Lesson on how NOT to record

powderfinger

powderfinger

New member
Trying to polish a turd.........

I'm in the middle of a move and in the process I found a copy of my first full blown recording I did about a year and a half ago w/ the drummer from my former band...........only a stereo mixdown track remained

It was just me and him in our practice space and I had just started learning to record......this is a lesson on how NOT to record......but I've done a decent job today (I think...you should hear the original) in getting it to sound a much less harsh........all I had to work with was the final stereo mixdown.........luckily I had one mixdown w/o vocals, so I was able to redub the vocals today real quick........

how i recorded it originally........in my more naive recording days......

1. the drums were w/ just two sm-58's micing the room going into my behringer mixer into a cheap little tape deck.....I also recorded my amp direct into the mixer and panned at the same time (bad idea)......which I have since learned is not a good idea....... the tape deck was transfered to my pc into cakewalk

2. all guitars were overdubbed direct (bad idea)....which again, doesn't hold a candle to a real amp, but I managed to clean them up just a bit.......

3. at the time, I had no idea what EQ or compression were, so it was very harsh (bad idea).......i had to go back in.....i copied the track three times.....stereo eq'd one specifically for a better drum sound, one for a better guitar wound, and one for a better bass sound......obviously this is how NOT to record, but it's the only option I had


so, with no further ado.....one of my first recordings, attempted to polish, w new vocals........Neil Young's F*#!in' Up.....

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1642&alid=154
 
MemoGtr said:
ooooooohhhhhh
now show some of your recent work
Click to expand...

:D , the rest of the songs on my nowhere site sound better, and are much more recent.....they were recorded after I learned a lot from the guys here......I've made a lote of strides since this recording....I think :D

I thought this would be a fun one for people to check out, as it was my first attempted song recording (i'd screwed around w/ multi track stuff before, but just for jamming)

thanks jgourd and memo
 
powderfinger said:
I've made a lote of strides since this recording
Click to expand...
Yes you have! :D

The drums sound surpisingly good given how you recorded them. The guitars...let's just say I'm glad you don't record them direct anymore.

Have you heard Neil's new album? Best thing he's done since Ragged Glory. In fact, I think I like it better.
 
I like your vocal performance on this.. that guitar sound upsets my stomach.. you should re-record this one..

It's pretty funny that you posted this because I just found my version of 'into the black' that I did before I found the clinic.. I was going to redo it and I still might.

pretty cool p.f.

please, never make me listen to something with that guitar sound again!:D
 
fprod south said:
The drums sound surpisingly good given how you recorded them.
Click to expand...

fprod-
yeah, I actually like the drum sound too....infact, i'd take that sound over my more clean sample sounds any day...it's got so much more energy......i think a lot of the good sound has to do with my friend's playing....he's amazing.....on the car ride over to the space I played the song for him once, told him the changes and that was it, first take........yup I got the new Neil album too.....I definitely love it....'Falling from Above' and 'Bandit' are two of my favs off it......anything he does with Crazy Horse I'm obsessed with........


Sabbath-
You've got to post that version of 'Into the Black'.......i'd love to hear it......don't worry, after hear my miced amp vs. direct, I'm not going back to the direct sound anytime soon:D ............I wanted to rerecord it, and I was looking for the actual tape that I recorded the drums onto, but then I remembered that I recorded one of the guitars live w/ the drummer (which I now know was a terrible idea).........anyhow, all I could find was that full stereo mix w/o vocals, so there wasn't much I could do to salvagte it..........that's another lesson, always save all your track, not just the mixdown, cause you might have the urge to rerecord.
 
Now for something completly different!:D

Hey Drew,pretty cool!
I liked the Indian yell at the beggining.

As far as the recording,I really liked it.
Has a good raw feel to it,well done though.

Guitars were good,especially the screaming wah.

The vocals were cool.


Nice ride,
Pete
 
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You've come a long way baby!



Hey I'm glad i got the listen in before you had to take it down bein whut it's a c***r song. Hell though i won't use the name W***o in your thread though so he won't zoom in and notice. If you type his name he can see it you know.
 
muzeman - thanks for checking it out pete, 'raw' definitely is a good word to describe this one, but i always love raw recordings for some reason...........thanks for checking it out,........

Khompewtur - thanks for checking it out....yeah, there's been some definite improvement since then.........as for it being a c***r song:D , i have posted them once or twice w/o much problem, so i'll keep my fingers crossed:D
 
Hey, the energy was cool! For some reason the chaos almost worked! OK those guitars are starting to grate.

Good performance. Fun listen. Drums actually sounded pretty good!

Yes, you have improved!
 
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