Restraint

I pretty much stole the first two chords and arrangement of this song from a Japanese indie band called Dr.StrangeLove. To mitigate that theft, I did the chorus in the style of BBMak.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by NemesisVex (5 comments total)

Oh jeeze. That BBMak link is awful.
posted by dobie at 3:03 PM on August 8, 2008

I'm not familiar with either of those artists, though I checked the BBMak thing after dobie's post. Is the vocal maybe too up-front? It doesn't sound integrated in the mix. it's a bit like a radio DJ singing on top of a song.

I really like the sustained distorted guitar note in the background. I'm playing a lot with that myself these days. Did you use an ebow? The drums sound very canned, but not canned enough for it to seem like a stylistic choice. On the positive side, I enjoy how some of the instrumental sounds blend together really well to form a cohesive whole.
posted by edlundart at 3:35 PM on August 8, 2008

The similarity with BB is pretty clear, but I like yours better. MUCH more! :0
posted by snsranch at 3:36 PM on August 8, 2008

Yeah, I'm still trying to get a handle on how to put vocals in a mix. It's the only live component in my recordings -- everything else is synthesizer.

The drums sound canned because they are, and the guitar drones in the background are a pair of "distorted guitar pad" patches in Reason's NN-XT sampler. I do dig the sound of an ebow, though.

I'm fine with getting all the instruments mixed, but then throw in vocals, and I keep second-guessing myself.
posted by NemesisVex at 8:20 AM on August 9, 2008

One thing you might try with the vocal, in addition to simply lowering the volume, is sending it to a subtle reverb, and then throw some of your synth sounds into the same reverb as well. That way it's as though the sounds are originating from the same space. You might also consider cutting some frequencies out of the vocal using EQ. Sometimes a slightly thinner sound, especially with less bass and more treble, ends up sounding more meshed in with the mix, at least for me. That could just be true for the particular kinds of music and instrumental sounds I dabble in though.
posted by edlundart at 10:37 PM on August 9, 2008