KVR Audio

Moe Shinola · Post by **Moe Shinola** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:01 pm

Made in Energy XT 2.7 with a beat using public domain hits and claps I found on freesound.org, Dim Pro, home-made slide guitar loops, home-played lead guitar, and my vocals. Plugins used included Blockfish, Buzzmaxi 3, ThrillseekerXTC Blue, Acon Digital Multiply and CM MFX-Rack.

https://soundcloud.com/moe_shinola/abol ... al-slavery

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:33 pm

Good song! I think you've hit the right vibe for a social protest song. I kind of felt like a certain bass element was missing, and I was kind of expecting some intensification of the drums in the last section, although it's a perfectly legitimate style choice to leave it exactly as it is. Thanks for sharing!

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 4:02 pm

The song is great. The melody is very memorable.

Your songwriting skills are still far ahead of your recording and mixing skills. The production is very lo-fi and distressed sounding. The prominent drum machine clap works against the bluesy elements here.

Laguna Rising · Post by **Laguna Rising** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:01 pm

Cool and effective song.
The energy is there
I was expecting a noisy finale (or a buildup) but that's OK

Cheers

Moe Shinola · Post by **Moe Shinola** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:54 pm

Frantz wrote:The song is great. The melody is very memorable.

Your songwriting skills are still far ahead of your recording and mixing skills. The production is very lo-fi and distressed sounding. The prominent drum machine clap works against the bluesy elements here.

Thanks for the compliment. As far as the lo-fi sound, I was kinda going for that. The filter on the MFX-Rack has a wonderful lo-fi quality I like. I didn't put it on all the tracks, though. I'm sure you're right about the clap, it's probably too loud. Could've added another guitar solo at the end, I just wanted it done by the 9th, In time for the event. I'd be interested to know what you would have changed and what tools you would have used. Thanks again.

Allomerus · Post by **Allomerus** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 7:27 am

Can't argue with the intent of this song...
Sounds like it was recorded in a hut somewhere which hits the mark in terms of the topic.
Cool guitar playing and top singing. Great energy.
I think some bass guitar would really boost it.
Well done!

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:20 am

I don't know about how it sounds on other devices yet, but the clap is obstructing the guitars and makes it hard to understand the lyrics on mono devices (like the crappy speaker on a phone, where I previewed this to see if I wanted to take a listen on a proper system later; I do). It's kind of like my ears are experiencing some kind of dynamic compression every time the clap hits.

I like what's going on here.

Suggestion: build a custom clap from your own hands. Record yourself clapping several times and then merge those into one hit. Don't make the individual claps align very precisely as I think it would be great to simulate a group of people clapping together as if an audience to this protest song. Maybe use the same processing on it that you did with the rest of the track. I think it might fit into the body of the piece better that way.

I like the lofi feel of the vocals and guitars (good performances there).

Again, I must give it a proper listen, but these are my observations on mono.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:43 am

Good song. Claps a bit loud, and the slide guitar sounds thin ... vocals are good.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:53 am

On my second listen, via a stereo system with proper speakers

, I have to say that it's a lot easier on my ears, but the clap is still too different and loud compared to the rest of the sounds. I still feel my comments made above are relevant

This is a great track. It really succeeds in sounding like a folky-yet-rocky protest song (except for the too clean/clinical/loud clap), and I love the electric guitar bit in the middle. The lofi sound is perfect for this tune. Great job, Moe Shinola!

Moe Shinola · Post by **Moe Shinola** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 7:10 pm

Jace-BeOS wrote:On my second listen, via a stereo system with proper speakers , I have to say that it's a lot easier on my ears, but the clap is still too different and loud compared to the rest of the sounds. I still feel my comments made above are relevant

This is a great track. It really succeeds in sounding like a folky-yet-rocky protest song (except for the too clean/clinical/loud clap), and I love the electric guitar bit in the middle. The lofi sound is perfect for this tune. Great job, Moe Shinola!

Thanks for the kind words! Yeah, that clap should be replaced, or at least remixed down quite a bit.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 12:40 pm

Maybe a real handclap would fit better.

A_SN · Post by **A_SN** » Mon Sep 12, 2016 2:11 pm

I'd replace the clap or simply EQ down the top end and maybe put some reverb only on it, could suit the style. Also generally besides that the top end of the spectrum is a bit bare, you might want to add something else to fill up the top, can be hi hats, can be... what is it called.. cymbals? That circle with the tiny cymbals... I forgot what it's called... Anyway, yeah, something up there, you can look for inspiration in songs by other artists in the same genre.

Also starting at 2:40 again it's too bare, you gotta add something, hi hats would help there I guess, and you could reintroduce the bass earlier I think.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 1:11 am

It's a great song. I agree with Frantz about the melody being memorable. Good lyric and vocal performance. I thought the song was similar in style to some of the Ry Cooder stuff from the Get Rhythm era in the mid '80s. I liked the slide guitar.

Good work

Moe Shinola · Post by **Moe Shinola** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:32 pm

seismic1 wrote:It's a great song. I agree with Frantz about the melody being memorable. Good lyric and vocal performance. I thought the song was similar in style to some of the Ry Cooder stuff from the Get Rhythm era in the mid '80s. I liked the slide guitar.

Good work

Thanks! Ry Cooder! Damn, that's so gratifying. I forgot to include a link to the video I made, in case anyone is interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GciTxoV2pYI

fatwhitelump · Post by **fatwhitelump** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:53 am

Frantz wrote:The song is great. The melody is very memorable.

Your songwriting skills are still far ahead of your recording and mixing skills. The production is very lo-fi and distressed sounding. The prominent drum machine clap works against the bluesy elements here.

Did you seriously just tell this guy that his blues song was too lo-fi and distressed sounding?

Abolish Legal Slavery