First recording ever. help me out with some constructive criticism please!

G

geusey

New member
Hey guys, first of all, I don't have a lot of very good equipment and the art of mixing seems to elude me, but I put together a demo of my band, and I wanted to let you hear it. It's a cover of a popular christian worship song from the 90s, if you have ever been to sunday school or vbs, you've probably heard it at least once. I would appreciate some feedback on this one, I feel like I am having trouble mixing it to where it has a good professional sound, although that might have a lot to do with the equipment :confused:

Anyway, give it a listen and let me know what you think.
 

Attachments

  • Every Move I Make.mp3
    6.7 MB · Views: 18
Definitely practice with EQ and compression on the drums man. I also hear so much room sound from the drums. How did you mic them? The guitar also sounds really weak. How did you record it? Clean with an amp simulator? The vocals aren't bad at all!
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I don't have a great set up for drum micing. I used 6 mics total on the set (4 drums and 2 overheads). Any thoughts on setting up the room/mics for less room sound?
What do you mean specifically by weak? The guitar was an epiphone les paul running through a distortion pedal and into a marshal amp. Not sure the make and model of the pedal, i can ask my guitarist. The amp was miked up with a shure sm57. Vocals were recorded through the same sm57, btw.
 
Reduce the level on the overheads on the drums if you want to reduce room sound. Bass: it needs a bit of definition, which you could have got when you recorded it if you played it closer to the bridge, or with a pick, or both. Recording it again is probably easier than struggling with EQ and compression in order to give it more presence. The guitar doesn't sound weak to me, it sounds thin. If you cut lows or low mids in the mix, I'd try adding them back in a bit in order to give the guitar sound more body. Another thing you could try is to adjust the tone on the guitar amp so that it's got a bit more body. Another thing you could try is to put two different mics on the guitar amp so that you can dial in a sound you like in the mix. Another thing you can try (if the guitarist is any good) is to record the guitar part twice - it's a technique that's really useful for filling out a sound - you can pan one left and one right and EQ them differently, for instance.
 
geusey said:
Yeah, I don't have a great set up for drum micing. I used 6 mics total on the set (4 drums and 2 overheads). Any thoughts on setting up the room/mics for less room sound?
Click to expand...

6 mics is more than enough to get a good drum sound from. Many of us here get a great sound from just 4 mics. Are you using "Overheads" or "Room mics"? At first you mention that you use "overheads", than you all of a sudden start talking about "rrom mics". They're 2 entirely different things. Unless you have a stellar sounding room, foget about "room mics". How do you have your overheads configured?
 
RAMI said:
6 mics is more than enough to get a good drum sound from. Many of us here get a great sound from just 4 mics. Are you using "Overheads" or "Room mics"? At first you mention that you use "overheads", than you all of a sudden start talking about "rrom mics". They're 2 entirely different things. Unless you have a stellar sounding room, foget about "room mics". How do you have your overheads configured?
Click to expand...

2 cardioid condensors about 3 feet above the set, centered and crossed, one pointing towards the high hat, snare and crash cymbal, the other towards the ride cymbal and toms. Also, yes, I did turn down the low mids on the guitar. It seemed to interfere with vocal track a bit. Ill see what I can do to bring them back up. If not, another take might be the solution. I'll try some of the things you suggested. Thanks for all the input guys, I think our band is going to move on to some other songs, maybe some originals, to record. I'll keep posting them.
 
Wow... Sounds like .... Well.. Mix definitely needs help. A trick with guitars is to double track, triple track, quadruple track, and maybe even more with the guitars to thicken them up. The drums sound horribly huge, as well as the bass. The guitar sounds nice, bright, and tight, as well as the vocals. They sound like they were recorded in two entirely different rooms. Vocals are way, way too loud, and sound uncompressed. My guess is that your drums have serious phasing issues. I've found drums to be the hardest instrument by far to record. Also - six mics is plenty to get a good sound out of a drum kit. I'd check out the "recorderman" set up and learn from it (google and youtube can help you there).

So. track your guitars more and use panning on them. Compress your vocals. Re-arrange your mic set up for drums until you get a good sound (unless your drums sound crappy to begin with. If they sound like garbage going into the mic, it's darn near impossible to get anything but garbage out of the speakers). Your bass has some serious low-end problems, too. Even through my crappy earbuds, I can hear the crazy low-end frequencies heaping themselves upon each other.

I don't think your problem is your mics. Sounds like you've got at least mid-range mics (and in the case of SM-57 - that's a pro-grade mic right there, dude). Sounds like you just need patience with yourself, and more experience. Read up on recording techniques, and room treatment techniques, and you'll be amazed at what you can get out of a small room, and average mics.

Good luck dude... Anxious to hear how you improve in the near future!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top