Critique of my song

[adz_18]

hey guys,
i do vocals on the song 'Colourblind' (not a spelling mistake - I'm from australia) for my band found at http://www.myspace.com/opshopninja and would like it if anyone could have a listen and give comments (as brutal as they may be) in regards to it - particularly the vocals. Feel free to rip it apart :) The recording quality isn't fanatastic but isn't too bad given the resources we had.
Thanks in advance!

[drummer {M.A}]

GO AUSSIE! ur intro waz dope. vocals good but not the best. drums...cant hear but aight. guitar ...nailed it. remember this is just my view so no1 flame me.

[drummer {M.A}]

o yeh rite... back up vocals...good. keys ...wer their even keys in that?

[adz_18]

haha yes aussie pride! thanks for the comments though, appreciate it.

yeah our whole band agree vocals sound kinda funny due to the fact when we mixed it in with the instruments it just sounded 'slapped in over the top' if you know what i mean. Didn't sound cohesive with the instruments so we tried adding chorus effects to the vocals which then sacraficed clarity.

What specifically about the vocals do you think should be improved?

In that particular song keys hardly feature in it - only in the second half of the solo part (2 min 39 sec mark).

[neatobassman]

When the singing came in I thought there was a pitch shift on it. lol. Where did you record the vocals? Solid song though. The vocals were just a little wierd to me.

[adz_18]

the vocals were just recorded where everything else was - music theatre at our old high school. Can you please elaborate a little more and explain why you reckon the vocals sound weird? lol

Would you say the vocals are listenable or just downright ****house and annoying to listen to?

[adz_18]

Oh and anyone else feel free to tear this song apart and let me know what you think. there's been a lot of hits on this thread but only a few replies. So go for it!

[Hadji]

Use reverb instead of chorus on the vocals. Maybe a slight delay. Chorus makes them sound really weird. Sounds good other than than.

[drummer {M.A}]

yeh just that the vocals wer like sort of not mixed properly(recording or whatever). so i thought that it sounded not confident enough but i listened again and relalised what went down...

[drummer {M.A}]

yeh and the drums r hearable but sum beats r too quiet because of the recording...

[adz_18]

ok cool cheers drummer dude for your thoughts. I know what you mean. Think we're gonna re-record the vocals and I'll go a bit more nuts so it sounds stronger.

Anyone else with suggestions welcome.

[Magnus55]

Yeah the chorus effect on the vocals makes it sound very odd. Use reverb next time. Also, try to mix up your vocal lines instead of singing the same couple of notes over and over. A little variety is good. The music as a whole I liked. :)

[only_in_dreams723]

instrumental-wise, awesome song, very catchy, very together, sounded like you guys have been playing together for years.

vocals sounded odd (you know, the chorus effect and all) but stayed on key, and sounds like you have a very nice voice, the effects just made it less pleasing to listen to.


but overall i liked very much, i would love to hear more from you guys.

[alucidinterval]

sounds good. i agree though, the vocals do sound kinda funny, but nothing to bad. as a whole, i think it sounds pretty good. how long have you guys been playing together? o yeah and australia's awesome. my dads from there so i visit every couple of years.

[!MuDvAyNiAn!]

I agree about the vocals but i think thats a good thing, theyre a little weird but different and different is good. music sounds really good to, good stuff.

[adz_18]

Thanks for the kind but more importantly honest/critical words. It's giving me a lot to work with so thanks for that!

Magnus55 - Funny you mention that coz we have been considering changing the melody line up a bit in the verse to mix it up. Thats actually been on the drawing board for a little while now.

only_in_dreams723 - cheers for the compliments. We have almost finished mixing a second song which should be on our myspace page http://www.myspace.com/opshopninja within a week or so, so feel free to check that out if you want!

alucidinterval - We formed in 2003, but didn't really start jamming properly and workin on originals until probably half way through 2004. We've had the odd gig here or there but overall has been a slow (but fun) process!... and yeh australia is a great place to live. You get a bit of everything down here, USA is awesome aswell. I went there a couple of years back. NYC is just amazing and california has awesome beaches and a really cool lifestyle

!MuDvAyNiAn! - hmm, different is good you say. that's interesting, i spose it's true but you're the first to not mind the vocals as they are, haha.


Anyways keep the comments coming, and feel free to check out the page again soon coz we should have a reworked version of colourblind with new vocals (with less effects - chorus ones anyway hehe) and an entirely new song should be up within a week or so aswell ( im not singing in this one but instead will be making use of the keys!).

Rock on people!

\m/ (><) \m/

[Bron-Yr-Aur]

I was pleasantly surprised actually. However, I recommend a different vocalist, or heaview vocals to go with the tone of the song.

[adz_18]

Okay I have just re-uploaded the new version with new vocals!

It's still not perfect, but is a vast improvement due to there no longer being any weird sounding effects on the vocals.

Let me know what you reckon of the this new take. cheers!

edit: remember, these new vocals are still only done by ourselves with our own equipment, pcs etc so quality is no where near that of a proper studio - so keep that in mind :)