Tonefiend Forum

“Chupacabra” Rough Mix

Hi folks — here’s a very rough version of a track I’m working on with my guitar + drums duo band, Mental 99. It from our second album, which is still pretty far from completion.

I’m posting this as an sample submission for the forums new “Work in Progress” group, which you can read about in this post. But it’s not just an example — I really would value your feedback. 🙂

I’d love feedback on several issues. The biggest one is has to do with the fact that, while our first album was recorded live to disk in the studio without overdubs, this time around, we tracked all the drums with non-keeper rough guitar tracks, and now I’m trying to flesh them out in my home studio. (You can hear some examples from the first disc here.)

Obviously, there are infinitely more sonic possibilities available via overdubbing, as opposed to the live looping I used before. But the looping limited my choices in a good way — the tracks seem to have a nice, dyed-in-the-wool quality. Now there are almost too many options, and I fear the new stuff could just sound like a bunch of disjointed overdubs. There are some cool sounds here — but do they merge into a whole?

Also, I really wanted to keep the main melody simple and repetitious, like a dance track, and make it evolve via subtle scoring changes, rather than via solos or melodic variation. But it is too monotonous? Should I cut some of the sections?

Other notes: The percussion overdubs aren’t keepers, and the mix is really rough. There’s so much cowbell on the percussion breakdown that even Chris Walken would ask me to turn it down!

I think the melody, bassline and drums are too similar in their rhythmic approach. It makes it sound very stiff and mechanical. I’m picturing the musicians all having giant wind up keys on their backs:)

If it was me, I’d leave the melody alone and try working on the bass. It seems the least interesting. Maybe it’s a matter of tweaking the rhythms to get more of a groove going. Or maybe one more element needs to be added to weave it all together.

Over all I like the concept. I like mixing different music genres together as well.

I keep expecting some Esquivel-type “zoo-zoo-zoo” or “doink!” vocals to come in. And/or a steel guitar gliss to the stratosphere.

i don’t think the overdubs are distracting, they have their own space but i think they blend with the track just fine. The percussion overdubs during the breakdown might actually be too polite — maybe consider going all out Luny Tunes latin-dance track style. I was hoping for some solo playing across the pause at 2:43, a response to the drama of expectation, but that might seem too cheesy. The problem when you embrace the dance floor is you risk embracing the “cheese factor.” Ignore the risk — mas queso, mas flow!