My mastering skills? Some critisum please?

W

Wack

New member
Hey everyone, I got into recording roughly... 5 months ago. I started recording my band, and a few other bands/artists. I'm going to put a good amount of material for everyone to check out and critic if they will. My first one will be my band (I play bass do booking/recording all that). It's a reggae/ska dub band. My recordings are a bit sloppy, If you would like to know my studio rig feel free to ask. They are called the Mainstreet Dubsacks (MSDS). They can be found at http://www.myspace.com/mainstreetdubsacks and at http://ww.facebook.com/mainstreetdubsacks . The band has a lot of songs in under construction. Not doing to much with them for the momment. My next band I have to offer is a post punk/pop punk group called Captain Dee and the Long Johns. Their a party band. Drunken music if you will :drunk: They can be found at http://www.myspace.com/officialcdlj . Next is various artists ive done, my small time label page, Can be found at http://www.myspace.com/thestewedofficial . My label name is currently 'The Stewed'. What I'm Looking for is some critisisum, what do you think of my mastering? What needs to be louder/quieter? For the Mainstreet Dubsacks, I advise checking out 'I'm Cool' and 'Its Over. Thanks for your help I will be starting a thread for my solo acoustic/vocal demo in the next few days. Acoustic tracks being put down today. Please let me know what I can do differently in mastering to make it more enjoyable to listen to, and have the capability of being listned to on anything not just my stereo. Thanks for the input if given!
 
If we're critiquing one song at a time, it's more like "mixing" skills, not "mastering".

Guitars sound like they have a low-pass filter on them at 1 kHz or something.. a lot of high frequency missing. Why so muffled?

Bass is ultra heavy on "It's Over".

Vocals sound alright decent -- there isn't a ton of high freq missing like on the guitars.

Is the lead guitar toward the end of "I'm Cool" supposed to sound like a detuned toy guitar?
 
I couldn't stand The Marijuana Song... Listened to about a minute of it before I had to turn it off. Vocals sound like they're in your face, while the rest of the band is playing in the next room with the door closed - and everyone's playing to a different tempo. Sorry.. Not my bag.

Just started I'm Cool, and ... Uhh... Same exact sound. Drums sound sort of muffled and mono.. No separation at all... Everything but vocals sounds like it's being played under a huge pillow.

Sorry.. Not a fan of that sound at all. Props to the singer, though.. Sounds like he can sing half-way decently.
 
Thanks for your input. Seems I've still got a LOT to learn:o
I should have mentioned. sandpaper, the marijuana song, Wern't final. Obviously the drums on both tracks are verry off beat. I put it up simpily to give more of a feel of the music. Does anyone else have have input on what I am doing wrong? I honestly know nothing of detail when I record. I dont even know what kHz is. Im all cosmetic unfortunally. I know it wont get me far, I have problems comprehending that kind of stuff. I plug in, set levels. and record. Also, It was supposed to sound like... Trippy I suppose.
 
Hz (hertz) is the unit of measurement for frequency.

1 Hz = 1 cycle per second

The audible range for us humans is from about 20 Hz - 20 kHz (20 kHz = 20,000 Hz).

Hope that's not uber confusing.
 
Would you say my kHz was to high or low? Im not sure how to even check. I know thats what the manuals for though.
 
If you listen to your guitar tracks, can you hear how they seem to sound slightly muffled? Whereas if you listen to the vocals, there is more treble (high end frequencies) going on?

You just use your ears to distinguish what there is too much and too little of. IMO, there is a lack of high frequency in the guitars, thus my statement earlier about it sounding like everything above about ~1 kHz was cut off (turned all the way down).

We can hear from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. To give you an idea of what certain frequencies sound like:

kick drums live in the 20-125 Hz area primarily.

bass is down there as well but extends higher.

a rhythm guitar would be 250-4 kHz.. or even lower or higher, but normally you don't need to leave all those freqs in there, especially the lows if you have a bass.

a lead guitar would normally play higher notes, and thus higher frequencies, like 500-8kHz or something as a rough estimate.

most vocals will live between 300 Hz and 5 kHz.. with most of their substance around 800 Hz - 2.5 kHz.

that "shimmer" sound you hear from drum cymbals is very high in frequency, like 1 kHz on up to 18 kHz... or maybe higher.. not sure.

------------------

*This is all off the top of my head and I'm not quoting it out of a book.. just in case someone comes in here and blasts me for being way off.. but I'm pretty sure you can trust me with these ballpark figures. :P
 
I dont think you sound that bad...the vocals are good the mix of the backing music is awful..

start of by dropping all the faders...mix the drums up, then the bass then fit the vocals in with them then the guitars...when the volumes good start spreading them out, then EQ/reverb/deleay if any sounds are masking any other.....theres just zero clarity and rather than sitting each instrument in its own space they are all clumped together with the vocals sitting on top

I liked the off tempo shit...reminded me of dc basshead, who though more hip hop would provide a good reference to mix towards to


EDIT: and find something like soundcloud or dropbox to host your stuff on, these low kpbs sites dont help your sound much either
 
I've decided to try and learn a little bit about freqs. Highs and lows and what not. And have began my acoustic demo. I'm going to study up on everything you guys have givin' me and Will post the demo in the next few days. I am very greatfull for the advise you guys have givin' me.:cool:
 
+1 for the dropbox suggestion -- it's great. Just make sure you put your files in the "Public" folder. Soundcloud is also good, though.

Hz is all the same, but once you get to 1,000 Hz, it switches to "kilohertz" which is shortened to kHz. So rather than saying "4,500 hertz", we say "4.5 kHz".

But yes, the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch.
 
austinm08 said:
Hz (hertz) is the unit of measurement for frequency.

1 Hz = 1 cycle per second

The audible range for us humans is from about 20 Hz - 20 kHz (20 kHz = 20,000 Hz).

Hope that's not uber confusing.
Click to expand...

And, that's also a generality. As you age your sensitivity to the higher end of that response deadens. By the time you get to your thirties, you may not get much about 15khz. Something to keep in mind.
 
nonrate said:
And, that's also a generality. As you age your sensitivity to the higher end of that response deadens. By the time you get to your thirties, you may not get much about 15khz. Something to keep in mind.
Click to expand...

Of course. I for one can't hear much past 17.5 kHz.. and I'm only 20.
 
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