you" is better.

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by split_joel

I am not trying to be a dick but what rock station would play either of these songs. The mixing is horrible, the drums don't go with the hard style of the guitar and vocals, and the vocals are just horrible. The only thing decent is the guitar.

If i had to choose though i'd pick "thank you"

Sorry if I am coming off as a dick but I am being honest.

I'd rather you be honest than feed me shit. What did you listen to it on? We've been A/Bing against some other music trying to level out the vox mixes for a couple weeks now and we've gone through the monitors (obviously) a good car stereo and my PC speakers. It's always the biggest problem getting stuff mastered so it sounds good on everything but eventually that won't be handled in a home project studio so I'm not worried about it too much at this juncture.

[d-null]

Originally Posted by split_joel

Sorry if I am coming off as a dick but I am being honest.

hate to say something negative too, but honesty and constructive criticism never hurt anyone's chances and it is probably better to hear honesty so that you can try to improve things that need improvement...... the vocals sound weak, they kind of exude a lack of intensity or effort even, and I am open minded and love a wide range of vocal styles covering all ranges from operatic classical styles to inward breathing pig squeals, so it is not a "taste" thing, just that the vocals are not working for what you are trying to do with them... that is going to be the first thing that will stick out when anyone listens to your demos and it will scream "amateur" before they can even give it a chance... I'd re-record the vocals and even then that might not be enough with this vocalist, but I'm sure a better effort could be achieved

good luck with your projects and take criticism as something to build from and be stronger from

[d-null]

^^^ I was typing that out when you replied to him so hadn't read your reply until after I posted it.... glad to see you have a good attitude. I don't think it is the mix honestly, unless you were to bury the vocals to try to save it, but that would be a crutch.

[d-null]

listening to it again to try to figure out exactly what gave the impression it did to me when I first listened

the vocalist is in tune, I'm not sure if the "quiet"-"heavy" approach is what bothers me, almost like it sounds like the singer is holding back and keeping volume low at the same time as trying to sound strong, it just seems that the approach is clashing in places... like I said, a re-record might be an idea, because the vocalist sounds like he could do better

[d-null]

listened a few more times and getting a bit better impression of it after a few listens, I think the vocal staccato 'breaks' at the 30 second point and again a little later in the song 'thank you' could use something a little more to strengthen them

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by d-null

listening to it again to try to figure out exactly what gave the impression it did to me when I first listened

the vocalist is in tune, I'm not sure if the "quiet"-"heavy" approach is what bothers me, almost like it sounds like the singer is holding back and keeping volume low at the same time as trying to sound strong, it just seems that the approach is clashing in places... like I said, a re-record might be an idea, because the vocalist sounds like he could do better

The vocals in the room were quite powerful sounding so it's gotta be something I'm doing wrong during the recording process. When I finish up enough of the tracks I am going to take them to one of the big NY studios here and see how they treat them and learn from it.

Thanks for the honest assessments.

[d-null]

also not really seeing the wisdom of going into a 1 minute blues jam for the last minute of the song, might work well for a live gig but the feel goes away from the first 2/3 of the song so as a radio play it would kind of just drag things in an unrelated way, for a radio edit I would probably fade it out within the first 10 seconds of that last minute, or rewrite/mix so that it is more of an interlude thing that brings it back to the beginning again in some way... just some ideas throwing at you

overall the skills are there and it's a pretty decent effort and recording

[d-null]

Originally Posted by MarkTiarra

The vocals in the room were quite powerful sounding so it's gotta be something I'm doing wrong during the recording process. When I finish up enough of the tracks I am going to take them to one of the big NY studios here and see how they treat them and learn from it.

Thanks for the honest assessments.

keep tweaking, polishing, rewriting parts, remixing, rerecording your way to perfection, you're on the right path

[Garfield]

I like more A Case of Lies, maybe because is more direct than Thank you
at times the music reminded me to the Fight era (Halford's band)
anyway, I would go with a song with more catchy riffs or a repetitive chorus if is to broadcast it in a radio station, but that's not the point of your poll anyway, lol
again.... I like more A Case of Lies
and of course.... KEEP ROCKING!

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by d-null

keep tweaking, polishing, rewriting parts, remixing, rerecording your way to perfection, you're on the right path

Same deal it's been learning to fight BJJ. I consider these a blue belt effort on the way to black belt and hence why it's good to get advice in places. Oddly I'm finding on the instrumental stuff I do I get dead on mixes and never seem to hear to the contrary anymore (http://www.mark-tiarra.com/music/mar...hatsgoinon.mp3 is a good example) so this seems to be all about incorporating vocals into the skill set.

Got your comment on the outro too, thanks. I should mention I have no intention of making any kind of career out of this stuff and write solely for my own enjoyment. In this instance I happen to have to submit a track to a friend who asked to spin something on a college station he DJs at and I wanted to get opinions because my taste is so far out there I think it's not in touch with the general public not even by a long shot. =]

[d-null]

Originally Posted by MarkTiarra

Got your comment on the outro too, thanks. I should mention I have no intention of making any kind of career out of this stuff and write solely for my own enjoyment. In =]

cool, you have the talent there, a few more things coming together in the right way and you could end up with a song that will have people phoning the radio station requesting "hey that was cool, play that again"

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by d-null

cool, you have the talent there, a few more things coming together in the right way and you could end up with a song that will have people phoning the radio station requesting "hey that was cool, play that again"

Heehee thanks. That'd be neat but then what would I do with it? I'm certainly not going on a tour at this stage of my life. But hey the old ego always wants to hear people say cool things about things it makes. =]

[tranza]

I Liked 'Thank you'!

[MarkTiarra]

Originally Posted by Garfield

I like more A Case of Lies, maybe because is more direct than Thank you
at times the music reminded me to the Fight era (Halford's band)
anyway, I would go with a song with more catchy riffs or a repetitive chorus if is to broadcast it in a radio station, but that's not the point of your poll anyway, lol
again.... I like more A Case of Lies
and of course.... KEEP ROCKING!

Wow going back with the Halford reference. =] These are the first two songs I've worked on that had anything of that type of hoarse "screamo" vocal on them I don't recall if Halford ever went that direction? I'll have to go look for some of that music and see.

Anyway thanks for taking the time to check it out.