Unlucky Of The Chosen (like NIN with Female Vocals)

[tnaylorj]

VERY Nine Inch Nails influenced but with Female Vocals... http://www.reverbnation.com/unluckyofthechosen

[tnaylorj]

Give feedback- what do you like about it, what sucks...?

[SIR.LONDONCLEANLILY]

Do you really want to know? I hope this is not your band dude. I don't mean to be overtly negative but it is not even close to the description. The girl sounds flat as hell and mixed WAY too loud! The electronics sound very underproduced and demoish. That snare roll makes me cringe. The parts where the vocals are distorted and low in the mix are at least listenable! I hope this helps. I mean this genuinely and am not trying to be a jerk. If you feel confident enough to use that description to describe this band I believe you deserve to know that it is not!

[think i'm a fire engine]

More importantly, why is this band better than How To Destroy Angels, which is almost literally NIN with female vocals.

[poisonfruitloops]

As SIR.REALYLONGNAME mentioned, the mixing and mastering desperately needs a clean up. The kick needs more oomf (can probably just compress the <100 hz more to achieve this).

Vox really needs attention mix wise.

Overall i thought the 'idea' sounded ok tho!

[Jinsai]

this is the wrong portion of the board to be promoting your own music, but if you want feedback:

The vocals are unpolished and, given that, way too up front. And even though they're up front, you're not cleaning it up enough to the point where the words can be distinguished. That's usually a bad decision... either pull the vocals back to where they aren't dominating the mix, or make them discernible as a lead instrument.

The drum programming is sloppy. You're approaching it with the appreciaton that busy distorted drums sound cool, and that's true... if the person programming them has been doing it for a long time and knows how to place emphasis and knows when to back off. It sounds a little spastic, and that doesn't work.

If you haven't spent a lot of time programming drums, I'd suggest a less-is-more approach until you have a handle on things, especially if you're going to get loopy.

[tnaylorj]

Do you really want to know? I hope this is not your band dude. I don't mean to be overtly negative but it is not even close to the description. The girl sounds flat as hell and mixed WAY too loud! The electronics sound very underproduced and demoish. That snare roll makes me cringe. The parts where the vocals are distorted and low in the mix are at least listenable! I hope this helps. I mean this genuinely and am not trying to be a jerk. If you feel confident enough to use that description to describe this band I believe you deserve to know that it is not!

It is my 'band' - well, musically everything is me with my wife singing the vocals. What description? I said it was "NIN-influenced with female vocals" NOT nine inch nails with female vocals. Actually more influenced by pre-Fragile nine inch nails among other things (Massive Attack, Primal Scream, Tricky, Skinny Puppy, Ministry). Not trying to be that. There are bands like Collide, Kidney Thieves, Android Lust, etc. etc. and of course How to Destroy Angels that are out for that... This song is actually circa '2009' & beofre How to Destroy Angels, but I wanted to see what kind of response this got and decide if this is something I wanted to continue to pursue. Not saying I am the rival to Trent Reznor, but curious what fans of his might think. What screams "underproduced" about this? Especially what about the "electronics" (not exactly sure what element you are referring to) sounds "demo-ish"?

The vocal is not 'flat'- she actually goes a bit sharp in part. There is a mood to the vocal that is trying to be achieved- maybe the mood is dull or flat?

Mixing the vocals is perhaps not my forte, but like I said I did everything myself with no outside help. No professional mixing or mastering engineers here. No Atticus Ross, no Alan Moulder, no Tom Baker. Just me.

[tnaylorj]

More importantly, why is this band better than How To Destroy Angels, which is almost literally NIN with female vocals.

This is pre-How to Destroy Angels. This is not trying to be that. "NIN-influenced with female vocals" NOT "NIN with female vocals" - what's the point in that? Just looking for the opinions of "NIN Fans"

[tnaylorj]

As SIR.REALYLONGNAME mentioned, the mixing and mastering desperately needs a clean up. The kick needs more oomf (can probably just compress the <100 hz more to achieve this).

Vox really needs attention mix wise.

Overall i thought the 'idea' sounded ok tho!

Yeah, no audio engineer on this; just me. Wife=Vocals, Me=EVERYTHING ELSE. Sounds like I'm hearing the reasons why they say you should never try to mix and eq your own music - I just know it and heard it too much. I likely hear this much differently than a fresh set of ears.

[tnaylorj]

this is the wrong portion of the board to be promoting your own music, but if you want feedback:

The vocals are unpolished and, given that, way too up front. And even though they're up front, you're not cleaning it up enough to the point where the words can be distinguished. That's usually a bad decision... either pull the vocals back to where they aren't dominating the mix, or make them discernible as a lead instrument.

The drum programming is sloppy. You're approaching it with the appreciaton that busy distorted drums sound cool, and that's true... if the person programming them has been doing it for a long time and knows how to place emphasis and knows when to back off. It sounds a little spastic, and that doesn't work.

If you haven't spent a lot of time programming drums, I'd suggest a less-is-more approach until you have a handle on things, especially if you're going to get loopy.

Where is the right portion of the board?

I was going for spastic. Drums weren't programmed nor very distorted though I created the sounds from scratch with some basic drum synthesis- believe it or not. I usually do program, and this isn't the usual formula. What's busy and loopy about the drums? The two different snare drums rolling about were intended to be a hook. Which you'll love or hate. Hate seems to be the theme here...

Really surprised to see much response about the vocals being too loud. I've heard quite the opposite before (which would make sense when you try to mix your own music).

[tnaylorj]

Well... different song. "The Descent"

https://soundcloud.com/t-j-naylor/the-descent

[poisonfruitloops]

Reminds me of Sleigh Bells more than anything... digging the idea, still needs someone to mix it tho! (my 2 cents)!

hope this helps

[Fragile Teeth]

The chorus needs work. Vocally and melodically. You want it to hook. I actually can see where you're going with it but it needs more work. Keep it up. Dudes on here be WAY too critical.

[Jinsai]

the thing isn't so much that the vocals are "too loud," it's that they don't sit in the mix really (and they're a little too loud). Rip out the low low end.

[tnaylorj]

More music for everyone to hate...

https://soundcloud.com/t-j-naylor/warning-feeling

[tnaylorj]

another tune...another musical direction.
listen. feedback.
https://soundcloud.com/t-j-naylor/back-fence