critique this tone for me!

[masque]

hey guys check out the link below and listen to the "where's my mule" track. i've been working on a few new tones and would love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.

this is just a rough demo to show the tones...there is a timing mistake towards the end but i didnt have time to fix it...so just overlook that please... :-[

it's just an instrumental at this point and was written after about 10 days straight of listening to govt. mule so it was my attempt that day to write something that sounded "muleish"......lol.

i'll will post amp, guitars and mic used later.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=814836

 

[Scary]

Broken link?

 

[masque]

Broken link?

fixed now! thanks for letting me know!

 

[Scary]

First of all.. I like it. It's very smooth sounding and it works well in the mix. Since you're looking for critique, i'll say for my tastes i'd prefer a little ballsier sound for that tune.. maybe shooting for Temple of the Dog "Say hello to Heaven" or something. Overall very nicely done, I enjoyed it. Less gain preamp but crank the output section. =)

 

[iFreedom]

Sounds good and smooth / creamy. I think the guitars sound good and fit well. But, since you asked, personally, I would add more compression to the mix to give it that oomph and a little more scratch - kind of wake it up. But overall, sounds neat.

 

[tedsticle]

I agree it sounds very smooth. The song in general sounds like it would be more vocal driven, or at least this sounds like a verse section anyways. So, in that sense I'd let the guitars sit back and relax in the mix, pump up some bass guitar, and let the vocals take over.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Good tone. The lead parts sound a little lower than the riff. Would like to hear those a little louder in the mix to have a good detailed listen. Nice work. Tweak the overall balance and repost if you can. This is the kind of music I listen to regularly.

 

[fluff191]

Very good tone. Love it. What amp is it? Song reminds me of a modern Mississippi Queen or something. Very cool.

 

[masque]

thanks for the compliments and suggestions, I appreciate it.

the amp is an egnater rebel 20 played thru my boogie 4 x 12 loaded with v30's.

i got tired of lugging my triaxis rack around and wanted something i could carry and play quickly so i picked one of these up and have been pleasantly surprised at some of the tones i have been able to get out of it.

 

[esizer]

that itchy finger riff kills!

 

[Chris McKinley]

Where's My Mule reminds me a bit of Kiss and Dio-era Sabbath. So does Itchy Trigger, but with a little Collective Soul. Very smooth, but also has just a bit of that muffled light-blanket over the cab effect for the rhythm parts. Very classic-rock era production overall. If that's what you're going for, you nailed it. Nice use of lower gain on the riffs during the vocal stanzas.

 

[masque]

thanks guys.....itchy trigger was done with my triaxis and 20/20 power amp.....as for production....i like for my stuff to be punchy and clear with enough warmth to it that it is not harsh.....i dont like dull and muffled mixes.

the link above also allows you to hear a song called "my surprise" which was featured last year in recording magazine as the spotlight artist of the month due to the quality of the production.....it's not a heavy rocker but it does sound pretty decent.....if i can say that without sounding like i'm tooting my own horn too heavily!!!!

 

[Chris McKinley]

Toot away, big guy! If you're doing something right, I'm sure the rest of us would appreciate hearing it. For your production goals, there are two minor things I'd suggest to give you a bit more clearly-defined punch without resorting to Recto-style glassy harshness. 1) For your solos, give 'em a bit more harmonic content. There are different ways to do this. You could bump up the 800 Hz frequency on an EQ by about 4 to 6db. You could toss a good boutique-quality overdrive in front of the whole shebang. You could do the same with a treble booster. Or, if you have a fancy-enough parametric EQ, you could widen the 'Q' to include the entire mids and upper mids and give 'em all a boost by about 4db. One more way of doing it would be to back off of the compression just a bit.

2) To give your rhthm parts a little edge and clarity, you might consider discreetly adding in a minimally-compressed extra track that is low-to-medium gain but recorded at a high power amp volume. Don't scoop the mids at all on that track, nor boost either the bass or treble above about 1:00. The track will be recorded loud, but will be mixed in fairly subtly. You might find that it gives you a bit more power and crunch to punctuate your power chords with.