Hate (Alt country blues)

[James HE]

It's been a love / hate relationship to this song for me.

I know the harmonies need some work...

a new adventure.


https://soundcloud.com/james-he/hate

[shangsean]

Excellent! Not really my type of music, but a very enjoyable track. I like the harmonies the way they are. It gives it a live feel. Very impressed.

[jalan]

Nice work, man! I'm not really well-versed in this style, but the opening guitar reminded me of Ryan Adams. Great song. If I were gonna make any suggestion, it would be that I'd like to hear the kick/snare a little more 'up front'; they sound kind of off in the distance. Really do like this though. Keep it up!

[msore]

Strong song, although very subdued and conservative. The bridge had me hoping for a little breakout, but it stopped short. The mood and unconventional playing work well to impress your view on the listener. The drummer was very present and not afraid. You know me, I am getting little antsy by 3.00 and was hoping for some lettin loose around 4.00. But got more of the steady, bluesy same. Mixwise, I would suggest mixing it up a little. The relationship between the gtr and the vox is steady throughout and favors the gtr, volumewise. Sometimes (depending on lyrics and dramatic arc of the song) try pushing the vocal up front more. I like the harmonies, and could dig more, and in my ears I could hear them getting wacky in certain parts. All in all terrifically well-done, if maybe too disciplined. Gracias.

[DOWNtheMILE]

I like it. Not my usual type of music, but I find it reminds me of Pearl Jam, Hootie and the Blowfish and a bit of Soundgarden's softer side too.

my only complaint is that the guitar is panned dead center... I'd record a second guitar track playing the same thing but with slightly different tone dialed in, then pan them right and left... then the bass and drums would take up the middle, with the drums splashing into the left and right behind the guitars. Vocals are mixed awesome.

[James HE]

Thanks for the listens guys.

I guess you could consider a lot of what i do 'blues' but this is a lot more 'country' than pretty much anything I've ever done.

SO I am as unfamiliar with the 'style' as most of you seem to be.

For the vocal performance I was stuck for a long time cause it just sounded way too loungy originally, and I knew I needed to country it up a bit. At first I tried like a Hank III thang, disaster. Listened to a bit of Pearl Jam the other day and yep, something just sort of clicked - I am going for that big deep tone with that vibrato - especially in that end Vamp. I'm pretty much swallowing my GT Am11 there.
Verses are still a bit cowboy lounge... lol

Guitars are the same amp sim, but different speaker sims, panned hard left and right. I think the original file sounds a little wider - but I agree the mostly 'centered' nature of the guitar need to change up a bit.

msore is right on about the lead and the vocal needing to move back / forward in places. And I will agree with him, yes it is rather conservative. I think the drums are strong, I might lean on them a little more.

cheers

[msore]

I'll take this alt over prefab country any day. There is a real person coming through here.

[benf]

Yes, it's more country than blues. Maybe too much fx on the guitars, but on another hand, it gives its personality to the song.
Good feeling. Nice work.

[pcartwright]

Maybe it's my speaker set-up, but I don't hear the warmth in the vocals. I get plenty of high mids, so I can hear the words alright, but this style lends itself to really thick vocals. It doesn't sound like an issue with the vocal itself; maybe some different eq/comp settings on the lead vocal would add that extra punch.

Otherwise, I like the song and the style. It's funny, someone above said it was more country than blues. I thought it was more blues than country, but definitely a nice mix of the two. I think the guitar effects work very well for the song. Kudos.

[martifingers]

I liked this a lot and could hear Richard Thompson singing it (that is a real compliment right there!) And that would also suggest rocking out somewhere in the piece... Really convincing vocals though.