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Workshop #261: Drainpipe by This Must Be Thursday
tuts workshop

Workshop #261: Drainpipe by This Must Be Thursday

on Dec 29th 2012 with 5 comments

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

Description of the track:

Home recording of my kids’ band. Trying to make it sound as good as I can. Always need feedback.

Lyrics:

Drainpipe
by This Must Be Thursday

I listen to the radio
And it tells me who to be
From masters of the craft
Like Lennon and McCartney
Some say “Life’s a Highway”
Some say “Don’t Stop Believin’”
How do I know what to do
When the radio stops receiving?

How am I supposed to gather my thoughts
When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox
Every little word that’s said
Puts another song inside my head

Living by another’s words
Puts me in hysterics
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics
Every single word I sing
You know I believe it
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics

So here I am inside a crowd
Singing with the men up on the stage
How’d they get a thousand voices
To agree with everything they say?
Some are “Waiting on the World to Change”
Some are more outspoken
Some are losing hope, they say
“Everything’s made to be broken”

How am I supposed to gather my thoughts
When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox
Every little word that’s said
Puts another song inside my head

Living by another’s words
Puts me in hysterics
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics
Every single word I sing
You know I believe it
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics

Sometimes I get lost
Confusion comes a-calling
Am I “free as a bird” or am I just “free falling”?

How am I supposed to gather my thoughts
When I’m feeling like a rogue jukebox
Every little word that’s said
Puts another song inside my head

Living by another’s words
Puts me in hysterics
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics
Every single word I sing
You know I believe it
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics
Life is so much better when
You’re writing your own lyrics

Terms of Use: Users can stream the track for the purposes of giving feedback but cannot download or redistribute it.

Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section. Feel free to offer any type of advice – arrangement, mix, lyrics, performance. And remember to play nice – be constructive!

Need constructive criticism on your own tracks? Submit them for a workshop using this form. Most but not all submissions are published. There may be a wait of up to two months.

 
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Adrian is writer and editor for Audiotuts+ and Envato Notes. He has been playing keys and acoustic guitar for three decades, and has six kids. Follow him on Twitter at @envatoaudio.  

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  • http://twitter.com/dmitrydiez Dmitry Diez

    Interesting idea pan drums. But I think in this case the lost integrity of the song.

  • Gijs

    There is a lot of lows on the left and a lot of highs on the right. Reminds me of some Beatles albums. I think I would try to balance the dynamics a little more evenly

  • Tryggvasson

    I love the overall vintage tone and rugged atmosphere. I particularly love the bass sound, which is round, a bit ‘dull’ (in a good way), yet clearly audible. On the ‘could be improved’ side, in my view, would be the drums, which I think should be centered, instead of panned hard left, as I hear them (except for the snare, which is hard right) – that would improve the dynamics, the tight feeling of the song and the tone balance. Another comment would be the voice sound. All the instrumentation is early 70′s hard rock, yet the vocal sounds a bit polished and poppy – it doesn’t feel like it’s really blending, soundwise. A bit more ‘rawness’, a bit of medium lows on it and maybe withdrawing it a bit (sometimes it seems too ‘over the track’), would be a good idea. Of course, some level increment on the lower parts, via automation, would probably be needed, if you do that (I wouldn’t push on the compression too hard, in view of the retro vintage sound). A good song, overall, and good production. Cheers and all the best in the new year!

  • Cooper

    It is definitely a great start, but the drums could be mixed/EQ’d much more. Centering the pan of each track and then adding some kind of stereo spread (not pan) seems like it would fit a lot more. Maybe add a light distortion to the drums to give more definition. Unless you’re going for an autotuned feel, there are some parts that seem to be overly corrected.. maybe, I’m not sure. And finally, reverb. It would spread out each instrument a lot more efficiently then a pan. Otherwise, I would definitely buy/listen to this song.

  • Horacio

    great sounding track, sounds nice and clear, i would lower the volume on the vocals a pinch.