(Rock) By Chance or Choice by Are We Ghosts

[strangers]

I'm proud to present a Reason produced song for you all. As always, I had a lot of fun using Reason to turn this track into what it is.

By Chance or Choice - by Are We Ghosts



Any and all comments, likes, dislikes, criticism, questions, etc. are fully appreciated.

Enjoy!

[per-anders]

Nice, super laid back emo sound. Great vocals and production all round. :thumbs:

[TritoneAddiction]

It's a really good track. I like it. Performance and arrangement works perfectly imo.
I would say though that the vocals are a little drowned out in the guitars. It feels like they're fighting in the same frequency range. Perhaps EQ the guitars or vocals a little different so they both have their place. Or raise the volume on the vocals. Maybe both EQ and volume is the answer. Just a suggestion.

[strangers]

Thanks for the feedbacks, guys. Glad you're digging the song.

It's a really good track. I like it. Performance and arrangement works perfectly imo.
I would say though that the vocals are a little drowned out in the guitars. It feels like they're fighting in the same frequency range. Perhaps EQ the guitars or vocals a little different so they both have their place. Or raise the volume on the vocals. Maybe both EQ and volume is the answer. Just a suggestion.

I'm going to revisit the mix and see if I can get it right. Guitar has been my main instrument since I was 7, so I tend to favor guitars in the mix without realizing it... or maybe I realize and hope it's not too much lol. Some EQ work should do the trick on getting the two to mesh better.

[Bloma]

Sounds great, and as others have said, cut some of the mids/highs from the guitars while the vocals are there to open up room. I love that section that comes in at around 1:00. Sounds a bit like Deftones in there too. Nicely done! Maybe slightly more dirt or squash or something on the drums? What did you use from drums by the way?

[ionly]

Great! Nice to hear this sort of music produced in Reason. 10/10 for the guitar work and the overall arrangement.

A little bit of competition between the vocals and central-panned guitar from my end (maybe LPF/pan the guitar?)

[strangers]

Sounds great, and as others have said, cut some of the mids/highs from the guitars while the vocals are there to open up room. I love that section that comes in at around 1:00. Sounds a bit like Deftones in there too. Nicely done! Maybe slightly more dirt or squash or something on the drums? What did you use from drums by the way?

I've been working on a few other projects and haven't had a chance to jump into the mix to try some EQ cuts to carve some extra space for vocals just yet. I'm generally very particular with the mids when it comes to guitars so this is most likely the culprit. Going to shed a tear when I cut some of the finely tweaked guitars. Shame.

Funny you mentioned the Deftones. I know a lot of people that are huge on those guys. I've never really given them a chance but now I'm curious to listen for similarities. I spent a lot of time with the drums for this track. The toms were tough since they were fairly dynamic. I had a hard time finding the perfect spot where they were squashed but not too squashed to lose their oomph. I used EzDrummer 2 with a kit from the Progressive drum pack. I've been absolutely thrilled using EzDrummer within Reason since EzDrummer's standalone sequencer is so limited. Anyone would think I'm an idiot if they knew the extent of programming and editing I used to do within EzDrummer's sequencer prior to being able to fire it up within Reason.

Great! Nice to hear this sort of music produced in Reason. 10/10 for the guitar work and the overall arrangement.

A little bit of competition between the vocals and central-panned guitar from my end (maybe LPF/pan the guitar?)

Thanks for the kind words. Guitar has been my primary instrument since I was a kid so my mixes tend to be biased and guitar driven. Tough habit to break but I'm trying my best.

[Bloma]

Sounds great, and as others have said, cut some of the mids/highs from the guitars while the vocals are there to open up room. I love that section that comes in at around 1:00. Sounds a bit like Deftones in there too. Nicely done! Maybe slightly more dirt or squash or something on the drums? What did you use from drums by the way?

I've been working on a few other projects and haven't had a chance to jump into the mix to try some EQ cuts to carve some extra space for vocals just yet. I'm generally very particular with the mids when it comes to guitars so this is most likely the culprit. Going to shed a tear when I cut some of the finely tweaked guitars. Shame.

Funny you mentioned the Deftones. I know a lot of people that are huge on those guys. I've never really given them a chance but now I'm curious to listen for similarities. I spent a lot of time with the drums for this track. The toms were tough since they were fairly dynamic. I had a hard time finding the perfect spot where they were squashed but not too squashed to lose their oomph. I used EzDrummer 2 with a kit from the Progressive drum pack. I've been absolutely thrilled using EzDrummer within Reason since EzDrummer's standalone sequencer is so limited. Anyone would think I'm an idiot if they knew the extent of programming and editing I used to do within EzDrummer's sequencer prior to being able to fire it up within Reason.

Great! Nice to hear this sort of music produced in Reason. 10/10 for the guitar work and the overall arrangement.

A little bit of competition between the vocals and central-panned guitar from my end (maybe LPF/pan the guitar?)

Thanks for the kind words. Guitar has been my primary instrument since I was a kid so my mixes tend to be biased and guitar driven. Tough habit to break but I'm trying my best.

You can actually automate the EQ so it only dips those frequencies when the vocal comes in. If you do it right, the listener won't notice, and will be 'tricked' that the guitars changed at all, and will still sound bright and everything, because the brain knows how they sound first off, and then when the vocal comes in, it's only natural that one of the sound sources will be more dominant than another. It's mimicking the real world in a sense.

[per-anders]

Ah really liking this! You fans of the Promise Ring by any chance?

[arbux]

Great track. I'll vote +1 for the instrumental mix.

[strangers]

You can actually automate the EQ so it only dips those frequencies when the vocal comes in. If you do it right, the listener won't notice, and will be 'tricked' that the guitars changed at all, and will still sound bright and everything, because the brain knows how they sound first off, and then when the vocal comes in, it's only natural that one of the sound sources will be more dominant than another. It's mimicking the real world in a sense.

That's a great idea I didn't even think to try. I will have to incorporate that into my mixing process from now on. Seems like that will be more effective and natural than automating volume levels.

Ah really liking this! You fans of the Promise Ring by any chance?

Plenty more music to come, so stay tuned. I haven't heard of Promise Ring before. I'll have to take a look into that since I'm always open to new music.

Great track. I'll vote +1 for the instrumental mix.

I used to do a ton of instrumental stuff. Uploaded only a small tip of the iceberg to SoundClick (before SoundCloud picked up steam) years ago.

[RTFX]

I really dig the sound of this.
Guess everything about the mixing has been said, so I just says: Rock on!
btw: which amp did u use on the guitar?
I am not so much into Soundcloud anymore. You got a youtube chnl I can follow?

[strangers]

I really dig the sound of this.
Guess everything about the mixing has been said, so I just says: Rock on!
btw: which amp did u use on the guitar?
I am not so much into Soundcloud anymore. You got a youtube chnl I can follow?

Thanks man. Always glad someone enjoys the random noodlings that I manage to mold into a song. I've got plenty more to come.

It's weird to talk about guitar gear on here but also pretty cool that this forum isn't pigeonholed. I've been a big Mesa Boogie fan for a long time. For this track I used my Mesa Recto Preamp into (one of my favorite purchases) a Two Notes Torpedo Live that I currently have loaded with Ownhammer IR's. The Torpedo Live is such a great tool for live and recording purposes. I'm a minimalist when it comes to pedals. Only used a TC Spark Booster in front of the Mesa for a little mid boost with the lows rolled off a bit and an Empress Tape Delay on some of the leads.

I don't have a youtube channel for this stuff just yet but hopefully in the future will set that up. I have setup a bandcamp page:

https://areweghosts.bandcamp.com/releases

I need to upload all of the newer songs on there since it only contains the EP, at the time.