My first time

[imagineaudio]

this is my first post here, and also the first time I've tracked and mixed a band, though have been dickin around with my own stuff for some time. I kept it as simple as I could and really focused on the fundamentals, ya know, phase, perspective, depth, balance...etc

This is my band, we're searching for a singer, so the purpose of this track is to aid in drawing some talent in, and also to practice my 'chops' as a recordist.

Please give me some feedback, good or bad, I'm just trying to get better.

I have shit for gear but we can discuss that later.

Rough mix

[minofifa]

wow man, that is sounding pretty good on this end. not much to comment on, improvement-wise. What gear are you using? maybe the bass guitar could come up a bit, and some slight mixing on the drums to balance out one of the louder cymbols.
nice work.

[imagineaudio]

Thanks for taking the time to listen. I see what you mean about the cymbals....
I'd like to bring the hats down a little, too. I think I'm going to try to seperate the kick and bass a little bit more so I can bring the bass out without muddying up the bottom of the mix. I think I might also try a little flange or phaser action on the clean guitar to contrast it a little more against the bass.

What gear are you using?

Drums:
Pearl export series (old heads, cracked cymbals)
Kick, akg D112
Snare top, sm57
Snare bottom, shure bg1.1
OH, Studio Projects C4's
Room, Rode K2

Guitars:
Epiphone les paul
Marshall G100R w/ marshall 2X12 cab, sm57 (for distorted guitars)
Pod XT DI (clean guitars)

Bass:
Peavy T40
Sans Amp bass DI

Preamps:
DBX 386, drum OH's/Distorted Gtr's
Delta Omni, Kic/ Snare top
Yamaha MG10/2, Snare bottom/Room

DAW:
P4 2.1ghz, 512mb ram
Nuendo 2.2
m-audio Delta 66 interface with omni breakout

Monitoring:
m-audio SP-5B's (the worst f'n speakers in the world)
Polk Audio 250w Sub

Outboard:
Ashly CL-52 stereo compressor
Line 6 DL4 delay

Plugs:
Kjaerhus Audio Classic Master limiter
Kjaerhus Audio Classic Compressor
Kjaerhus Audio Classic Reverb
Paris EQ
Big Tick Dual Delay
SIR Impulse reverb
Camel Phat Free

[In Tune Audio]

You say this is your first shot. Not bad at all.

I like the space. And the guitar tone is good, they do feel a tiny bit unbalanced a little too heavy on the right.

Low end could use some more energy, as was already stated. And I really don't like the snare. With a better snare tone it would take the song to another level.

Around 2:30 theres a weird noise. It's not a cell phone, but kind of has a cell phone ring sort of quality to it. It's very quiet, but its there. Could be something vibrating or maybe its a sound effect you put in on purpose. Personnally found it distracting.

Overall really good start. Take these suggestions for what their worth, they're offered totally constructively.

[shackrock]

really really really proccessed sound to me. you got some parts going threough really heavy compression? heavy eq? back off on that...

[searchengine]

Wow that sounds good for your first outing.
I thought the kick sounded killer. Can you tell me about placement and any eq?
Yeah, something i don't like about the snare, maybe not use the bottom mic?
Or is the drum room mic up too much. The cymbals sound great, really crisp, but the toms and snare sound outta place.

I think the bass is too compressed, like at solo :53, that line should pop out pretty cool I'd think, because the playing is good.

guitars sounded great too me. The sound is nice and big only
the way really cranked amps can.

[imagineaudio]

good insights there guys....

In tune audio

I really don't like the snare. With a better snare tone it would take the song to another level.

the drummer showed up at, like, 4:30 and we had to be done by 5, so I spent about 5 minutes getting levels and didn't adjust any of the mics for sound...and at the last minute he ducked taped the top snare head to keep it from ringing. I think that move really killed the tone. I'll dick around with it a little and see what I can do. What aren't you hearing in it? More high end, more snap? I could maybe split the track off and double it, maybe really eq and compress the crap out of it and blend it back underneath the untreated track?

The wierd noise at 2:30 is the guitar tracks I left open...definatly going to take that out....

shackrock, I think I may have killed it with the magneto plug on the 2 buss, first time I ever used it, I kinda liked the way it was making the kick break up, but it is kinda killing everything else, maybe I'll move it to the kick track and see how that sounds.

As for the toms, they sounded like sh1t in the room.... not much one can do about that after the fact... As you can see, I had no tom mics, they were picked up in the oh's, and to a lesser extent, the room mic. What I did was split off all the tom hits on to a seperate track and squashed the hell out of them and added a touch of distortion to try and make them real trashy sounding...I'll work on the snare and If I have any succsess with that, I'll see what I can do about the toms

[imagineaudio]

searchengine

Wow that sounds good for your first outing.
I thought the kick sounded killer. Can you tell me about placement and any eq?

Thanks...I was really surprised by the kick myself...

It sounded good on the room track, but like crap on the on the kick track. I placed a D112 in the hole facing where the beater hits the skin about 8 inches from the front head. I manually cut the silence between hits and faded the ends very quickly. I then ran it out of the interface to the ashly compressor set for about 6db of reduction and recorded that to a new track. I boosted about 10-12db around 70hz and noticed there was another accumulation of energy at about 140 so I cut it about 6-8db....I also added a little bit at 4 or 5k for the click. I then did the unspeakable and ran it through a multiband compressor just to tighten up the bottom....

The guitar comment is really quite a compliment. Really. The amp really wasnt loud and I had to eq the crap out them to get them sounding right. I high passed them around 80hz, boosted at 240 and cut almost everything around 500-2k like 12db....they were waaaay too midrange-y

[cincy_kid]

Sounds real good to me, and I like the groove of the song. A tad heavy for me but I may be able to get into it. Do you have the lyrics already? Looking for someone to sing on this track or an actual permanent singer?

I can try and help if I can...

[rayc]

Sooooo much gear for a 1st run!!!!
Up the cymbals,
Give the bass some space or definition it's more a rumble than an instrument - might need to carve some space for it as there's a lot going on down low.
The snare is a little thin.
There's a Tool element around 2.19 when the bass is doing it's thing. the guitar part directly after that isn't too adventurous.
& the mega bass drum speed kicks at 2.53 really don't make it through as much more than a tremelo thud.
Good work - keep at it & I hope you get a voice - just, please, not a standard death metal howl from the bowel. The music's better than that.
Cheers
rayC

[imagineaudio]

Yeah, I've been accumulating gear for a couple of years, but never had enough pre's or mics to do a live kit, so....

I have done some practicing on my own stuff using loops and midi drums, but most of that is 'acoustic rock', so this is the first time with a live set and real guitars not recorded through a pod.

I'm going to take some of these suggestions and do a new mix today, hopefully I can get a new version up tonight or tomorrow.

cincy kid, no lyrics yet and yeah, we are looking for a permanant singer. but if you want to take a stab at it, we're looking probably at a maynard/dude from 311/mudvayne, which is quite a hell of a combo.....definetly no death metal shit.

[Spaztic]

I think it sounds great. The bottom end needs a little cleaning IMO.

[cincy_kid]

Originally Posted by imagineaudio

Yeah, I've been accumulating gear for a couple of years, but never had enough pre's or mics to do a live kit, so....

I have done some practicing on my own stuff using loops and midi drums, but most of that is 'acoustic rock', so this is the first time with a live set and real guitars not recorded through a pod.

I'm going to take some of these suggestions and do a new mix today, hopefully I can get a new version up tonight or tomorrow.

cincy kid, no lyrics yet and yeah, we are looking for a permanant singer. but if you want to take a stab at it, we're looking probably at a maynard/dude from 311/mudvayne, which is quite a hell of a combo.....definetly no death metal shit.

Hehe, good considering I am not into death metal

I wouldn't be a candidate for a singer, but I might mess with laying down some vocals just to experiment if you get to the point where you want to hear some vocal flavor, hehe. Maynard and Mudvayne are on the tad heavier side for my vocals but I still think I could make it sound pretty cool.

Here is a sample of my voice when my old cover band was trying to get something together to give to potential bars to gig at. Pretty raw and not mixed very well (yes the kick is way too loud ), but at least you get the idea..

One, by Creed

[punkin]

Originally Posted by rayc

Sooooo much gear for a 1st run!!!!
Up the cymbals,
Give the bass some space or definition it's more a rumble than an instrument - might need to carve some space for it as there's a lot going on down low.
The snare is a little thin.
There's a Tool element around 2.19 when the bass is doing it's thing. the guitar part directly after that isn't too adventurous.
& the mega bass drum speed kicks at 2.53 really don't make it through as much more than a tremelo thud.
Good work - keep at it & I hope you get a voice - just, please, not a standard death metal howl from the bowel. The music's better than that.
Cheers
rayC

I agree with most of this...the snare needs a little more "bark". The kick has a fluttering sound to it and needs a little sharpening or definition (tighter). I'd like to hear the bass guitar have just a little more attack.

Great tune! I dig this sound. Got any more?! And in keeping with RayC's comments...hope you get a singer not a screamer...I think it would just detract from the great stuff going on here.

[timboZ]

Cool tune.
The piano is a little hard on the ears at times. Maby some EQ cutting.
Just a verry tiny bit of more bite to the snare.

[imagineaudio]

eh...piano??

[timboZ]

Originally Posted by imagineaudio

eh...piano??

Ha.ha.................I was listening to a few songs last night. My last post was for a different song. sorry

OK I'm a dumb ass.............................

[imagineaudio]

[travelin travis]

sounds good for your first time. guitar sound is cool in that you did'nt shoot for the same o' formulated heavy guitar sound but maybe a tad too much sizzle. still, i'd rather hear it like it is than that same o' sound.