I recorded this in my bedroom, using a PC running Cubase 5. Any questions about what I did, feel free to ask. Or if you have any criticisms, fire away!

The link to SOUNDCLOUD is here:

http://soundcloud.com/wearecoppola/coppola-cut-the-ropes

Thanks for listening

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola

The beginning is rather ... odd! Is it MEANT to disorientate me, make me wonder where the beat is?

Play it to someone who's never heard it before and ask them to write down the words. I could make out a few of them. I suspect they might be worth hearing? (But that's always a problem in this type of music.)

Otherwise, nicely done! Well above average for this sort of music and recording.

Thanks for the feedback EWombat! I do agree the chord choice sounds a little hard to take on at first. (Maybe I heard it so many times I stopped hearing the imperfections?)

When I co-wrote the song with the band, we wanted something Rhythmically interesting. Whether it's too quirky or not, I'm not sure. It's like admitting your own child is ugly, haha. It's cool that you brought that up.

Thanks for the complement. I recorded the drums at my Uni and did the rest in my bedroom with an SM57 and an AKG budget large diaphragm condensor.

LYRICS (For my/your gratification :P )


CUT THE ROPES

VERSE 1

In time I'll paint the future
For now I've held my breath
I, hold on

The present slips my fingers
As only night takes me
Where I feel at home


PRE-CHORUS

Cut all the ropes,
Let me float through the celing
I'm letting go,
I'm feeling, believing


CHORUS

This life opens up to me
And shows me what I need to see.
I never want to wake up
I never want to wake up
And leave this place so safe


VERSE 2

The colours now, have faded
The image in my mind
I, hold on

Don't fetch the dawn, I'm pleading
night takes me
Where I feel at home


PRE-CHORUS

Cut all the ropes,
Let me float through the celing
I'm letting go,
I'm feeling, believing


CHORUS

This life opens up to me
And shows me what I need to see.
I never want to wake up
I never want to wake up
And leave this place so safe

MIDDLE 8

Everybody wants to be found
But I know where I am
Laying here not a sound

Getting brighter
End is nearing
Image fading, falling faster
Leave this place, one day I'll ask her

CHORUS

This life opens up to me
And shows me what I need to see.
I never want to wake up
I never want to wake up
And leave this place so safe


OUTRO

We stop time,
we stop time,
we stop time,
we stop time.

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola

Nice work. Certainly doesn't sound like it was recorded in a bedroom to me.

Quote OAbass:

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Thanks for the feedback EWombat! I do agree the chord choice sounds a little hard to take on at first. (Maybe I heard it so many times I stopped hearing the imperfections?)

When I co-wrote the song with the band, we wanted something Rhythmically interesting. Whether it's too quirky or not, I'm not sure.

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It is rhythmically interesting, but there's too much of it... becomes a little bit irritating. I mean the intro and the sections like that at 0:35, etc

I imagine it might sound awesome if you did it in shorter doses and slammed back onto the beat, but it goes on long enough to sound like the drummer plugged his headphones into the wrong click track. Maybe it's simply because the kick isn't marking the downbeat clearly... I don't really know...

I think you're mistaken in thinking the chord choices are a potential problem. I didn't notice that, just the rhythm.

As it is, it would be fine if you wanted something a little bit quirky for the middle of a set.

Thanks for the comment Axonaut!

Doesn't sound like it's recorded in a bedroom? Location is obviously important, as the environment and the source of sound is the sum of the recording before it hits the microphone (and obviously the microphone itself). We also used good and well looked after instruments and amps, which is ultimately priceless when making a recording. However, as you may know location is not everything. I just try and get the best out of what I've got with me at the time.

I'm glad you think it's Rhythmically interesting. Maybe you don't listen to Rhythmically diverse material, and this isn't your cup of tea? To say you don't like it is cool, but to say it's wrong is another plate of chips!

I agree the kick drum could be more clear in the verses to strengthen the flow of the Rhythm.

The drummer of my band in fact played this track very well to a click, hence why it is in the song you hear now. Not much more I can say about that really.

The most important thing about the track is that it posses all of the mistakes I made that won't happen next time around!

Thanks

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola

Quote OAbass:

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Thanks for the comment Axonaut!

Doesn't sound like it's recorded in a bedroom? Location is obviously important, as the environment and the source of sound is the sum of the recording before it hits the microphone (and obviously the microphone itself). We also used good and well looked after instruments and amps, which is ultimately priceless when making a recording. However, as you may know location is not everything. I just try and get the best out of what I've got with me at the time.

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My recordings usually sound like they were made in a muddy shipping container, so I envy the ability on display here.

Quote:

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I'm glad you think it's Rhythmically interesting. Maybe you don't listen to Rhythmically diverse material, and this isn't your cup of tea? To say you don't like it is cool, but to say it's wrong is another plate of chips!

---

Well, 'wrong' is only my opinion, which doesn't count for much, as I have little professional experience (and considerably less skill) in music production...

...but still, I think I do know a little about tea, and this particular brew is probably just wrong

Quote:

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The drummer of my band in fact played this track very well to a click, hence why it is in the song you hear now. Not much more I can say about that really.

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Seriously, I don't doubt the drummer's ability to follow a click at all. I just wanted to convey the impression it gave me: those parts of the drum track sound like they belong to a different song.

Quote Axonaut:

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I think you're mistaken in thinking the chord choices are a potential problem. I didn't notice that, just the rhythm.

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Yeah, I was talking about the rhythm too, not the choice of chord.

I felt the "clever" rhythms were sometimes imposed on the music rather than being the inevitable result of a musical phrase that just happened not to fit into 4/4 time :-)

Am I missing something here?

The song sounds like it's in 3/4 time, not some obscure prog mess like you guys seem to be insinuating.

I think it's refreshing to hear a song in this genre with a triple-time feel.

Very nicely recorded and mixed: I feel the drums are a little under-mixed and the vocal is a little low for a sound that isn't straining shouty. A nice spaceous sound on headphones.

It reminds me a bit of Threshold's album Critical Mass.

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Composer;
www.ogonline.org

I like this. Quite Mars Volta in places!

Yes, it's just an easy 3/4 rhythm - nothing complex or jarring.

Nicely recorded by the sound of it. I'd like to hear more drums and the stereo width seems a bit all or nothing - it would be nice to hear more of the soundstage between centre and hard left/right filled out more.

Arrangement-wise I'd like to hear some complimentary sounds and production tricks to keep the ear guessing - maybe crunch up the drums for a bar or two, or add some keyboard for interest. There are a couple of sections that cry out for a lick of guitar/synth or trickery.

You can certainly be proud of what you've achieved!

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

I'd like to hear the drums punch through.
I think the kit is too far back - it could be the reverb on the kit that is pulling it back or that the wall of guitars are too far forward in the mix and effectively masking the drums..
Hard to say, my guess - it's the guitars that need to be tempered - they also stand infront of the vocals on occasions. These power mixes are hard to get right.
I liked the track very much.

I agree with the Elf - plenty to be proud of OAbass .

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.. is this thing on?

Hey guys, thanks a lot for the extended feedback. I have a feeling you are more familiar with this style of music?

And I must say, a fresh set of ears is also quite refreshing. I agree with pretty much everything Oggy B, The Elf and Stan pointed out. Considering this my bands first ever song, I don't feel too bad about it I did find this kind of 'wall of sound' mixing quite hard to pull off. Getting all the EQ/Compression mixing right was a task and a half! But a big learning curve. Priceless! And surprisingly (to me anyway), less is way more! Just made sure everything I recorded sounded good before I committed it to 1s and 0s!

I'll be recording an 8 song album for this band to be released this coming Xmas/New year and gigging in the mean time.

p.s. Thanks for the Mars Volta comparison! :P We owe a lot of that to the drummer, though.

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola

I think this sounds awesome and I love the timing - definitely not "jarring" but just interesting and unusual. Perhaps the kick and snare could come up in the mix a little bit, but not much. I love the backing vocals and the feeling of space you've created with the reverb and careful panning.

Thanks for the awesome feedback PhilWilks ...and apologies for the belated reply!

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola

Drop the low end on the bass a db or two. Grit up the snare a tad - it falls out of the mix at times. Duck the mix a bit when the vox come in. An automated eq will do this nicely. Live piano at the end please to balance out the nice/real drumming. Ease back on your compressors a touch - punchy enough but I'd like to hear more.
These are the technical suggestions that I could wring out of my ears but overall, if I was you, I'd just keep making excellent music. One of the best written/played "songs" that I've heard on here. Comments about the timing/chords, etc. speak more to the homogenized nature of our 21st century ears and the sad state of modern music than to the composer's ability. And you did it in your bedroom
Looking forward to hearing more.

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Just a fan of music...

I enjoyed this - sounds great for bedroom work. The one thing that struck me compositionally was that the first verse section seemed a bit truncated before it drops - it just jarred a little. I would have been tempted to double this to let the the listener bed in. I might also suggest stretch the intro a little- I think radio folks would appreciate that, and it definitely has a radio friendly character about it. I'm sure you could get this onto BBC introducing. Well done!

Cheers
Chris

Matty, I agree with a lot of what you said, technically! I spent two evenings mixing the track so I think I may have gotten a little fatigued. I see you've mentioned the compression, and it's only as of lately that I have noticed it myself after having a rest from listening to the track. The drums do disappear every now and then, even with parallel compression I found it hard in different parts of the mix to get it right. I didn't use a real piano because well, basically, I don't have one... haha. I would loved to have used a real one. As for the bass, i may have gone overboard on the low end a tad, well noticed. Thanks for the awesome constructive feedback though, you have a good ear If I remember I shall let you know about the next releases hopefully coming the end of the year. Maybe even a new single before November/December and then an album in the new year which we've almost finished

And Chris, I will have a think about what you said as you have brought up a valid point. One of the reasons for the shortness in certain parts was to keep to the track time down as we wanted it for radio play. It's been played every weekend on Nation Radio (Wales) since its release, so there's hope yet I shall have to check out BBC introducing! Thanks for the feedback

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https://www.facebook.com/wearecoppola