First "paying" customer

A

apush

New member
I say "paying" because I'm only charging $100 for four songs.

These kids are the first band I've recorded that I wasn't in. This is their first band and their first time recording (they're still in high school). I'm trying to make this experience as nice as I possibly can for them. My first time in a studio sucked ass. As it is now, they love the recording, but I want to make it better. Any thoughts? They're not exactly the next Faith No More, so try to be nice in regards to their youthful musicianship. But you can bash the hell out of my recording.

Thanks in advance.

 
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Id doesn't sound too bad on the quiet parts; pretty damn good, actually.

It kinda' falls apart, though, during the heavier parts. The heavy guitars sound kind of cheap and phasey. A little too loud and upfront, too. Definitely some issues going on with that.

The rest of it is fine, though. Very clear; good balance, etc.
 
The guitars ARE a bit loud, aren't they? I have some delay on the distorted guitars, do you think that is causing the phasing effect? As far as it sounding cheap, i think it has more to do with their instruments. They refused to use my nicer instruments in favor of their Hohners. Notice how the bass sounds muffled at the beginning of the song, but at the the end it has a more plucky quality, wierd. Oh well.

Thanks for the input.
 
Thats an awesome vocal channel.

It sounds like you worked more on the vocals than anything else. THe drums sound good but tired. Compress them for PUNCH.

The guitar does not sound "heavy" enough.

aLl in all, this is a good job.

Funk on!
 
The vox

Believe it or not I did very little to the vox. Don't laugh but...it's just an AT3035 through a Eurorack for phatom power and then through a 3630 (ew!). A little verb, a little chorus and very lite EQ (-1 @ 7.5K).

I didn't compress the drums, so I'll give that a shot.

Any ideas on making the guitars heavier? Maybe pulling 5K and adding lower bass freqs? I dunno.
 
apush, you are tempting me to buy a 3035, and I think that I just might.

This is the second track on this board where I have been simply blown away by the 3035.

yes, compress the drums. Maybe add a tad of 65-100 hz and make it a little louder.

I am not hearing a good bass. Is there a bass in there at all?
If there is, compress it and push it on up.

Nice mix. As for the guitars not being heavy enough, I think it needs slightly more lows mids and experiment with turning the mids down. A hard pan would work awesome on this song if its not already hard panned.

Nice job.
 
I don't blame them for wanting to use their Hohners. I've only played mine(which is a higher end one, beautiful guitar too) but it plays nicer and sounds nicer than many others I've played costing 4 times as much(I payed 300, much less than it's worth IMO).
 
Any ideas on making the guitars heavier? Maybe pulling 5K and adding lower bass freqs? I dunno
Click to expand...
How about keeping those tracks as they are and changing amps/guitars and doubling in an additional crunch rhythm part or three. Mix all to taste.
 
good mix....

only the drums need some work to make it punchier...

the vocal sounds awesome (can't believe he's still just in high school).... I think the vocal will sounds great with any decent vocal chain... :)

nice work! :)
 
dang...If I sounded this good in high school, I'dda been in REO Speedwagon or sumpin'. I think the recording sounds fairly decent too. Your attitude to these youngers, is to be admired. I think the bass and drums are a little low in volume (hey...notice I didn't say the gtrs are too loud), and the vocals are balanced very well within this mix. I can't get on the drummer, because he/she is actually playing in tempo (unheard of in my school days), but a little more action, might help the song. Keep the Audio Technica.
 
cool song... I only glanced at the previous comments but I don't like the clean guitar sound..... I like the singers voice at the end.......a lot.. It doesnt sound as heavy as it should.... guitar sound is good but something is not right....bass doesnt sound as good as it should for some of those cool bass lines hes playing.... a bit out of tune in some spots also... I don't know, I like the song and I think it could sound even heavier......maybe not though...


good tune, decent recording

later
 
Nice track and recording.

Agree with others on the bass. It seems to come and go.

About the I could add would be about the drums, particularly the tuning.

Don't know what other type of music they're doing, but you might want to suggest to the drummer to try tuning his toms and bass drum down anywhere from a 1/2 step to a step, if he's open to it. Might esp. help on the bass drum.

Great sound defination from the cymbals, btw. Crashes sound esp. nice in the quieter parts of the song. Maybe increase the volume of the crashes during the louder sections, and back off some on the open hi-hat. Since I don't know how you've got them miked up so this may not be feasible.

Agree with about the drummers timing. I wish that I was playing that spot on 30 years ago when I was in high school!

-bruce
 
Shana,
I'm giving them a cheap block rate with the condition that they tell all of their friends to record with me. I'll be charging them more. I've already got 3 more bands lined up because of them. And, I'm still trying to iron out some probelms with my mixes.

Boose44,
There was something screwy with the pickups on the bass. Bass cuts in and out on every song we recorded. The drummer nailed every song first take. The drum parts a fairly simple, but that is still a difficult task. About the drum tuning, there was very little i could do about it. The heads were completely shot and covered in tape.

B.SABBATH,
It does need to sound heavier. I started recording them thinkin' they were an alternative (Matchbox 20) type band. The vocalist came in a week later and I discovered otherwise. back to the drawingboard....

Mastermindzz,
maddrummer is right, it's the infamous Alesis 3630. I will be uprgading after I have a few more bands in. Isn't maddrummer an oxymoron?

hokypokynose,
The Hohners, where to begin....? The guitars these guys were playing with were complete shit (sorry). Your experience with Hohners must have been a lot different than mine. The bass was hummin the entire song (when it wasn't cutting out). The guitar was fretting out and farting the whole time.


Thanks for the reponses everyone.
Apush
 
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