The Wagtunes Corner

[crimsonwarlock]

I listened to your last track here. The big thing missing (at least for me) is that after listening to this track, I don't feel like listening to it again. This goes for every track from you I've listened to so far. A good song is nice to listen to, a REALLY good song you want to listen to AGAIN. Well, that's just my perspective.

I agree to most here that your compositions are pretty good, and I mentioned before that your voice even has potential (and you are getting better at singing, so keep it up). However, my feeling is that your tracks are lacking production value; the tracks have an overall boxy sound to them, like they are being played in a pretty small room and the drums almost never leave the realm of basic bassdrum-snaredrum patterns with a few tom breaks here and there. It does sound pretty amateurish and never gets above demo track level, no matter how well the instruments on themselves sound. Overall it just doesn't breathe.

So some suggestions: For the drums try to get some cymbals in there and at least a hi-hat groove over the snare. As for the boxyness, first do some surgical EQ on each instrument to find those boxy frequencies and filter them out, and then start working with a reverb bus with a pretty large/wide ambient space and start adding very low amounts of that to your instruments. The amounts shouldn't be obvious but 'just there', but it will open up your mixes a lot. Last thing is to put a plate reverb on your vocals (and don't be shy to make it obvious), it will do wonders.

[wagtunes]

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. I do all the things you told me to do.

Obviously, for you, not enough.

[Frantz]

"Mashed Potatoes" was a fun listen. That spoken delivery definitely works for you.

[wagtunes]

"Mashed Potatoes" was a fun listen. That spoken delivery definitely works for you.

I've been told that and yet I don't consider myself a "rapper" in any manner, shape or form.

[jackoo]

13th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"
This one derived from "Thank You For Being A Friend" by Andrew Gold
Thank You For All That You've Done

Overall in the track, I feel the higher frequencies could be boosted a bit (not much, just a little).

I would process the vocals a little more. Maybe just a touch of reverb and EQ (maybe they're a little dry), and more emphasis again on the higher freq range (>3kHz). I'm not sure how to formulate, but I'd like a little more separation between the voice and the piano.

The electric guitar at 1:17 on-wards also feels to me like it could use more air (more separation, bring it in front a little). It (el. guitar) feels "dry" as well (did you go for that?). Maybe the piano is too static from a volume point of view. I'm thinking you could bring the piano a little down when you try to emphasize the other elements (add some expression modulation on the piano part).

Also maybe you could experiment with panning a little more. A lot of the track is precisely left-right centered.

I like the little key change at the end of the track.
From melody point of view / composition, I think this is doing quite well.

Just my 2 cents. Cheers!

[wagtunes]

13th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"
This one derived from "Thank You For Being A Friend" by Andrew Gold
Thank You For All That You've Done

Overall in the track, I feel the higher frequencies could be boosted a bit (not much, just a little).

I would process the vocals a little more. Maybe just a touch of reverb and EQ (maybe they're a little dry), and more emphasis again on the higher freq range (>3kHz). I'm not sure how to formulate, but I'd like a little more separation between the voice and the piano.

The electric guitar at 1:17 on-wards also feels to me like it could use more air (more separation, bring it in front a little). It (el. guitar) feels "dry" as well (did you go for that?). Maybe the piano is too static from a volume point of view. I'm thinking you could bring the piano a little down when you try to emphasize the other elements (add some expression modulation on the piano part).

Also maybe you could experiment with panning a little more. A lot of the track is precisely left-right centered.

I like the little key change at the end of the track.
From melody point of view / composition, I think this is doing quite well.

Just my 2 cents. Cheers!

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. Yes, I went for a drier mix.

[Russell Grand]

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. I do all the things you told me to do.

Obviously, for you, not enough.

That's the spirit!

[wagtunes]

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. I do all the things you told me to do.

Obviously, for you, not enough.

That's the spirit!

I was simply stating the facts. He listed a number of things he said I should have done on the track. I told him that I did do those things. So obviously, I didn't do them enough for his satisfaction. Nothing to do with spirit. Just cold hard facts.

[wagtunes]

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. I do all the things you told me to do.

Obviously, for you, not enough.

That's the spirit!

Russ, can I ask you a question? And I'm only asking this because I'm bored and having nothing else to do.

Have you ever commented on any of my songs in this thread? Or do you only come here to bust my balls when I say something you don't like?

Hell, have you ever even LISTENED to anything I've done?

I guess I could go through all 113 pages to find out but, quite honestly, I don't care enough.

You and TheControlCenter should get together and form a club.

[wagtunes]

Thanks for the listen and the feedback. I do all the things you told me to do.

Obviously, for you, not enough.

That's the spirit!

For the hell of it, I did a search through this whole thread. Like I thought. This was your FIRST comment. So you are what we call a troll. So do me a favor and take your troll self and go somewhere else. You're not wanted around here if you can't contribute something useful.

[thecontrolcentre]

You and TheControlCenter should get together and form a club.

WTF? Don't bring me into your thread after asking me to stay out of it ...

[wagtunes]

You and TheControlCenter should get together and form a club.

WTF? Don't bring me into your thread after asking me to stay out of it ...

I asked you to stay out of it because you never had anything constructive to add. And I really tried to be the bigger person. I went to a number of your threads and commented on your music. Did you even attempt to extend to me the same courtesy? No. So I stopped commenting as there was no point.

And now you can go back to ignoring me.

[thecontrolcentre]

You and TheControlCenter should get together and form a club.

WTF? Don't bring me into your thread after asking me to stay out of it ...

I asked you to stay out of it because you never had anything constructive to add. And I really tried to be the bigger person. I went to a number of your threads and commented on your music. Did you even attempt to extend to me the same courtesy? No. So I stopped commenting as there was no point.

And now you can go back to ignoring me.

Well Waggles ... I've actually listened to the last half a dozen or so, but as I know you don't want to hear what I think I didn't post any comments.

[wagtunes]

You and TheControlCenter should get together and form a club.

WTF? Don't bring me into your thread after asking me to stay out of it ...

I asked you to stay out of it because you never had anything constructive to add. And I really tried to be the bigger person. I went to a number of your threads and commented on your music. Did you even attempt to extend to me the same courtesy? No. So I stopped commenting as there was no point.

And now you can go back to ignoring me.

Well Waggles ... I've actually listened to the last half a dozen or so, but as I know you don't want to hear what I think I didn't post any comments.

Hey man you know what? If you have something constructive to say, even if it's negative (mix is muddy, vocals are pitchy, guitar sounds fake, etc.) I'll listen. I'm not looking for people to blow smoke up my ass. Whatever progress I've made is BECAUSE I listened to a few people whose opinions I respected.

FWIW, I know what my weaknesses are musically.

I can't sing
I can barely play my instruments
My mixing is fair at best
My writing is generic at best and strange at worst

Have I left anything out?

Still, it's nice to hear what people think if they can at least be constructive and not just post "Your music sucks" which doesn't help me at all.

But hey, if you don't want to comment on my stuff I'm not gonna twist your arm. A few people here care enough to try to help me, and yes, be honest with me.

It's a free country. Do what you want.

Doesn't matter to me either way. I made the gesture, commented on your music, nothing was returned and so I'm done. As far as I'm concerned, we can keep it that way.

Sorry I brought your name up to Russell but he just caught me on a bad day. First comment of his since this thing started and it was just to bust my balls, which is pretty much all you ever did coming here. And even with that, I still tried to be the bigger man. But like I said, I'm done. So we can just go our separate ways and have nothing to do with each other. Promise never to mention your name again.

Fair enough?

[thecontrolcentre]

But hey, if you don't want to comment on my stuff I'm not gonna twist your arm. A few people here care enough to try to help me, and yes, be honest with me.

It's a free country. Do what you want.

Doesn't matter to me either way. I made the gesture, commented on your music, nothing was returned and so I'm done. As far as I'm concerned, we can keep it that way.

Sorry I brought your name up to Russell but he just caught me on a bad day. First comment of his since this thing started and it was just to bust my balls, which is pretty much all you ever did coming here. And even with that, I still tried to be the bigger man. But like I said, I'm done. So we can just go our separate ways and have nothing to do with each other. Promise never to mention your name again.

Fair enough?