A couple of recent tracks...

S

Simon Beck

Member
First, a mock-Irish ballad, "The Ballad of Cormac O'Nissen", with lyrics co-written by my sons Thomas (15) and William. (12).

All instruments and vocals by myself.

Percussion was programmed in HammerHead 1.0 and looped in Audacity.
Ukulele and mandolin are both in low-G uke tuning.
"Tin whistle" is a Korg Volca Keys monosynth played from a 5-octave MIDI keyboard.

All audio was recorded using a Fostex MR-8, with a unidirectional dynamic mic for mandolin and vocals. The ukulele is an electro-acoustic and was DI'd.

The finished tracks were ported back to Audacity for editing and post-production. The mandolin solos were brought up in volume and the separately recorded "Leprechaun" vocal was pitch-shifted. The song was then mixed to mono, which is my usual practice.



Next we have a Country & Western song, "Don't Buy a Banjo, My Son", by my alter-ego Wayne Gutbucket III.

All instruments and vocals by myself.

Rhythm guitar - Hohner classical
Electric guitar - Squier Telecaster
Resonator guitar - Dobro Hound Dog (borrowed from my son)
Bass - Stagg electric upright bass
Piano - Nord Electro 3 73

The vocals, backing vocals, classical guitar and Dobro were recorded using the unidirectional dynamic mic, while the electric guitar and the bass were DI'd. Again, the finished tracks were ported to Audacity for editing. In my opinion, the electric guitar and backing vocals are too quiet and the Dobro a bit too loud (and distorted), but overall I'm quite happy with the final (mono) mix.

 
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The Ballad deserves a better mix than this. Here's what I'm hearing right off the bat:

The vocal's too loud.

The vocal's too dark. Put a highpass on it. Cut some low mids.

The vocal's too dry. Put some delay or reverb on it.

There are a ton of plosives that you haven't dealt with. My guess is that you should re-do it. Buy a pop shield beforehand.

The quieter of the two string instruments needs to come up a bit. You could pan them more left and right - it would fill out the sound stage a bit.

Why loop the percussion track? Why not just play it all the way through? What is it, a bodhran? It needs more body, whatever it is. Right now it sounds like you're tapping on a rubbish bin. You can turn it up.

I like the tune. Nice.
 
Thanks for your feedback! That's exactly the kind of advice I needed.

You're quite right about the vocal. It was a bit "spontaneous", and for some reason I was too close to the microphone. No excuses.

Percussion: I had hoped to find a ready-made Bodhran track, or at least some samples of the real thing. Guess what - there isn't even a Bodhran loop in 3/4 or 6/8 anywhere out there on the Web, nor is there a set of different hits that I could arrange into patterns. I ended up using a low conga sound which I had previously picked up somewhere. I'm not a percussionist, so I've no idea what rhythms a Bodhran player would actually play, and I decided a simple loop was probably better than nothing, especially if I kept it low in the mix.

Maybe I'll try a stereo mix some time. I have a personal hang-up about stereo - it always sounds a bit fake to me. which is why I always mix to mono.

Once again, thanks! :thumbs up:
 
I echo Doboro's comments. You're not doing yourself any favor by putting the mixes out in mono.
The fake tin whistle sounds fake - go buy one and learn it, they're not hard to play! The fake bodhran doesn't sound even close, bodhrans have a deep sound. The mandolin has little tone - kind of like my cheap Washburn mando.
On the country song, the bass is too loud, the guitars are all buried in the mix. Background vocals? - can't hear at all.
 
Same as above, sounds like you recorded it and didn't do any panning. Also couldn't understand most of the lyrics, maybe its the accent. And strongly suggest either stepping away from the mic, singing to the side of it, or buying a pop filter to prevent all the "P" thumps that are all over it. Regardless, I think it has a potential if you get it recorded a little better.
 
A new mix - stereo this time - of "Don't Buy a Banjo, My Son". Took the bass and piano down, brought the electric guitar and backing vocals up, and did some subtle panning of everything except rhythm guitar, bass and lead vocal. I haven't done a stereo mix since the early 1990s, when I was still recording on 4-track cassette!

 
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