Brad Sucks BFF forums

1. 

   Brad
   sucks

   Here's a new Bad Sign mix. Compare and contrast with the demo. What do you think?

   Posted 3 years ago #
2. 

   BMcC
   Member

   Hm... Sounds good! But I'll have to listen to it in a better environment later. I'm on my laptop (more like CRAPtop, amirite?) right now.

   First thoughts are: It sounds a lot less compressed (?) and a lot clearer. I can hear each instrument in greater detail now, especially the bass and shakers.

   I haven't listened to em back-to-back yet (I will on my nice machine), but the dancier drums jumped out at me as the biggest musical difference. I dunno how I feel about em. I mean, they sound real good in the song, but the "old" drums didn't have that 808ish hat click (IIRC) and made the sound a bit more... acoustic, I guess? Honest, it's not a problem though. The new drums fit fine. Oh, I like the original drums returning for a brief moment at the end too.

   Is the solo also new? Eh, I'll need to listen back-to-back. :)

   I like it. I think the new mix "fits" better with the other tracks sonically. But again, I'll have to listen in a better environment.

   Alright, rock on. ;)

   Posted 3 years ago #
3. 

   BMcC
   Member

   P.S. -- Are there some ::clears throat:: posts... missing?

   You know, when you upgraded the forum?

   Posted 3 years ago #
4. 

   Brad
   sucks

   Only posts I think I lost were the private ones because bbPress has no private functionality built in. But I've still got them archived.

   Thanks for the mix feedback. Yeah the drums sound less realistic but I like their energy a bit more I think. They were actually the original drums but I swapped them out for the demo ones and now have put them back. I think the demo drums are still in the background in this one.

   Glad to hear it's clearer though. I didn't spend much time on the other mix and I've adjusted my monitor positioning so I'm still a little wobbly.

   Posted 3 years ago #
5. 

   james
   Member

   I like the new mix. Like BMcC says, everything is much cleaner (particularly the base line) and the parts all come through well with a nice balance. I also like the ending better with fewer bird-sounds. The only thing I miss from the demo version is the fuzz over the vocals, which I thought worked well with the mood of the lyrics (don't ask me why).

   Posted 3 years ago #
6. 

   tvhoward
   Member

   I for one sort of miss the hazy sheen of the guitars in the demo version...but hey, I can keep the mp3. Everything else in the new mix sounds great...almost swedish-indie-pop levels of shine. Good song.

   Posted 3 years ago #
7. 

   JYMusic
   Member

   Major improvement over the demo!

   I'd say maybe reduce the level of the high hat slightly.

   Noticed something at 2:28 sounded like feedback. Don't know if that was intended.

   Maybe it's supposed to be this way, but the guitar chords underneath the solo seemed to be a bit too distorted and dissonant sounding. There were also sometimes some faint high pitched "clink" sounds in the background during the solo, they seemed to be in time with the song, so maybe they were intentional.

   Overall, sounds real good.

   JY

   Posted 3 years ago #
8. 

   bjrn
   Member

   Woo! More music!

   The clean sound is nice, but I have a bit of problem with the combo with the clean sound and the electric guitar. I don't think the main sound and the fuzzy electric guitar mesh as good as they did in the first demo. I'm mainly talking about the bits that start at 0:55 and 2:06 (and somewhere at 3:something). It works for the solo (which follows from the 2:06 part), but the first two ... I don't know, the fuzziness sticks out a bit. Perhaps it's just me. Perhaps I need to listen to it a few more times.

   Overall I prefer the new mix though, as others have said it sounds clearer and more balanced. For instance the bass was a bit hard to hear clearly in some parts of the first demo, and it's much better in this new mix.

   Sounds good, I'm going to listen to it a bit more now.

   Posted 3 years ago #
9. 

   Brad
   sucks

   This is great feedback, thanks guys. (Any more is welcome too.)

   JYMusic: I noticed that feedback thing too, I'm not sure what that is actually. All the guitar except the acoustic are totally artificial in this thing.

   I'll have a listen at the other observations when my ears have rested a bit.

   Posted 3 years ago #
10. 

    EGGNOG
    Member

    I love it, the base line, guitar and vocals are excellent! keep up the good work

    Posted 3 years ago #
11. 

    puce
    Member

    Brad, I must say, I find this mix very hard to listen to. The song rocks, obviously, but the overall tone sounds really fatiguing to me. Mostly it's that the mix is very very bright up above 5khz, especially for a laid-back acousti-rock song. Also, the bass sounds like it has a huge boost around 250hz but not much low-end to it, which makes different notes come through at drastically different volumes on my monitors, and is really eating up a lot of the space where I'd expect the guitars to be sitting.

    Aside from the overall tone, the mix is sounding quite good: there's a good relative balance between the various instruments and a nice stereo spread, and the vocal level is perfect.

    Posted 3 years ago #
12. 

    Brad
    sucks

    puce: I had been wondering about the brightness aspect. The guitars are kind of tinny for some reason. Interesting about the bass, I do find my monitors hide monster bass notes so that's good to know.

    Posted 3 years ago #
13. 

    buildingonfire
    Member

    Catchy as always, nice rocking sound. Love the little yells (is that what they are? Like somebody going 'hup!') in the way-background during the chorus.

    I'm sure you're well past this point in the scheme of things, but maybe a bridge would be a nice change of pace; a dip into a slightly different feel and then back into the forward motion of the song.

    I'm the first guy to appreciate the use of synth in a rock song, but I wish the 'wow' bassy synth in the second verse did something a bit more imaginative.

    Electric bass sounds great. Good sound and line.

    All that said, the writing and production is up to your standard of quality, which in my opinion is very high. This one's already stuck in my head.

    Posted 3 years ago #
14. 

    nedrubwerd
    Member

    I listened to the new mix on my laptop, but I couldn't make out a lot of details because they're laptop speakers. So I put the mp3 file on my flash stick and tried to play it in my digital stereo system but it won't play. It just skips to the next song on my flash stick. So I'll have to wait until I can go home (instead of being at my mom's house) and listen to it on something better.

    Posted 3 years ago #
15. 

    TheWake
    Member

    The lttle birdies in the intro drove my dog into a frenzy, out the dog door to investigate the yard. I'll be back once I get it thru my monitors.

    Posted 3 years ago #
16. 

    liam
    Member

    i think you put the song below its potential by changing the drum part. it's really boring now

    i think most people probably like cleaner better but i don't so i'm trying not to take that into consideration

    Posted 3 years ago #
17. 

    Brad
    sucks

    liam: really, it makes that much of a difference?

    Posted 3 years ago #
18. 

    buildingonfire
    Member

    I agree with liam that the drums aren't optimal, though I don't think the song is boring. I feel like it would be better with some real drums.

    Posted 3 years ago #
19. 

    Brad
    sucks

    I think that hihat loop I'm using in there is probably a bit overbearing and dancey.

    Posted 3 years ago #
20. 

    liam
    Member

    maybe i was overreacting because i thought the old version was better, but yeah it was better with the other drum part. sorry if i made you feel bad.

    anyway, i think you should try out another mix just cleaner with the old drum part. that way you can see the response, because i think most of the positive comments were mostly about how much cleaner it is, so see if people like it better with the old drum part and cleaner.

    i think that i just made an extremely redundant paragraph but i am too lazy to thesaurasize myself.

    best of luck

    Posted 3 years ago #
21. 

    aharden
    Member

    Are you planning on mastering the album yourself, or having someone else do it once you've got the mixes done? I like this song, but I think the overall level is too high. I think the song could be left to breathe more, especially with the great acoustic guitar.

    Posted 3 years ago #
22. 

    Brad
    sucks

    liam: Hey don't sweat it, I appreciate the feedback (and the clarification.)

    aharden: I'm really not sure about mastering. I've been talking to MC Frontalot about the fella he uses on his albums in NYC and I'm sorta interested.

    Probably I'm going to let someone else take a pass at mixing the tracks once I've done the rough mixes and then I'll see about mastering.

    Posted 3 years ago #
23. 

    MonkeyScratch
    Member

    Very catchy song, Brad! It's very much improved since the demo.

    The birds are very loud and distracting, though.

    Posted 3 years ago #

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