First post and just looking for some feedback

P

Pete2112

New member
Hey everyone,
I have no idea why it took me so long to check out this site, but I’m glad I finally did as it’s filled with great information.

A little about me:
I’ve been doing computer based home recording for about eight years now and I’ve become very serious about recording a “real” album. I play guitar, bass, keys and I’ll be having a friend record the drums. I’m in the process of looking for a singer to work on this project.
My issue is that I’m not really happy with my recorded guitar tone. I never have been and I’ve tried a million different things over the years, but it’s always lacking. I’ve attached a couple clips to get an idea about what I’m talking about. The style is a hard rock/progressive/light metal type of thing, so I’m trying to get a sound that captures that genre.
I have a decent guitar rig that includes a Mesa Boogie Triaxis and a Mesa Boogie power amp. I’m using a couple different mic’s that include an SM57, SM57beta and an Audix i5 into a presonus mic preamp.

Any advice or comments on these clips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=8226980&q=hi

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=8217945&q=hi
 
Pete2112 said:
I’ve been doing computer based home recording for about eight years now and I’ve become very serious about recording a “real” album.
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Hello, Pete, and welcome to the board! :)

The two major points that come to what little is left of my mind when reading your post are:

1) What is your motivation for recording a "real" album, as your refer to it? If you we're forced by gun point to make a judgment, is your motivation more of making a DIY recording project that just happens to be an album of your stuff, or is it more of producing an album of your stuff, and you just so happen to be trying to record it DIY?

B) Strongly related to that, what do YOU think and feel about the samples you are providing? Never mind what we think, what is YOUR analysis and review as the de facto engineer and producer of the album-in-progress?

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Hello, Pete, and welcome to the board! :)

The two major points that come to what little is left of my mind when reading your post are:

1) What is your motivation for recording a "real" album, as your refer to it? If you we're forced by gun point to make a judgment, is your motivation more of making a DIY recording project that just happens to be an album of your stuff, or is it more of producing an album of your stuff, and you just so happen to be trying to record it DIY?

B) Strongly related to that, what do YOU think and feel about the samples you are providing? Never mind what we think, what is YOUR analysis and review as the de facto engineer and producer of the album-in-progress?

G.
Click to expand...


Hello and thanks!

I guess I would say my main motivation to record a "real album" is that I've been doing demo's and partial recordings for so long that I finally want gear up do something for real with the intent to make this as professional as possible within a DIY scope.

As for my thoughts and feelings on these clips, they're lacking something. I think my main problem is that I work alone on this stuff and it's hard to break out of certain habits with regard to recording techniques. I just feel I need a fresh opinion on what I'm doing or not doing enough of. I think after doing this for the amount of time I have, I should be getting better results.
 
You've got some pretty sweet recordings here. I really like your guitar tone and the synths.

Your drums (kick excluded) really seem to be lacking in the low end though. They sound high and thin. Your kick might have the opposite problem in that it's so bassy, it gets buried in the guitars and bass.

Also, I'd recommend posting these to the MP3 Mixing Clinic forum.

Welcome to the boards.
 
Guitar sound

Man, I think that guitar tone sounds good. Keep up the good tones. Have you tried to add a sonic maximizer to see what that does?
 
TNWRITER said:
Man, I think that guitar tone sounds good. Keep up the good tones. Have you tried to add a sonic maximizer to see what that does?
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I haven't listened to the clips as I am at work, and laptop speakers would hardly be worthy... having said that, why do you feel to ask if he has tried a sonic maximizer? What do you think he'd accomplish with it that he couldn't by other means (mic position, amp position in the room, etc)?
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm surprised I received positive feedback on my guitar tone. Maybe it's decent enough, but I'm just not getting the results I'm looking for. As for the drums, these are drum loops and I plan on recording real drums for this, unless I can get these eq'ed good enough to pass close to the real thing, which I doubt will happen. Again, thanks for the comments. :)
 
Pete2112 said:
I'm surprised I received positive feedback on my guitar tone. Maybe it's decent enough, but I'm just not getting the results I'm looking for.
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This does make it difficult, because no-one can see inside your head to hear what you are hearing, nor what you would like to hear. The comments from people who've not heard the material and are impartial are positive. In the light of this, it is unlikely that the general punter who might pay to hear your recording is likely to be distressed by the guitar sound, so you should feel well satisfied.

If you are not satisfied with the sound of the guitar or with the positive responses, then you have a big job ahead to convey exactly what it is you think is missing to those whom you think might be able to help.
 
gecko zzed said:
If you are not satisfied with the sound of the guitar or with the positive responses, then you have a big job ahead to convey exactly what it is you think is missing to those whom you think might be able to help.
Click to expand...

I suppose that's my issue at the moment. I'm really not able to convey exactly what it is that I'm trying to achieve with the sound of my guitar. That said, it has been improving, but I still haven't had that moment where everything just clicks for me, but I'll keep trying. :)

The feedback is still appreciated.
 
Pete2112 said:
I suppose that's my issue at the moment. I'm really not able to convey exactly what it is that I'm trying to achieve with the sound of my guitar. That said, it has been improving, but I still haven't had that moment where everything just clicks for me, but I'll keep trying. :)

The feedback is still appreciated.
Click to expand...

That's a problem :)
In order to acheive a result you have to know what you are shooting for otherwise you're just taking stabs in the dark and hoping something good comes out of it.

Start from scratch, unplug everything. How are the strings sounding unpluged? too bright too muddy? Try some diferent ones. then plug in hows the clean tome what do you like what needs to change etc etc until you get to a live tone you like

then comes the problem because once you mic the cab you're changing how the tone is heard, generally when messing around with my guitar I don't put only one ear 3-4 inches from the cab and play. The tone I hear is effected by distance, stereo positioning caused by both ears and room reflections. The tone the mic is hearing if you're micing a dynamic 3-4 inches away and off center from the cone isn't hearing the sound effected by the distance and reflections so you need to make adustments

I tend to find I need less lowend and much less distortion/overdtive/fuzz when micing a cab to end up with a similar recorded tone to the live sound but that just me.

Ultimately the buck stops with you, this is your album so you have to decide on the overall sound, whether someone else likes it oe not isn't that big of a deal (they might love the tone for all the reasons you hate it), you have to decide if waht comes out of the monitors when you press play is what you wanted to capture.
 
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