theHumps

Nice job expressing and opening yourself up in a track. The dramatic music and background vox are effective in setting a dark and ominous mood. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel and making compositions like this can be a great stress reliever and some form of mental healing. It's heartfelt, honest and so you. To me, that's what music is all about.

Overall I found life isn't easy and we all go through tough times and how we deal with it dictates our happiness. It's a good time to learn about oneself and to grow as a person. It doesn't seem to feel that way when it is happening but after you make it through your tough time, you can look back and be proud of yourself and pat yourself on the back for doing it. Just lost a band mate from my first band from depression because life got him down and he drank himself to death. What a waste, so talented and he gave up.

Take care!

Wayne

Pretty creative track, simple, interesting and fun as it put a smile on my face! Try to get the local school chorus to do some real live vocals, bet it would sound more awesome! I could definitely hear this in a christmas or children's movie.

Wayne

This has a very raw, live and organic sound and feel. I love acoustic guitar songs, good decision to team up with your friend. I was really enjoying it but when the drums kicked it gave the song such an uplifting feeling to a rather sullen song. Strangely your vocals reminded me of Jim Morrison of the Doors and the song in some ways reminds me of some of their songs so well done on mixing the vox and the how they transition into the more upbeat part.

Well done!

Wayne

I'm not an accomplished singer I can tell you that I do put scratch vocal tracks down to rough out melody lines, similar to what you did here. The track you put down has some cool parts and ideas. Although it's a little low in the mix, you seem to be hitting the right notes and I think if you write some simple words and sing them within a range you are comfortable with I do believe you could sing this track.

Singing comes down to confidence, attitude and effort. My brother came in to sing his christmas song and he had never sang into a mic before. After the first take I told him to relax and to sing it like he meant every word with passion and to put on a performance in front of the mic. Basically I told him to grow a set and just go for it, he could sing the notes but I wanted to hear him belt it out with feeling. We did 3 more takes, each time was better and I could see him getting into it more and more.

From what I hear and I know it's just a scratch track, I think if you wrote some basic lyrics that you could pull the vocal part off.

Btw, cool track, wide open for those vocals. I do like the piano and the interesting bits set back in the mix, effects and sounds.

Wayne

First the mix sounds pretty good and so do the sounds of the plugins you chose. And to be honest, it doesn't sound like it was produced in FL. Lot's of cool changes, breaks and interesting sounds. Sounds like you used plenty!

I have Logic Pro 9 and although it's not my main daw it's plugin sounds and effects are top notch and I'm not hesitant to go to it if Ableton doesn't have what I'm looking for. I think you did a great job for a first track with a new daw!

Wayne

Catchy track, by the end I was all in! Cool effects on the vocals. Classic sounding keys. Plenty of space in the track, nothing is cluttered and everything shines through. Well done Bleep!

Wayne

Very cool track, totally dig the horn, sounds like a real horn. Reminded me a bit of the Specials. My only criticism would be the snare, to me there is not enough snap and clarity to it. Like mindheist said, it a fun upbeat track that makes you want to move your feet.

Cheers!

Wayne

First off, it's very generous to post the stems for mixing practice. Thanks! Cool track, rock is such an awesomely diverse genre that a cool slower paced song can still have balls.

The song doesn't sound over processed or too loud, I'm impressed for sure. Interesting how you processed the vocals. I use only stock compressors in Ableton and I notice how my songs compare to more professional mixes by not having more quality compressors. Or it could be mixing with my old ears, lol.

I'll check out the tut for sure. Appreciate you posting them as they help put new ideas in my head.

Cheers

I know now why you changed your avatar, you have dreadlocks and they haven't quite grown out yet!! Well done Dave, has the feel of some authentic roots reggae. Mix is tight, as usual and I did like the creative intro. Mixed down to an album? ;)

The corporate machine can't stop musicians from writing about their unscrupulous practices and not giving the worker a fair shake. I always liked the Clash for writing songs like Clampdown as it is about the corporations and their control over workers. It seems like it keeps getting worse and now in my country we have the same type of businessman as president elect. Say goodbye to more of my rights and benefits as a citizen. #####!! Now I'm wound up,lol.

Always a pleasure, take care!

Wayne

Dig the title! Piano and acoustic guitar always works so I must say the intro really was a cool way to start the track. The song transitions nicely into the harder more loud part of the song. I do like the timing changes as the song progresses.

I read your response to Steve about the vocal/percussive part you did and it's pretty effective and interesting. Curious as to how you tune normally if not in standard tuning?

Wayne

Nice composition, interesting as it builds throughout the song. I'm not a big fan of long songs but this cinematic piece had my attention all the way. I wish it had some compression put on it as it would bring out more intensity and power as it builds but the idea is there and it's a good one.

Cheers!

Wayne

Great job on the vocals! The music is wide open for vocals and you created a great track to match up with it. Well done!!

Wayne

Cool groove! I like the Barry White reference Mykael mentioned as it feels like rnb to me. Lisa Stansfield also comes to mind when listening. Funky sounding bass line as well that I like. Always love me some percussion so I dig the bongos a lot. Well done all round, mix sounds great!

Wayne

Cool, dark, brooding style of rock. Sets an ominous tone right from the beginning with southern/swamp blues style guitars. The lyrics fit the music well and tell a great story, well done Joe!

Wayne

You guys always seem to have the formula to make great music when you work together. The piano is perfect for the piece, like a singing melody line it takes the listener deeper into the song. Nice and easy on the ears, peaceful and intimate, soulful and uplifting! Always a pleasure!

Wayne

Cool track jamid, really liked the delay, i use it quite a bit and and it adds life to a picking track. Nice atmosphere created with the distant sounds accompanying the acoustic, they add a nice sense of depth and interest.

Songs like this are all about what you don't add, you used restraint and put the ideal instruments and levels to create this wonderful piece. Always a pleasure!

Wayne

I must say the mix stood out immediately, top notch! Catchy as hell, music stands out and i totally got into the beat and the gits. Vocals are both quite awesome, different from each other in style works. Radio ready!!

Wayne

Cool man, you don't hear enough of this style of rock here. Lots of effects on the vocals but it works to fill up space and help create a dark creepy vocal track. You did a great job matching the vocals to the music. The music kicks ass, thick guitars and hard hitting drums always a good combination.

Attitude adjusted, thanks!

Wayne

Hey Spiv! I can certainly appreciate all the effort and fun you had putting this together. It's a lot tighter and cleaner than the original and has your styling added. The mix is quite good, crisp. I am not a fan of the fake hand claps though but that's a personal preference issue more so than anything technical. I've checkout a couple remixes, this one stands out, maybe it's the overall quality of the mix.

Take care!

Wayne

Although I admit I don't listen to much dnb and don't claim to know much about it in general, I will say I can listen to a track and say when it's a damn good track. This is a damn good track!

The mix overall is tight and not too overpowering, all the instruments can be heard clearly. Sometimes I hear this genre's dynamics get a little lost due to too much limiting and compression on the master track. It's punchy while still having saved the dynamics. I was able to turn up my monitors and really enjoy the song without it making my ears bleed.

There are a lot of cool, interesting ideas happening throughout. The vocal samples and the effects you used were spot on. I can appreciate the effort you put in.

Pretty cool track, fun to listen to.

Wayne

Cool, you guys rock! Straight up guitar rock, i like the song! Short songs work for me just fine but a longer version could also work.

More!! please

Wayne

Pretty slick number you put together. Great beat, jazz from when jazz ruled. I see your twist with the electro styling. This music is so dance-able and upbeat It would seem to translate well in the electronic genres somewhere.

Nice effort, sounds cool!

Wayne

I downloaded several tunes by Kevin Macload a few years back and really appreciate his vast understanding of music making. So i knew right away the music would be well done and hearing your emotional singing in other tracks I knew this would be cool to check out. The music is very dramatic and dark, you delivered some fitting vocals for the piece.

Good choice with cinematic, i think this would be awesome in a tremendously sad point of a movie, very emotional and dynamic.

Well done, my first listen of the day, kinda stirring.

Cheers!

Wayne

Hell Yeah!! I love anything with a latin flare to it. You have a cool idea with the intro. That in itself could be taken as song idea, keep the western idea going. But when it all kicked in I was all in for the ride.

Guitars sound great, nice tone and well played. I really liked the vocal at the end. You consider adding some more like that in the track or just the one shot? Just an idea.

Cool track!!

Wayne

This is pretty crazy man! Music like this can adjust your attitude on the spot. I just listened to something completely different a few minutes ago and while this was playing my blood pressure went up 40 points, lol!!

Great idea overall and excellent execution all around on it's construction and mix!! Totally dig it!!

Wayne