AfterImage.mp3 - adding vocals

So, here's the latest cut at AfterImage.mp3 (1.8M, 1:55) Tried out a new approach to vocals - lower pitched with more of an edge to them than I usually go for. Tried to create more of a club atmosphere by adding in some background shouts with echo on them - I've been thinking of trying out this for a while and it does add a lot of energy. Recorded a total of around 20 takes, some as clean lead vocals, some as harmonies, some with echo, some with oohs and ahhs and shouts - had a lot of fun recording this. Some songs require a lot of work to get a clean sound - this time I just wanted to capture some energy and edge, and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I used a Shure SM-58 and an inexpensive ART tube preamp/compressor and recorded directly into the Sound Blaster Live! analog input. You need to push the input level of the preamp/compressor a bit to warm up the sound, while making sure the signal does not get clipped when recording into the sound card by watching the Sonar input level meters when recording. There are a number of problems with the song right now: there's no real structure to the song (it needs at least an intro and some kind of a bridge / instrumental section), the bass line needs to sound fuller, the sound is very crowded sonically and is poorly mixed - some clipping and balance problems. It definitely needs to be re-mixed. As it stands, the song is less than 2 minutes long, and I'm not sure how to address this without losing the song's energy and groove. I'm thinking of adding a guitar sound that starts off as a simple 3 note chord and then has one note staying constant while the other two get progressively weirder - pitch shifted, gapped, echoed, etc. Stuff that you can't do normally on a guitar, but since I'm getting the sounds out of the VL70m and have to layer them anyways, thought it might sound different enough to stand out. I'll try some ideas out and post the results.

Brian
DreamingInTechnicolor (http://www.dreamingintechnicolor.com)