Song for the movie "Brutal" finished-Axefx2 hybrid set up

Nice! There are a few things that I thought were particularly interesting (good and bad). I'm a nobody songwriter in Fargo, ND, so keep that in mind too. ;)

1.) Subtle vocal harmony at 0:46 right on "killing me". Holy shit. Well done. I would never have thought of that.
2.) Continuing the theme of that harmony with the strings so the tiny harmony develops into it's own full voice.
3.) Main riff is good, the bend is great, but I think it goes a little too long when it comes in. It repeats 4 times (which is really 8 with a variation every 2) before vocals come over it. This riff is extremely similar to the verse line, so it gets a little tedious.
4.) Solo is brilliant. Perfect fit. Just wish it either stopped when vocals came back in, or it took more of a back seat during the actual singing. Moving the bends/runs to between the words instead of over the top of them would create a more unified melody. I totally get that it's supposed to be chaotic though, so I can see you purposely designing it to compete.

These are suuuuuuper-nitpicking arrangement things. I have a tendency to judge things more/less critically based on what I think it can compete with and this song definitely deserves to be judged with current big-budget soundtracks. Overall, really really great work.
 
Sidivan said:
Nice! There are a few things that I thought were particularly interesting (good and bad). I'm a nobody songwriter in Fargo, ND, so keep that in mind too. ;)

1.) Subtle vocal harmony at 0:46 right on "killing me". Holy shit. Well done. I would never have thought of that.
2.) Continuing the theme of that harmony with the strings so the tiny harmony develops into it's own full voice.
3.) Main riff is good, the bend is great, but I think it goes a little too long when it comes in. It repeats 4 times (which is really 8 with a variation every 2) before vocals come over it. This riff is extremely similar to the verse line, so it gets a little tedious.
4.) Solo is brilliant. Perfect fit. Just wish it either stopped when vocals came back in, or it took more of a back seat during the actual singing. Moving the bends/runs to between the words instead of over the top of them would create a more unified melody. I totally get that it's supposed to be chaotic though, so I can see you purposely designing it to compete.

These are suuuuuuper-nitpicking arrangement things. I have a tendency to judge things more/less critically based on what I think it can compete with and this song definitely deserves to be judged with current big-budget soundtracks. Overall, really really great work.
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Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I agree, the heavy intro part feels a little long before the vox come back in. Cutting that in half and going 2x through the riff just felt too short. My ultimate decision was to just go with the longer intro to really establish the groove for the 2nd part of the tune. It was a one man tune so I guess I ran out of creative ideas and no one there to help me work out a more interesting intro. That's the downside of not being in a band. :)

Thanks for the comments. I want to get better at both my songwriting and recording production so it's nice to hear comments from other musicians with fresh ears.

thanks,
Steve
 
guittarzzan said:
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I agree, the heavy intro part feels a little long before the vox come back in. Cutting that in half and going 2x through the riff just felt too short. My ultimate decision was to just go with the longer intro to really establish the groove for the 2nd part of the tune. It was a one man tune so I guess I ran out of creative ideas and no one there to help me work out a more interesting intro. That's the downside of not being in a band. :)

Thanks for the comments. I want to get better at both my songwriting and recording production so it's nice to hear comments from other musicians with fresh ears.

thanks,
Steve
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I know all too well how the single person songwriting goes. I have dozens of unfinished verses, choruses, and bridges just sitting around waiting for their time. A writing partner is worth their weight in gold! Still, this tune is way better than anything I've ever been able to do completely on my own.
 
heavy guitar sounds nice :) i like the song too :) what i really dont like is the metal like bassdrum .. has too strong highs and not enough low end to me :/
 
maharzan said:
can you share the patch for the solo please ?
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I will post the patch if you really want it, but to be honest, I think you'll find it near useless. Here's why:

-The guitars, including the lead, were recorded with power amp and cab sim off. The AxefxII went out to a Lexicon Signater 284 (3 watt) tube amp and/or a Randall Rt2/50 tube power amp-Mesa 2x12 dual mic'd-Chandler TG2-Distressors (about 1-2db GR)-Anamod and then to converters. The entire mix was run through the Anamod again before mastering. My point is that the patch on it's own won't sound at all like what you hear on the tune.
The lead guitar track was, I believe the HBE amp with just barely enough gain to sustain through the longer sustaining notes. I didn't do any fancy editing to create a patch. Just some slight eq and gain adjustment to try and get the right sound for the tune. Listening back to the song, I really am not super happy with the lead tone. It sounds kind of generic and doesn't have a lot of personality imo. That probably has a lot to do with the guy playing it haha. :)

cheers,
Steve
 
I completely agree that this would have no trouble being played on the radio, I can only see a select few actually knowing this was done with a digital modeler and not a cranked tube amp, bravo sir, bravo!
 
guittarzzan said:
Well, I wish I could say I think the movie is going to be great, but I saw the first cut last week and, as much as I hate to admit it, my guess is it will be straight to dvd/blu-ray or maybe on the Lifetime channel at 3am on a Tuesday. :) They've made a bunch of changes since, but not sure if that will save it. I just hope my friend makes a little money from the movie when it's all said and done because he's broke and has a little one.
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If the film works well, it will be good for you ....
Good luck ! ...
 
marcmesa said:
If the film works well, it will be good for you ....
Good luck ! ...
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Yeah, if the movie is a big success, I stand to make tens of dollars lol. From the drum tracks to mixing and mastering, I'm about $650 into that song so most likely it will be a tax write off and not a money maker, but I had fun doing it and hopefully it will help him promote the movie to distributors. Apparently, the purchasing distributor can then say, "that song blows" and axe it from the movie.

thanks for listening,
Steve
 
guittarzzan said:
Yeah, if the movie is a big success, I stand to make tens of dollars lol. From the drum tracks to mixing and mastering, I'm about $650 into that song so most likely it will be a tax write off and not a money maker, but I had fun doing it and hopefully it will help him promote the movie to distributors. Apparently, the purchasing distributor can then say, "that song blows" and axe it from the movie.

thanks for listening,
Steve
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LOL - music business sucks
 
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