A bit of EQing help please

S

shiatzu

New member
Hey folks, just thought I'd run this one by you to make sure I don't wander in dark places needlessly. I've set some basic levels only, so this isn't a final mix but you can certainly tell the sonic quality of the parts. here's how it was recorded if that helps as well:

drums were recorded on a kit pak mic set in our jamspace to adat tape, bass was recorded direct to adat as well. then we transferred the tape to PC and did the rest as follows:
- keyboard: stereo direct into maudio audiobuddy preamp
- acoustic guitar: sennheiser condensor at 12th fret, mxl 990 about a foot back into a dmp3
- slide guitar: tubeworks amp, e609 close and mxl 990 a foot back into a dmp3
- vocals: mxl 990 into a dmp3

but anyways, any general advice would be helpful since this is my first full-band recording project. It's a grant application demo so it doesn't have to sound fantastic. Thanks everyone!

link:
 
can't really hear the kik as much as i'd like
it's all roomey, i like the feel.

i think you did a good job, only the acu, i hear the percussives more than the notes, i sapose that's part and parsal to the part, but maby some more compression would help.
don't really hear the slide so much eithor.
sounds good, esp for what you did it on.
 
What a nice wee quirky song! I love it! Reminds me of Erin Mckeown

...but why is the singer stage left? Presumably to give you balance with the guitar doing the bass...

You need to sort out the relationship between the musicians and the vocalist... Singer make songs and in my opinion they should be center stage... especially one with a lovely voice like this...

get her back in the middle, turn up the volume and shine the spot light on her...

put the acoustic doing the bassline center as well and then let the electric go one way and the piano another

and turn down the drums a wee bit...

That's what I'd try anyway...
 
Thanks for the tips everyone! it doesn't sound muddy on anyone's setup, does it? i haven't EQed it at all, so i'm not sure if it'll sound muddy on monitors other than my own.

The vocals are dead center, and i'll agree: yes, she has an amazing voice. her vocal tracks only needed *slight* compression over the whole album, which i found to be quite amazing.

I'll try panning the keyboard and slide and put the acoustic dead center, that does seem like a good idea, cheers!

Edit: I should add that Jenn doesn't use a pick when she plays the acoustic so it's going to sound very percussive. Also, since the drums were recorded to adat before i got ahold of them there's not much i can do about the kick drum.
 
vocals sound dead centre to me....drums sound like they're in a real nasty room. Great use of dynamics
 
the drums were in a horrible room (our jamspace), i'm just surprised that the mics didn't pick up the metal band playing 1 room over!
 
just thought i'd give the ol' bumperoo to this one since i'm still working on a final mix on this project.
 
shiatzu said:
It's a grant application demo so it doesn't have to sound fantastic. Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

Damn Canada and their government funding of music and film. We're lucky to get "dirty" music in our Wal-Marts!
 
thanks for the support guys.. i'm actually a big fan of the 990, it has a good sound but still has that "indie" quality i like.

during tracking we were monitoring through maudio studiophile bx5 and later mixed with edirol ma10a monitors. i actually tend to reference using headphones a lot during tracking, i'm not sure if that's frowned upon but i find that it's better for critical listening and finding the best mic placement.

here's the big question though: should i leave it all low-fi and raw/roomy or try to produce it a little to give it "radio-quality" (for lack of a better word)? I'm not sure what a gov't grant committee would prefer (and yes, hooray for canada and their support for the arts!).
 
just thought i'd post an updated mp3 of the same song... i think the slide guitar might be a little loud in this mix, though. basically, i tried to produce it a little bit, so if you guys could give an opinion on which style of mix you like better, quiet lofi or louder and somewhat produced, it'd be appreciated.

 
Well, at first it sounded to me that everything was at the same level. Especially when the piano and guitar (in the left channel) come in at around :21 seconds, the guitar is entirely too loud. Took my focus off the vocals completely. Also the snare could use some compression to tighten it up and give it a little snap.
 
yeah, i agree that it was too loud, it was the slide guitar in the left channel and it bugged me enough that i changed it.

i'll compress the snare a bit and see what happens, thanks.
 
I'll give you my opinion on the new version but my recording/mixing skills are pretty green. From what I can tell, the electric guitar seemed to sit better with everything in the first version and the background noise on the produced version is alot more noticeable. I love the feel of the guitar and piano together on the first version. I guess it's your call on which one the grant committee would like better.

I had a 990 and those edirol monitors that came in a recording package but I sent them back because I did'nt think they were usable enough........shows what I know.
 
Hard to believe she got that vocal quality with the 990. Great voice. The vocal is way beyond the rest in sound quality and rhythmic tightness, though the ac gtr in the beginning is really nice too. Is there an edit point glitch one bar into the return of the vox/ac gtr 1:09?

I'd back off the volume a little on everything but vox all the way through so it supports but doesn't compete with her basic sound. And I'd leave the backing tracks raw sounding as it contrasts well with the sweetness of her voice.

Tim
 
i'll check 1:09 when i get home from work and thanks for the comments, i'll certainly back off the instruments to make more room for her vocal.
 
I don't have any EQ tips. Very cool tune. The background noise on the guitar track is distracting. Props for the 990.
 
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