The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

Hi!

Long time - no see...

Working on my song "Steel Mill Child". Created a backing track for vocals. I have some throat problems so I don't know when I'm going to be able to sing again...for now the piano represent the melody. Maybe someone would like to record the vocals?

Anyway, I would appreciate some opinions on the bt:

- Is the bass to muddy?
- Should I play more lines in the bass?
- Is it boring with that "ringaracka"-playing with acoustic guitars?
- Should the guitar solo be developed to more complexity? (I'm gonna replace it due to some missing tones and timing problems)
- Overall impression?

Equipment:
Drums: Superior Drummer 2.0
Bass: Fender precision through Line 6 POD Farm 2
Acoustic guitars: Line 6 Variax 500
Solo guitar: Gibson Les Paul through Boss GT-100

Recorded in Steinberg Cubase and Wavelab 8

/Jokron

Hi Jokron - nice to hear from you again.

Interesting to be in on the development of a song.

Your questions on the bass. Now - this might be my old ears, and I know I have some hearing loss but that's more in the higher frequency range. On this recording I found the bass is maybe a bit low in the mix and is not too much in evidence for me. Maybe some added complexity to the bass lines would bring it out more - or possibly some more attack to the bass notes sound (maybe the muddiness you are concerned about is making the bass less obvious).

The acoustic guitar - I do like the rhythm playing ... I have a feeling that the concern you have would be reduced when the piano sound is replaced by a vocal - the listener will tend to focus on the vocal more - so the more so the lack of variation on an acoustic guitar part will be much less of an issue. I did notice that I stopped being so aware of the acoustic guitar when the guitar solos kicked in. Not at all a bad idea to have something in the mix that on it's own sounds boring but does the important job in the background of holding everything together.

The guitar solo - has in it's current lines the plus factor that it relates to, without duplicating, the songs melody.There are additional variations between each individual solo which is good. Certainly it's always worth tightening up tones and timing ..... if possible! (I can drive myself demented trying to achieve the tones and timing I would like ).

So overall impression for me is good. Definitely well on the way. Like the way you go into the chorus part of the song too.

But - please bear in mind I have no skills in song building to speak of.

Thanks for listening and for your opinions, VikingBlues!

I'll probably run the bass through Line 6 Bass POD instead and try to find Another sound...and maybe develop the lines a little.

As for the solo. maybe less is more, the more I listen to it the more it fits the song, but when I get the vocals there maybe be a different thing.

As an arrangement, I'm pretty satisfied, and I don't intend to drive it to perfection, the last 20% of improvement will take 80% of the energy...

/Jokron

You've got an 70's sound. Something reminds me of ABBA. The song is happier than blues tend to be, and it sounds not like a blues about hard work and poor living conditions.

No.. I do not think you play too much lead guitar

A good one, very well done!
Regarding the bass, I think the volume has to be raised a bit to get it more present.
Not sure about a more complex bass line, sometimes less is more.
The acoustic guitars sound good to my ears and fit the piece.
The solo is good, may be a warmer tone could be nice although it's already a good sound you have.