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"It may be all I need is love, least that’s what I’ve been told, But love is always best when it’s the love of rock ‘n’ roll"

"Any country, continent I’ll tell you on the whole, They lose their inhibitions when they hear that rock ‘n’ roll"

Any suggestions, improvements, constructive criticism welcome.

We All Love Rock 'n' Roll

Last edited by Killer; 11/12/22 09:33 AM.
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cant beat some R n' R.

love that lyric bout rr from god above.

lots of great lyrics.

happiness

om


my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs
(90 songs created useing bb/rb)
(lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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Fabulous intro - it's a cool song but the vocal is strident around 2100Hz...if you could pull back a broad moderate chunk from the vocals based around that you won't loose presence but that harshness will be reduced. Adding a couple of dB below 130Hz gives the bottom end some oomph too as your master has a fairly steep roll off in the bottom end. The mix is pretty hot in the high mids generally.

There seems to be no committed solo...there are pieces here n there and they all inhabit the sides rather than something ripping up the middle.

What's you & your's in this and what's BIAB? It's a bit of a forum requirement to disclose that stuff and you've been given a free pass on that a couple of times - so time to pony up...besides I'm very interested in how you built this.

Dave Edmunds' flavour all over this - cool.

Last edited by rayc; 11/12/22 04:05 PM.

Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Good old school rock song! And I like it.

Vocal performance is good.

What BIAB tracks are you using?

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Hiya!

Thanks for the comments, it's much appreciated.

rayc - the advice re the vocal "stridency" is just the kind of help I was after; another pair of ears with more experience than me. I knew it didn't sound good enough but couldn't have said why. I'll address them and see how it comes out.

Everything on this track is BIAB; apart from the vocals of course. It's then exported as individual WAV files into Acoustica Mixcraft. TBH, I just listened to the BIAB version and my mixed version, I'm wondering if I don't prefer the BIAB one I haven't mixed!

This song had two more verses (which I loved, of course, but something had to give) but I cut them from the mix, using a simple "split" option in Mixcraft.


****** Song Summary *************
Title: Everybody Likes Rock & Roll v1a
File:Everybody LOVES Rock & Roll v4c.SGU
Key=C , Tempo 109, Length (m:s)=4:50
No intro. 128 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 128. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
Soloist track has 281 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Song is saved with bar changes for Tempo,Volume Changes,
Style is =HBIL_SZ.STY (Up Tempo Electric Guitar)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic Piano (1),
RealTracks in style: ~388:Bass, Electric, Metal Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1726:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm HonkyTonkJohn Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~~496:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm StoneZ Honky 1 Ev 120
RealDrums [in style:NashvilleEven8^6-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat Open

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@rayc Interesting your Dave Edmunds reference. I've just finished this book by a co-conspirator of his, Deke Leonard. Among many other things he mentions how Dave used to wander into the studio and help produce stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rhinos-Winos-Lunatics-legend-nroll-ebook/dp/B00L2H6ASQ/ref=sr_1_1

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Liked the song and performance a lot. Sonically it grates a bit, but I'm no engineer who can tell you what to tweak. I do a lot of blind experimenting with EQ until my songs sound good to my ears, maybe that will work for you. Of course, often folks here will tell me it's back to the drawing board. I wouldn't sweat it a lot, the song and your singing were ACE and that's the important thing. So, good work!


Windows 11, Intel Core I5 10400, 16 gig ram, Scarlett 2i2, Sony Acid Music Studio 10, BIAB 2020 UltraPlus Pak
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"Sonically it grates a bit, but I'm no engineer who can tell you what to tweak."

I agree and am trying to tweak as per rayc's previous comments. I may go back to the drawing board too, there's something there that's not right (that grates crazy)

Having these opinions is progress. Thank you

Last edited by Killer; 11/14/22 12:51 AM.
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Originally Posted By: Killer
"Sonically it grates a bit, but I'm no engineer who can tell you what to tweak."

I agree and am trying to tweak as per tayc's previous comments. I may go back to the drawing board too, there's something there that's not right (that grates crazy)

Having these opinions is progress. Thank you

Dude, you have a great voice and old-time-rock'n roll is not a common genre here , kudos.
You also have a great attitude about making progress which will pay dividends.

If I were to offer any suggestion it would be the intro needs a little work, I think the vocals came in too early or too late; in rock think symmetry. Also, pay attention to how Bob Seger, Chuck Berry or Bad Company transition between their verses.

Keep at it man, you have talent.


https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677
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Really nice rock song!
And your voice is just the kind this sort of song needs.

Rob and Anne-Marie


We are Rob Meulman and Anne-Marie Bovenkamp from The Netherlands.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1gsdNLE7_Gy8qavoOplQow/videos
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Good ol' rock and roll

When this started I immediately thought of Bachman Turner Overdrive.

Super vocal and backing tracks

This is an excellent R&R song


Waitress "How did you find your steak sir"?

Me "I just looked next to the potatoes and there it was"!

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Billy, good song. I like the drive throughout it. Ray gave some good suggestions. I'm not a very good tech, but FWIW I think the rhythm guitar and the bass are a touch loud in the mix. I might add some reverb on the rhythm guitar as well. There are some lead guitar lines in both the far right and left. I think I'd either make it all on one side or the other. Or maybe, significantly change the tone of one of the guitars in order to make it clear there are two guitars, one on either side. I liked the drum roll out at the end, but I probably would have left the guitars in until then (probably just a style thing.) I'd like to see you post the words too, it's a good song.

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The melody line is a bit reminiscent of Squeeze, which is good in my book.

I like the reference at the end - nice.

Good song, I enjoyed it!

OK, on to criticisms you can feel free to ignore. wink

Since this is sort of emulating classic rock, I'd suggest comparing the mix to some classic rock songs.

For fun, I brought up a couple of Rolling Stones songs on YouTube - Sympathy for the Devil and Baby Please Don't Go. The first thing I noticed was that the mix wasn't that bright or piercing.

The next thing I noticed was that at any one point, there was only one single point of attention. On Sympathy for the Devil, it starts with the congas. Then the guitar comes in with it's part, and although the congas keep going, it feels like a call and response between the guitar/piano and the congas. When the vocal comes in, the lead guitar backs out, only coming in at the end of phrases. And so on.

The other thing I noticed about the Rolling Stones songs was that you can hear that different instruments are in different frequencies, so they don't step on each other. For example, when the guitar plays, it's in a frequency range that keeps it from competing with the vocals. This is partly done by the people playing, who are aware of the other instruments, and make choices appropriately. In addition, the mixer is probably putting high/low pass cuts and EQ to keep things in their place.

Listen to 3:10 in your song. The piano is bright and in the upper register - but so in the piano. You've panned them to different speakers, but they're still stepping on each other.

I realize that you're going for a rock-and-roll cacophony here, but contrast that with the piano in Sympathy for the Devil, which is dull and stays in the mid/low register.

So my main suggestion is this: figure out at every point in time what one part is supposed to have focus. Go through that section, and make sure that nothing is competing with it. The simplest thing to do is just remove something that's in the same frequency.

If you have to keep it in, cut it down to the absolute essential part, playing where the other part isn't.

If you can't reduce the part, use EQ to keep it in a narrow frequency range so it stays away from any instrument it might be fighting with.

You can also reduce the volume and pan to different speakers, but arranging the sound so it doesn't compete in the first place is the best route.

Finally, if you have a particular mix sound in mind, bring up the song you're aiming for, so you can compare you mix with that one.

Hopefully something there is useful. laugh


-- David Cuny

My virtual singer development blog
Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?

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Nice to hear some good ole no compromise rock 'n roll!

The write, the band, the vocals and the arrangement all work toward the above.

You've received a lot of good advice about the mix. We will only add that it is very loud and suggest that you might want to check out Loudnesspenalty.com. It is a free, no sign up required site that will immediately give you feedback on how loud your song is relative to what streaming platforms are looking for.

Good song and rock on!

J&B


Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks!
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Man, I can definitely hear The Killer on piano. Great rocker., Lots of words, but you managed to make each one very clear. Not an easy thing in RnR. "But we like it!!!"


Enjoy whatever happens!
marty

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I forgot to mention that I really appreciated the humour in the band name. THANKS...a laugh is a good thing.


Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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