Capturing that 70's sound

BuzzHaze

BuzzHaze

New member
I'll admit, I'm a child of the 70's so I wanted to write something that reminded me of those days. I play all the parts and record in my little home studio. It's hard to tell if I have the mix right because I'm alone during the whole process. I end up taking it out to my car, then try it on an old boombox....very scientific :laughings:

This track is called "Kathleen" Please feel free to make any suggestions that might improve the mix. I kind of like the hard-panned rhythm guitars but I'm wondering if others feel the same.

On Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/buzzhaze/kathleen

On Soundclick
SoundClick artist: Buzz Haze - All original Canadian solo artist

Thanks for any input
Buzz
 
It starts off really good, and it's obvious that you have recording chops, but the guitar is wrong to my ears. It either needs a little mid scoop to tighten it up, or an authentic 70s amp rig, I think. Good sound, but tending more towards the mid 80s than the 70s. Ask Greg_L how to record that stuff. :D
 
Listened to it again. It's definitely more "Appetite For Destruction" than "Jailbreak". Far too much reverby snare to be legitimate 70s sound. :)
 
Being a 70's head, definitely comes across very 80's. More crunch, less saturation on the guitar, less reverb on the snare.
 
I don't know, that sounds pretty '70s to me. All that's missing are flaming arrows being shot from the stage. Something I'm hearing is even reminding me of late-'70s Sabbath. Rock on.

Kathleen is hot.
 
You guys are right, the production isn't really 70's. I meant the song itself. I worded it poorly and should have said 70's feel. I suppose I include early 80's (pre-new wave) as 70's rock as well but the mid-late 80's seemed more metal, big hair and screechy vocals to me. I agree that the sound of this recording isn't really a true 70's sound. What do you think of the mix?

I'm using a Mesa Dual Rec Roadster, mic'd and 3 Gibson guitars, 80 Standard, 2001 Standard and a 76 Explorer. A 2004 Fender Precision bass, Yamaha drumkit (DTX) Kurzweil keyboard all into a Yamaha AW2400 board.

Thanks for the input so far.
 
BuzzHaze said:
You guys are right, the production isn't really 70's. I meant the song itself. I worded it poorly and should have said 70's feel. I suppose I include early 80's (pre-new wave) as 70's rock as well but the mid-late 80's seemed more metal, big hair and screechy vocals to me. I agree that the sound of this recording isn't really a true 70's sound. What do you think of the mix?


Thanks for the input so far.
Click to expand...

All in all I like the mix. If I were to nitpick, I'd say the rhythm guitar is a little too loud during the solo that starts at the 2 minute mark (or the lead is too quiet, or both). Since you've got the rhythm guitar and bass playing the same riff they combine to snuff out the lead a bit. With my headphones, anyway.
 
Cools song, good vocals, it does have a 70's feel. I agree the rhythm guitar needs to come down a little and some reduction EQ around the 250 range to brighten it up a bit.

Good stuff.
 
Those guitars left and right are definitely not seventies . . . and in my view, are way too dominant. They also, to my ears, seemed to be pushing ahead of the beat a fraction. Everything else, in my quick listen sounded pretty good song.

But, for me, the best part was the first twenty seconds with just bass and drums. That sounded airy and spacious, and I was disappointed when the guitars came in and buried it.
 
Interesting opinions. I will try a re-mix with the rhythm guitars lowered.

Gecko, I know what you mean. I really like the sound of the bass and drums in the first part too. The guitars were supposed to come in right away but when I heard the bass and drums, I decided to leave a few bars open. There's nothing I can do to keep them over the mix once the main guitars and keys come in. Pretty much the same thing with any hard rock song. The guitars are supposed to be dominant and big....although you guys aren't the only ones to say the solos are a little too low in the mix.

Really helpful to have you guys comment. As I mentioned, it's a real ball of confusion when you're alone doing everything. I have no one to bounce things off during the writing and recording of my songs. I guess that's the trade off. I prefer to work alone but it has it's costs.

thanks!!!!
 
gecko zzed said:
They also, to my ears, seemed to be pushing ahead of the beat a fraction.
Click to expand...

They definitely are. This is a huge problem that I've started to notice in my own recordings as of late. I'm always a few ms too early. This sounds like it could be one of my recordings.

The guitar sound is much too boomy or maybe just too loud, I can't tell.



The song itself reminded me a bit of Thin Lizzy, which I guess borders somewhere between the 70's and 80's. Nice tune.
 
I think it's a pretty cool tune. I would describe it as having a 70's feel with an early 80's sound, but I'm not much for labels. One thing for sure: This was mixed by a guitar player. The guitars are over-powering everything, even themselves sometimes. :D

Drums should be WAY louder, in my opinion. They get totally lost in the mix as soon as there's guitar and vocals. I'd also use a different, shorter reverb on the snare, but that's more of a personal taste thing. Overall, cool stuff. :cool:
 
BuzzHaze said:
but...but, I thought I was being good by not mixing the solos too loud. haha, I guess I made it up with the rhythms.
Click to expand...
Hehe. That's what I meant by this:

The guitars are over-powering everything, even themselves sometimes.
Click to expand...

It's a cool tune, man. Don't forget that people are more prone to mention the negatives than the positives when they're trying to help. So take everything with that in mind.
 
Pretty much agree with most of what has been said by others - rhythm guitar too loud/too full in the bottom end and the tone swamping the mix rather than just cutting through. The whole song definitely sounded more 70's than 80's to me though, and even the tone of the rhythm guitar wouldn't sway me from that feeling. But i suppose i'm a bit of a dead head as far as the subtleties of guitar tones go beyond too quiet/offensive. What the others said about the 80's tone seems to be right though. I was born in the 70's too, by the way, and yes, cool tune.
 
definitely too much midrange, there's not much 'air' in this mix, the guitars need some high pass filtering. 70s guitar sounds are actually thinner than you think, and they used more fuzz then instead of overdrive, I think that's why it sounds 80s, in some ways it reminded me of ozzy.

The Drums aren't punchy enough and the vocals aren't in your face enough
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top