Ok mastering gurus. What would you do with this?

[guitarhunny]

Here I am the newby and being curious by nature I am wondering what the professionals would do with a home studio geek's attempt at recording to make it closer to their level of genius. I am providing a song that I have written and recorded called "stranger" and I would be very pleased if it would be taken into consideration and some useful input given on your mastering processes. If you get too technical, I will just get lost but go to town with the explanation anyway.

Please go to www.ruthsharpmusic.com and find the "Stranger" link on the "my music" page. It is an MP3 file so it is a little more compressed sounding than the original WAV file but I think you'll get the jist of it.

Thanks

[kylen]

Well - I'm not currently a professional...
I can tell you that I can't play the file though - it's 53bytes and has an extension of m3u.

[guitarhunny]

Weird! I wonder what happened. I'll check it out and try to fix it.

[guitarhunny]

Should be all fixed! Thanks for the heads up, I don't know what happened

[Blue Bear Sound]

First thing that hits right away is that heavy slapback delay - too much - too loud... it has to be far more subtle..........

Second - that guitar is very thin and overbright-sounding - it really needs some body to beef it up.

Vocal is dark and woolly-sounding.... not sure I care for the reverb you used... it's a bit too wet - quite a bit in some spots....

More depth and cohesion is needed to glue the tracks together, the effects don't sound married to the song - you have dry tracks with effects on top, rather than having a guitar sitting in an ambient space, and the vocal in a complimentary ambient space.

OTOH - recording notwithstanding -- killer performances though -- great playing and emotion in the vocal! Reminds me a bit of Ani Difranco........

A good mixing job on it will make the track shine......

[kylen]

I'll 2nd that - terchnically speaking - the guitar piezo has that classic 'poke your eyes out' presence when the strings get slapped or plucked, buried a bit too deep in the 'wash' you've created out of delay repeats brings out the raunchy highs of the guitar even more (the tone - not the playing! )

I guess EQ and compression (fast attack/slow release) on the guitar could balance it a bit. Also maybe you're mixing in a 'dead room' where you recorded causing you to send too much guitar into the wash ?

It's a bit hard for me to hear all of the vocal nuances right now since the guitar eats up so much real estate (frequency wise) but I bet you could add some 'ess' to your vocal track by putting a dB or 2 of 8K or 10K on the track using a parametric.

I think you can probably roll off the guitar track at 40Hz or so with a low-shelf EQ since its not really adding anything except too much thump when you palm-mute on your rhythm strokes. I'm not saying remove the 'thump' that's a cool rhythmic device - just harness it a bit and allow it to exist a little higher up.

What did you use to mix the piece ? A multitracker in your DAW, which one ?

Cool Piece !

[guitarhunny]

I am using Cakewalk XL with really crappy computer speakers. Doesn't do justice cause I don't really get a good feel for sound. Makes it really hard to get decent mix levels. I try hard and that's about all I have going for me in the recording department.

[deepwater]

What gear are you using? Mics and signal chain...

[guitarhunny]

This vocal was done on an SM58. Chain?

[kylen]

Originally Posted by guitarhunny

This vocal was done on an SM58. Chain?

deepwater means outboard preamp or mixer or are you going directly into a 'soundblaster' mic input ?

[guitarhunny]

Directly into a Fostex MR-8 if that is what you mean.

[kylen]

Originally Posted by guitarhunny

Directly into a Fostex MR-8 if that is what you mean.

Yes, that's it we can see what you're using now:
http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file...ts/digital/mr8

Looks like a cool portable machine you could take anywhere into any good sounding room and make a fine recording.

What monitors did you mix using ?

[guitarhunny]

Just computer speakers, I also have some stereo headphones that came with the MR8. I like My MR8 but having to plug a guitar directly into it kills some of the nuances in guitar playing. It does the job it said it would on the box.

[kylen]

Originally Posted by guitarhunny

Just computer speakers, I also have some stereo headphones that came with the MR8. I like My MR8 but having to plug a guitar directly into it kills some of the nuances in guitar playing. It does the job it said it would on the box.

Maybe someone could recommend a condenser mic (and placement) to record your guitar along with the direct piezo track - that could get more of the actual real guitar sound in there.

[Blue Bear Sound]

An AT4041 is a very underrated small-dia cond that works very well on acoustic guitar...........

[guitarhunny]

I have a MXL990 condenser that I may give a try. It sucks for most vocals but maybe with acoustic guitar it will serve a purpose. As to mic placement I haven't got a clue when it comes to micing instruments.

[guitarhunny]

Tell me honestly. With my set up do I have any chance for a decent sound. I have been struggling with this crap for a year now and still am not satisfied.

[Blue Bear Sound]

For a bright, thinner sound (with more zing) place the mic near the neck past the body joint and aim towards the sound hole.

For a deeper, more full-bodied sound (but you have to watch for honk) aim at the soundhole....

Also over the shoulder sometimes works well - more closely approximates what you're ear hears....

[electroman]

i liked your songs
im no great mixer, so i cant help much there though.

[chessrock]

Guitar Hunny . . . Damn, you can really whale.

I agree w/ Bluebear on most of the comments.

And in all honesty, you might not find yourself fully satisfied with what you're doing untill you're prepared to make a full-on jump in to the world of audio engineering. I'm afraid this means having a "true" monitoring setup, and a properly-designed / treated monitoring space and tracking space. You also might want to invest a little more on some gear . . . and maybe a few more years of experience under your belt.

By the time you cover all those bases, you'll be broke like a lot of us here . . . and you probably will have forgotten what your guitar (and daylight for that matter) looks like.

Take what I say with a grain, obviously. I'm just one of those guys who thinks musicians should play . . . and engineers should engineer. It's a very good and functional division of labor that seems to produce much better recordings and better music by and large -- with a few exceptions here and there, I'll admit.

[guitarhunny]

I'm not expecting to become an engineer nor do I really have a desire to do so. If I had the money to spend on a true engineer I would gladly do so and not feel any remorse for not doing any of it myself. I am a singer/songwriter foremost and all I want is something that does my talent justice enough to move on to the next level which is getting people to listen. I am my own worst critique and a lot of times my worst enemy when it comes to progression.

I agree with everything that has been said here and it is very hard to accept that I can't have and do it all. I have a hard time with limitations of any kind. After all I am spoiled and a perfectionist.

How far away from just having something that doesn't make me sound bad am I? I ask this question here because I am a poor judge of my own material and who better to tell you the truth than strangers online.

[Blue Bear Sound]

GH - musically, I think your material is quite good... the only issue is the sound quality of the tracking/mixing....... if all you're trying to do is get your musical ideas across, then you're fine..... but if you're trying to achieve well-recorded songs then you've got quite a bit more work ahead (and I don't mean that in a negative way - it's just that I agree with Chess -- musicians/songwriters create songs -- engineers help realize the songwriter's musical vision on recordable media -- two completely different sets of skills, both of them art!)

[guitarhunny]

I completely respect the engineer art! I wouldn't ask for help if I didn't. I wish I could put one of you guys and all of your expertise in my pocket and take you home. I don't have a problem taking the time to learn I just wish it were easier and more excessible to put it all together (don't we all). Please excuse the frustration I am an artist trying to pull double duty to get to the next level which so far has elluded me.

[chessrock]

Well, you do have one thing going for you that a lot of people don't. And it's the simple fact that you're just plain good. You know your way around the guitar real well, and your voice is just as strong.

It doesn't take a slick-sounding demo in order for that to come across. If all you're looking for is something decent / acceptable, it wouldn't be difficult to do. All you'd really have to focus on, honestly, would be getting in a decent sounding room with some decent mics. It wouldn't take a genious engineer to make you sound good. Just someone who knows how to point mics, hit record, and otherwise get out of the way.

Same for the mixing: Ditch the effects and EQ. Focus instead on getting in a good room or venue and simply "documenting" what's happening there. It's an Albini approach, obviously, but it's probably the simplest and least expensive route for someone in your situation.

[caryindy]

Awesome performance. If you could just get that guitar recorded properly, this would be killer.
I couldn't resist playing around a bit. This is a quickey, but I felt it was more in the ballpark of what was needed.
http://www.artistcollaboration.com/~cary/gb.mp3