2nd verse added and some tweeks made:

[MEDIA=soundcloud]jonathan-linton-3/same-old-thing-v2

SAME OLD THING
(Words by Jonathan Linton, Music by Jonathan Linton)
Every time
The same old story
You promise
Better things
Fresh ideas
And fresh money
The fat lady
Starts to sing

When did it change
Or was it a soul exchange
All that I know, is
The more things change
It’s same old thing

Every time
The same old story
You promise
Better things
Fresh ideas
And fresh money
The fat lady
Starts to sing

I’m so tired
Of your fumblin’
It bites like
A bee sting
Solution
To the problem
Get rid of everything

man thats a hell of a song right there. well written, arranged, recorded, performed and mixed. it has the sound and feel of London Bridge Recordings, where some classic Seattle grunge was tracked. i listened to it several times. i don't have a ton to say as far as constructive criticisms, and as a fan, id say its perfect. the engineer in me has a couples ideas. im listening on a laptop and $10 pair of logitechs, so i can't be uber specific. i have a couple creative and technical thoughts.

The vocals have a little bit of hard ss and consonants. it is certainly well within the tolerance for rock, just something id personally like a little less of. im not sure if theres a doubler/pitch shift effect, or if its an actual double vocal, either way, maybe the slight hardness could be attacked on the vocal effect(s). otherwise i'd just edit the waveform. overall everything was done tastefully.

id also consider chopping the guitar solo in half, and maybe featuring it a bit more in the mix. or maybe using the neck pickup for the solos. im alaso wondering if some ringing chords just the chorus (farly low in the mix) would elevate it even more.

in the chorus, id try riding an echo fader with maybe a dotted 8th or even 16th delay, just sublty brought in, to open things up even more in that moment, and maybe add a slight sense of realism to the abeince. maybe dot one side of the steroe echo. id also experiment with a slightly more drastic HF rolloff on the drum verb, and/or a tiny bit less of it. maybe a tiny more pre-delay on it? its probably fine as is, those are just things id mess with if the session was open in front of me.

at the outro, i would also consider fading the guitar out first, letting the vocal trail be the ending. also, it might be interesting so automate the music so it dries up, or even tones down, while the vocal effects are doing their thing. maybe just a little ride on the room faders. i dunno if it would be an improvement, but something id try. the idea to give even more drama, and movement to the end.

again, this song is really cool. i like your band. ill buy a copy of the album/ep/song when its done. id consider professional mastering. in the future, it be worth maybe renting some time or high end gear when you cut vocals, to give it the last .1% i don't know what you used, or mean to imply it wasn't done very well, regardless, im just observing minutia and exploring things. its more to suggest that the performance and material have the merit to take advantage of high performance tools, if you haven't already. i heard on a podcast the other day, a master engineer at Universal Studios, the commercial studio, has an online mastering service, for $99 per song. it had me interested for my own projects, it might be worth looking into for your projects. not just that service, but commercial level mastering in general.

i dont know if any of that would make an improvement for sure, but things id try, before i called it a wrap.

thanks for posting that song, it enhanced my day. Cheers.

id also be curious to hear what the drums in your tune would be like a bit drier, something maybe more along the lines of this, as far as room sound? maybe split the difference? just tossing ideas around.

also the specifically on the guitar solo, the part id consider chopping out is from 2:02 -> 2:17. i like that its a repeating section from earlier, its a cool idea, i just think it makes the guitar solo section too long. maybe break it up by repeating the vocal phrases again, "when did it change... or maybe just the last half, .. soul exhange? it might enter meandering, or break up the two solo guitar parts as to give them their own space in the song sequnce or spotlight.

kmetal, post: 456765, member: 37533 wrote: id also be curious to hear what the drums in your tune would be like a bit drier, something maybe more along the lines of this, as far as room sound? maybe split the difference? just tossing ideas around.

Worth a try. Its quite easy to back of the ambience and remix - I will give it a go.

Made a lyric video - enjoy!

these might be useful quick checks for the vocal c's, cha's, and sss.