Some Modern Country - Feedback please

[jive1]

I put together a cover band doing modern Country last month. Young rookie female singer, killer vet guitarist, multi-instrumentalist drummer, and me. We just finished our demo, and would love to get some feedback. We'll be chopping these songs up into ADD sized bits for marketing purposes, but for now, here are the "full" versions, mistakes and all. Obviously I don't own the rights to any of these songs.

If I Die Young - The Band Perry
Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band - I play slide on this one.
Little White Church - Little Big Town
Stay - Sugarland - Drummer on acoustic, me on keys.
Stupid Boy - Keith Urban
Alcohol - Brad Paisley

These may or may not make the cut.
Travelin Soldier - Dixie Chicks - Drummer on banjo and acoustic. Me on dobro and harmonica.
Mine - Taylor Swift
Suds in the Bucket - Sara Evans

Let me know what you think. We've only been together for about 5 weeks and would love to get some honest, and candid opinions. Comments on performance, mix, etc. no matter how negative will be appreciated. But so are positive comments.

[Ski3223]

Overall great! Sounds good to me! A couple things on each song...

If I Die Young:
1) Really like the bass groove you've got going. I really feel it. It's pretty easy to fall into groove on pop-country stuff, so you've really gotta sell it, push that groove home!
2) Your singer gets a bit pitchy on the long notes, definitely to be expected if shes new. If she knows how to vibrato have her do some of that on the long drawn out notes. Covers the pitch wavering until she can get that pitch locked in for long notes =] That being said, I'm no singer and I couldn't do that if I wanted to.
3) Your guitarist did a GREAT job, and thankfully he/she isn't drowning the band out.

Chicken Fried:
1) Bass has really gotta sell that groove on the timing change. SOMETHING has to keep the song/hips moving.
2) Great dynamic control on this one, but your singer has to follow them too.
3) Get that drummer's snare rolls up to speed. His/her tempo is very solid through the whole song, but that part "salute the ones who died" needs work.
4) Mix in your backup vocals a little more. Country in general really pushes those backup vocalists. You've gotta hear those nice clear 4ths 5ths and 3rds.

Little White Church
Haven't heard this one much..
1) Not a huge fan of the guitarists tone on this one, maybe a bit too much distortion for the feel in my opinion. More twang, less fuzz.
2) Keep those dynamics coming! Love em.

Stay
1) This one is all about highlighting that singer.. One thing that Sugarland's singer does really well is push that voice HARD. There's lots of balls behind it, hahahahha. Bring your singers mic volume down or have her stand farther back, and REALLY belt it out on those power parts.
2) Are you running two guitars on this one? Either I'm crazy or I hear two, or something.. idk. Ha. The power that he/she is pushing on the guitar isn't being matched in the vocals. Dynamic control isn't happening on both fronts, just one, and a bit too much. Little less dynamics on the guitars, more on the voice.

Stupid Boy
1) I'm having a hard time picking out the distinct pitches (even though I know what they are) in guitar 2 in the distorted chord parts in the beginning(ish). Back the fuzz off a bit. But I love the tone for the solos
2) Great guitar playing by the rhythm part.
3) Watch tempo at the end.

Alcohol
1) Pitches! Be careful singer. Great tone though.
2) First verse feels a bit busy.. Maybe a few less fills on the guitar side.
3) Mix the bass in a little more. Just a little. I love what's going on back there but the busy stuff in the guitar is covering it up and distracting me from the rest of the instruments. I forgot someone was singing at some point.
4) Let your drummer get a little excited every now and then

Soldier
1) Tuning on the banjo. The difference is slight but I can hear a definite issue with intonation between the banjo and the guitar.
2) Banjo needs to do some picking and not just chorded parts, things sound too .. busy otherwise
3) Looooots of pitch issues here in the vocal and instruments..
4) Love the dobro and harmonica parts, but bring the mix volume down on them a bit.
5) Does this song usually have a bass in it? In the DC version. I have no idea. If there isn't there should be, bahahah. I think it needs it. Go for playing 3 instruments in one song, THAT would be impressive.

Mine
1) Bass tone = yum! Keep it up.
2) Get that beat really synced up. Singer lags every once in a while
3) Pitchy! haha. But she's new, just needs practice.

Suds in the Bucket
1) The mix is perfect in my opinion.
2) Again, LOVE that bass tone. What're you using?
3) One thing I've noticed about pop-country is there's a lot more... I guess tone? Body? Fullness? To the vocals. Less "airy" sound than she has going. I can describe it on bass better.. The difference between your tone here and flea's tone on "By the Way". To me, that sounds airy, and your tone here has more "body". Idk how this is remedied in the voice, I'm no singer.


Overall, pretty good! Most of the issues seem to stem from the singer's inexperience but that will come with time and direction. Good job dynamically, keep that up and use it to your advantage. A lot of bands completely ignore it, which is a shame.. There's such power in it. Y'all have been together a short time, once you've played more together a lot of these issues will fix themselves.

--Singer confidence and skill.
--Even out your already good dynamic control. If someone does it, EVERYONE has to do it or it doesn't work.
--Mixing issues
--Lots of musical potential especially in the articulation and dynamics. Feel and groove are good! in some cases could be better buuuuuut... Just cultivate your strengths and improve those shortcomings.

[jive1]

First off, thanks for taking the time to listen and comment. It means alot, really. Very helpful.

Originally Posted by Ski3223

Overall great! Sounds good to me! A couple things on each song...

If I Die Young:
1) Really like the bass groove you've got going. I really feel it. It's pretty easy to fall into groove on pop-country stuff, so you've really gotta sell it, push that groove home!
2) Your singer gets a bit pitchy on the long notes, definitely to be expected if shes new. If she knows how to vibrato have her do some of that on the long drawn out notes. Covers the pitch wavering until she can get that pitch locked in for long notes =] That being said, I'm no singer and I couldn't do that if I wanted to.
3) Your guitarist did a GREAT job, and thankfully he/she isn't drowning the band out.

Yup a little pitchy, but the vocalist in the original song is a little pitchy too. I'll mention the vibrato thing. It should help, as well add some variance.

Chicken Fried:
1) Bass has really gotta sell that groove on the timing change. SOMETHING has to keep the song/hips moving.
2) Great dynamic control on this one, but your singer has to follow them too.
3) Get that drummer's snare rolls up to speed. His/her tempo is very solid through the whole song, but that part "salute the ones who died" needs work.
4) Mix in your backup vocals a little more. Country in general really pushes those backup vocalists. You've gotta hear those nice clear 4ths 5ths and 3rds.

Drummer was playing on an electronic kit, so his rolls were off. But, he still needs to practice them on a regular kit as well. We probably won't include that part on our demo. I'll mix in some more backup vox, but I'm the one doing the harmonies and I'm always hesitant about putting more of my voice in than necessary.

Little White Church
Haven't heard this one much..
1) Not a huge fan of the guitarists tone on this one, maybe a bit too much distortion for the feel in my opinion. More twang, less fuzz.
2) Keep those dynamics coming! Love em.

I think it's a matter of taste. I just love the guitar tone on the solo.

Stay
1) This one is all about highlighting that singer.. One thing that Sugarland's singer does really well is push that voice HARD. There's lots of balls behind it, hahahahha. Bring your singers mic volume down or have her stand farther back, and REALLY belt it out on those power parts.
2) Are you running two guitars on this one? Either I'm crazy or I hear two, or something.. idk. Ha. The power that he/she is pushing on the guitar isn't being matched in the vocals. Dynamic control isn't happening on both fronts, just one, and a bit too much. Little less dynamics on the guitars, more on the voice.

Jennifer Nettles is in a class of her own. She's a great belter, but our singer doesn't have that kind of depth, so we'll have to do something a little different. There are two guitars, and more volume on the vocals would help match the dynamics on the more intense parts.

Stupid Boy
1) I'm having a hard time picking out the distinct pitches (even though I know what they are) in guitar 2 in the distorted chord parts in the beginning(ish). Back the fuzz off a bit. But I love the tone for the solos
2) Great guitar playing by the rhythm part.
3) Watch tempo at the end.

We're trying to get a little harder edge doing the modern pop country, so that's the rationale behind the fuzz.

Alcohol
1) Pitches! Be careful singer. Great tone though.
2) First verse feels a bit busy.. Maybe a few less fills on the guitar side.
3) Mix the bass in a little more. Just a little. I love what's going on back there but the busy stuff in the guitar is covering it up and distracting me from the rest of the instruments. I forgot someone was singing at some point.
4) Let your drummer get a little excited every now and then

The guitarist is singing this one, and he doesn't have the best timbre. I've been listening to this on different speakers, and on some systems the bass sounds overbearing. The guitar is a little forward in the mix, but the timbre of the vocalist makes it harder to cut it through the mix with out adding treble, which makes him sound more brittle. Drummer was actually excited, but we told him to play laid back and loose on this one.

Soldier
1) Tuning on the banjo. The difference is slight but I can hear a definite issue with intonation between the banjo and the guitar.
2) Banjo needs to do some picking and not just chorded parts, things sound too .. busy otherwise
3) Looooots of pitch issues here in the vocal and instruments..
4) Love the dobro and harmonica parts, but bring the mix volume down on them a bit.
5) Does this song usually have a bass in it? In the DC version. I have no idea. If there isn't there should be, bahahah. I think it needs it. Go for playing 3 instruments in one song, THAT would be impressive.

I think the original has a bass in it, but this is only 4 piece band, so it's either the bass or dobro on this one.

Mine
1) Bass tone = yum! Keep it up.
2) Get that beat really synced up. Singer lags every once in a while
3) Pitchy! haha. But she's new, just needs practice.

We did this one on a whim. We didn't decide to do this until we got to the session. The drummer and I listened to it for the first time there, and the rest of us learned it on the spot. We wanted to add a new song that wasn't likely to be on anyone else's demo.

Suds in the Bucket
1) The mix is perfect in my opinion.
2) Again, LOVE that bass tone. What're you using?
3) One thing I've noticed about pop-country is there's a lot more... I guess tone? Body? Fullness? To the vocals. Less "airy" sound than she has going. I can describe it on bass better.. The difference between your tone here and flea's tone on "By the Way". To me, that sounds airy, and your tone here has more "body". Idk how this is remedied in the voice, I'm no singer.

Thanks. This is actually my least favorite in the bunch. Maybe because I do this in another band, and I think the other band does it better. I'm using a Lakland Jerry Scheff with TI flats going through a Radial JDI right into the board. Love that tone too.
The vocalist does have a airy, heady voice that's stronger in the upper register. Oddly, she has a better rock voice in that her timbre lifts up over heavy guitars. But, for Country, especially Sara Evans, I agree, she doesn't have as much depth. The irony is in my rock/variety band I have a vocalist who has an awesome Nashville voice doing Rock and Soul tunes, while our Country band has the girl with the Rock voice.
Here's my other band doing Suds in the Bucket

Overall, pretty good! Most of the issues seem to stem from the singer's inexperience but that will come with time and direction. Good job dynamically, keep that up and use it to your advantage. A lot of bands completely ignore it, which is a shame.. There's such power in it. Y'all have been together a short time, once you've played more together a lot of these issues will fix themselves.

--Singer confidence and skill.
--Even out your already good dynamic control. If someone does it, EVERYONE has to do it or it doesn't work.
--Mixing issues
--Lots of musical potential especially in the articulation and dynamics. Feel and groove are good! in some cases could be better buuuuuut... Just cultivate your strengths and improve those shortcomings.

Thanks for all your feedback. The singer is new to being in a band, but not to singing. I think lots of the confidence and dynamics come from being comfortable with the timing of the vocals. For skilled vocalists who are new to bands, timing seems to be the biggest issue. Harder to sing when you don't have a karaoke machine going through the lyrics, a choir director or conductor leading you through changes, or a CD to sing along to.

[jaywa]

I didn't listen to the clips but you've got a nice selection of tunes there. If that's indicative of your whole show, that band should go over very well. Especially if your young female singer is good looking

Brad Paisley is a freakin guitar monster and I've been trying to get some of his stuff into the playlists of various bands I play with but they keep getting voted down... usually by the guitarists... I wonder why?

[Ski3223]

Originally Posted by jive1

Drummer was playing on an electronic kit, so his rolls were off. But, he still needs to practice them on a regular kit as well. We probably won't include that part on our demo. I'll mix in some more backup vox, but I'm the one doing the harmonies and I'm always hesitant about putting more of my voice in than necessary.

I think it's a matter of taste. I just love the guitar tone on the solo.

We're trying to get a little harder edge doing the modern pop country, so that's the rationale behind the fuzz.

The guitarist is singing this one, and he doesn't have the best timbre. I've been listening to this on different speakers, and on some systems the bass sounds overbearing. The guitar is a little forward in the mix, but the timbre of the vocalist makes it harder to cut it through the mix with out adding treble, which makes him sound more brittle. Drummer was actually excited, but we told him to play laid back and loose on this one.

We did this one on a whim. We didn't decide to do this until we got to the session. The drummer and I listened to it for the first time there, and the rest of us learned it on the spot. We wanted to add a new song that wasn't likely to be on anyone else's demo.

Thanks for all your feedback. The singer is new to being in a band, but not to singing. I think lots of the confidence and dynamics come from being comfortable with the timing of the vocals. For skilled vocalists who are new to bands, timing seems to be the biggest issue. Harder to sing when you don't have a karaoke machine going through the lyrics, a choir director or conductor leading you through changes, or a CD to sing along to.

Hahahah an electronic kit would indeed explain it! Gotta hate gear limitations.. I played on one with a weave type head thing that actually reacted like a head and was very sensitive so it actually rolled. I was stoked.

Taste indeed! Understood.

Gotcha on the fuzz. I wasn't sure if you were going for a spot-on sound there or not, so that makes sense.

Yeah I was listening through headphones so that could have something to do with the difference in sound. Everyone's speakers are different I suppose, not much you can do there...

If that's the first time you guys had tried it, fine job It'll definitely be great with some familiarity then.

Yeah, I figured the new band thing had a lot to do with the timing. I'm not a singer so I can't pretend to know much about what it means to mesh with a band I'm not intimately familiar with. It's probably much more difficult than I made it out to be. When I think about it in terms of establishing a strong groove with a new drummer I can get how hard it would be.