what do you think??

[calmlikeabom]

www.blackoutband.com

all the songs under NEW MEDIA


please tell me what you think and sign the guest book

[dr.colossus]

that is one erie dude in the top corner.......very nice site!

[calmlikeabom]

thanks i made that a while ago, lol im redoing it in flash right now L) what do you thin,k of the music?

[SPINSTERWUN]

Pretty FRESH




spin

[Scott Tansley]

Oh my,,,, just listened to the first song.
A mishy washy mess indeed. Look, this kind of loud wall of metal type sound requires BIG production to get it to work. All I could hear was mids, badly distorted mids, no bottom end and no top end. The recording is so bad that its even hard to tell if the musicians are any good. I don't know of anyone on this forum that can mix that bad. Ask around, Im sure you could get someone to do a better job for a small price.
And forget the website for now. Waste of time. You will need much much more than a flashy website to sell this. Im sure they sound a lot better than this live. You should remove the songs from that website untill they sound better. This is harsh criticism from me, yes. But honestly it really is that bad.

[calmlikeabom]

hmm thats odd, i dont think the recordings are that bad... and everyone that has listen'd thought that the songs kicked ass, maybee its an Aussie thing?

[Scott Tansley]

Maybe its a yankee thing. Whatever.

Look, after reading what I just said I thought shit this guy's going to comeback and bite my head off. Ok I'll be more spacific then. The kick drums not there most of the time. And when it is it sounds crap. The whole kit sounds crap. Bet the drummer doesn't like the mix. Ask him. There might be a really good song in there somewere if you could make out what there doing all the time. You can hear what the guitar is doing when its by itself (sort of) but when the rest of the band comes in its a muddy mess. When the songs stops and the bass is doing something its barely in the mix at all. Bet he's pissed off too. The song stops and starts too aften. If you want to do that neandethal soft loud kind of dynamics (which I love to hear) then don't do 5 times in a song, you'll kill the effect. When the song starts the snare is rattling from the guitar volume. it should have been gated out. There is way too much noise in there too. I mean the noise is audible even with the band at full cry. I've heard better snare sounds hitting a letterbox than this one. It has no body to it at all. Don't kid yourself man. Redo it. Properly. And were's the bass guitar when the band come in. Its like not there at all?
You asked what we thought and where tellimg you what we think.

Tell you what, lets start a thread in the recording section of this site and ask everyone whats wrong with this recording. You might be very embarassed though. Want me to do it? Forget about me, lets see what they think.

[Scott Tansley]

Ok just in case, I downloaded the third song for review. Tried the second one but its 10.5 meg. That would make it about 15 minutes long I guess. So I cancelled and went to the third. And what I can say about the third song is_____"AS ABOVE"_____

You know im probly way overdue for a bagging myself?

[Blue Bear Sound]

Scott's comments are 100% bang-on.... it IS a wishy washy mess.... all kinds of flanging on cymbals, guitars are harsh and indistinct... as Scott said, a big wash of stuff.....

As it is, I would not consider this anywhere close to sell-able. It is strictly rough demo calibre as far as mixing and production.

The mix definitely needs a re-working............. and if you tracked those drums with the flanging (meaning you have phase problems), you're in for a retracking session.....

And why the hell is there a loud cash register ring in the middle of the last song??? And now a sudden volume change...............

Oh my - worse than I thought!

You're just starting out, but you will eventually get there if you make a serious effort to develop your mixing and production skills.........

Good luck!

Bruce

[calmlikeabom]

lol stupid instant messanger made that noise and it got picked up in the mix.. thneese recordings werent made for selling, there just rough demos were handing outt o a few people. im looking into getting some drum mics, dont you think that would help alot?

[Blue Bear Sound]

I think you need to work oon your recording and mixing techniques before worrying about more/different gear.

With good technique, you can make solid use of even mediocre gear -- with poor recording/mixing skills, the best gear in the world will not help you.

What you have now SOUND like scratchpad demos, so if that was your intent, then you've succeeded! But I'm assuming you're interested in bettering your recording chops, otherwise you wouldn't have asked for opinions here!

Pick up a copy of Huber & Runstein's "Modern Recording Techniques" and read it carefully til you understand it -- it will goa long way in helping you start developing your skills...........

Cheers,

Bruce

[calmlikeabom]

could you guys outline how i should mic and record all of the guitar bass and druums?? i have a tascam 388 8 track sound board.


i attached an image of the studio layout,


room is about 17x15 with treated walls

[Scott Tansley]

Merry Christmas calmlikeabom, and everyone else.

Ok looking at you drawing and assuming that you record them live in there you dont want to face the guitar cab at the drums. You will get way too much spill into the drum mics.
Questions"
1. Do you record them all at once.
2. What mics do you have and how many
3. Can you get a headphone mix going for the band.
4. Are there any effects on the tascam (eq, compression, delay?)

Using the 8 track to record a band is a bit limiting. I usually use 8 or 9 tracks just for drums. But we can compromise here and use say three mics. You want to set up two overheads for the drums and a third mic in the kick drum. If your recording live then position them near the front of the kit about 4 feet apart angled toward the back of the kit (away from the guitar and bass amps.) Get he kick mic inside the kick about 4 inches away from the beater strike point. The more kick you can get in that mic the less spill you will have from other instruments. See, if you have the kick mic out too far you will have to turn it up too much which only turns up the spill as well. If the kick mic is close and loud you might even be able to turn it down a bit, which in turn will turn down the spill in this mike. Get the idea. Now I need more information about your mics and recording equipment to go any further? Can you reverse the phase of one or both of your overhead mics?

[calmlikeabom]

wel lim not at the studio right now... there some brand of mic, lol a friends mics maybee radio shack or somethin?? i know that on them all you can set it for Hi or Low , im guessing frequency's???

also i was plaining on running the drums threw a preamp or mixer first then only taking up one REAL hard track on the actuall real, there are no effects built in out 1985 beast

also, i could borrow my friends mics wich are an Sm 48 a radio shack piece of shit, condenser mic and a 57

also i could run headphones to the band, head phone jacks on the front of the board..


also, would i mic the bass and guitar amps or line them in??

[Scott Tansley]

Line the bass direct in and mic the guitar cabinet with the "sure 57". Place the mic directly in front of the speakers hard up against the cloth at the centre of the speaker, then move it about 1 1/2 to 3 inches to the right. Or left, up, down, doesn't matter which side. Or which speaker.

Dont just use one track for drums. You need at least two track to get a good sterio mix for the drums, one overhead paned hard left the other paned hard right and one more for the kick drum paned middle.

Loose the radioshack mics and buy 4 Sure sm57's. Ther not that expensive. Thats three for the drums and one for the guitar. The bass goes direct.

Now its time to use your ears. And mix.

[LongWaveStudio]

just downloaded the first track,


i agree, those audio samples need to come off the website.

its sounds very messy, and you cant really pick out any of the parts.

it sounds like you have a good drummer, but you cant really hear what he's playing well because of the poor drum micing/mixing. the toms on the drum kits sound like someone hitting a piece of cardboard at the start

the idea with the distorted bass solo thing is a nice one, but it needs to be recorded properly if you're gonna do it. i could hear what notes were being played, but only cus i very carefully listened. otherwise, it sounded like mush.but i understand what you were trying to do.

i cant even make out what the guitars are doing.too much midfreqencies. i think, reducing the distortion on the guitars and double tracking it may have a stronger effect than just whacking that gain knob up.

bruce has recomended an excellent book. go get it.