No idea what I'm doing... Help please?

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humjaba

New member
Mumford & Sons cover... first time, need help

Hey guys

So I recorded this over the course of a couple nights... First time doing this, and I have no idea where to start. All I've done to this is adjust some levels, added some reverb to the guitar in the middle, hit "normalize" and that's it. I used Cubase LE for everything, then exported a WAV and converted to MP3 after normalizing in Audacity.

Like I said, no idea where to go, but it doesn't sound quite right.
Help? Thanks.
View attachment awake my soul.mp3

Edit: Song is Awake My Soul by Mumford and Sons. I'm not much of a writer, and this song's been stuck in my head for a while so I decided to try and cover it.
 
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First off...I have to say.... Im not a pro at this recording stuff...Im here to listen and learn..I still havent even posted anything of mine yet!!! But...........to me..........The bottom end is muddy to my ears...needs more definition...how to get it? Im not sure but Im sure someone here could tell you.
The drums seem to be the weakest part...????
Do I hear some type of pitch corection on the vocal?...If so..sounds like your a good enough singer to lose it.
I dont think your too far away though!
 
Yeah, it sounds to me like it needs to be a bit more defined as well, but I don't know how to get there. Something to do with the eq's no doubt, but I don't know how to use them to sound better (though it's easy to make it sound worse).

And I am using pitch correction a bit, but only during the faster chorus on "awaaaaaaaaaake" (I can't hold a note that long without wavering a bit yet). The parts that sound corrected (the bridge ~1:30) actually aren't, it's just the way my voice decided to sound at that point. I noticed that too, when I was listening back to the recording. Funny how that happens sometimes :(
The piano, drums and bass are stock sounds off my Yamaha PSR-500.
 
I'm not qualified to comment technically, but in the first verses the vocals are burried in the instruments. Have you tried panning anything to create more space? This is not nearly as bad later on and the vocals do start to stand out.
 
Needs more cowbell.

On another note, maybe some soft drums in the background (intro), brushes and maybe some side hits on the snare. As for the EQ and FX, experiment and see what you can come up with. Everything is bunched up in the center, try some panning. T-Racks would turn this into a monster hit (just kidding, had to add that for all of the T-Racks haters out there!)
 
A real good frame to hang a good record on.

Made notes while listening:

Pan: everything in the center....spread out the instruments....like you, the listener, are standing among or in front of the 'group'.

Build: took a bit too long to add other instruments. Not enough 'body' in the acoustic? part to sound full for long...and not enough rythmic chop to substitute for a time keeping device.

The playing gets a little sloppy at times. Shed , shed, shed the parts.

The change in rythm half way through is not clear enough to feel properly. Gotta set it up a little better so that all feet are tapping to the same beat...until the vocal gives the clue where the 'one' is. [time, like chords, can become vague, unless prepared for in advance]

And there's a lot of breakup in the tracks...most notable in the vox. Gotta fix that one.

A microphone in the hole of the guitar would do wonders for the early minutes...fuller sound.....and removed from CTR.

Good work. Keep on going, and you'll discover all you need to know.
 
number 1 thing to do is put some panning in.
It's dead easy, no automation or anything and will really open up the track and improve the definition.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys
I guess this is kind of why I'm not really cut out for music... I'm sick of the song after listening to it 100 times trying to mess with settings, so I don't want to work on it anymore xD I added the panning, but really to make the song good I would have to rerecord the vocals with someone who can sing, and rerecord the guitar using my mic in conjunction with the guitar.
 
humjaba said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys
I guess this is kind of why I'm not really cut out for music... I'm sick of the song after listening to it 100 times trying to mess with settings, so I don't want to work on it anymore xD I added the panning, but really to make the song good I would have to rerecord the vocals with someone who can sing, and rerecord the guitar using my mic in conjunction with the guitar.
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You're fine...drop this and move on to a new project

Your early stuff is just practice, to get through one from start to finish is all thats important at first learn from it and then move on.

If it has any worth you can revisit it, if not at least your learned from it

I just posted a simple guide to mixing in another thread...dunno if there's anything you can take form it but its how I learned (and Ive got a load of never to be visited projects)

https://homerecording.com/bbs/general-discussions/mp3-mixing-clinic/bartered-your-soul-324309/

Id also suggest finishing sketches..even if you never intend on letting others hear it at the beginning its important to get experience in recording and mixing...my first tracks would take me a month, then it was two a month..then one a week..I can finish a track from conceiving it to final mix in two days now because I dont have a life...lol no I mean I always finished sketches and have gained experience quicker than just farting about with little parts all the time
 
kcearl said:
You're fine...drop this and move on to a new project

Your early stuff is just practice, to get through one from start to finish is all thats important at first learn from it and then move on.

If it has any worth you can revisit it, if not at least your learned from it

I just posted a simple guide to mixing in another thread...dunno if there's anything you can take form it but its how I learned (and Ive got a load of never to be visited projects)

https://homerecording.com/bbs/general-discussions/mp3-mixing-clinic/bartered-your-soul-324309/

Id also suggest finishing sketches..even if you never intend on letting others hear it at the beginning its important to get experience in recording and mixing...my first tracks would take me a month, then it was two a month..then one a week..I can finish a track from conceiving it to final mix in two days now because I dont have a life...lol no I mean I always finished sketches and have gained experience quicker than just farting about with little parts all the time
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This, emphatically ^^^^^^^^

Give yourself time to listen to other stuff and put your early efforts in context. Nobody ever woke up one day with golden ears. Be patient. Come back to it when you're ready.

I listened to the song and think it's pretty good. Keep at it.
 
Supercreep said:
This, emphatically ^^^^^^^^

Give yourself time to listen to other stuff and put your early efforts in context. Nobody ever woke up one day with golden ears. Be patient. Come back to it when you're ready.

I listened to the song and think it's pretty good. Keep at it.
Click to expand...

And for some perspective, I work on songs for months. Sometimes I need to walk away for a week or so and do other things. I have a fifteen song album coming out that I've been working on for almost three years. It'll be ready when it's ready - there's no rush at all.
 
Just what the previous posters said - walk away - you certainly have talent as a musician and a good sound. We all get fed up with songs when were working on them, in months and years to come you will be very glad you made the recording, even if it's just as a benchmark to show your growth and progress. Don't give in - get on with something new.
Ps Mumford stuff's not as easy as it looks!
 
Dude... You can sing. Your pitch is darned near perfect. That's something very few people can do. Sure, the recording could have been done better, but don't you dare get discouraged because you get sick of hearing the same thing 100 times. Walk away from it, and come back when you're ready. Yeah... Your performance skills are awesome, dude. Don't quit. Seems like you're a bit sensitive right now, so I'll forebear the nitpicks for now. When you're ready to get dirty with the details of how you can make the recording better, let us know. There's a bunch of us here more than willing to help out.

Thank you for sharing! You've seriously got a great voice.
 
At some point you can come back later and re-record everything - I've done that and with more time you'll probably be more pleased with it. The song itself is good so whether you revisit it you've done a good job.
 
aaronmcoleman said:
main gripe is the DI guitar sounds so weird. Mic it with whatever you have and it'll be way better.
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That. The output jack on an acoustic guitar is good for 2 things: (1) Plugging it into a tuner and (2) playing live. ANY mic will be better than plugging it in to record it.

I love Mumord & Sons, so I can already tell you have good taste in music. Doing covers is a great way to hone your engineering/recording skills. Your voice is real good. You could totally do the background vocals on this one.

Among a sea of hip hop and rock, it's nice to hear something different, so I'd like to see you stick around. This sound is SOOOO familiar to me...it's exactly what my earliest recordings sounded like, only mine had worse vocals. The space and polish will come in time, but this is a process. If it were as easy as just hitting "record," places like this wouldn't be necessary.

Start reading about compression. What it is and what it does. It's harder to understand than EQ, and I believe being competent with a compressor is the biggest hurdle between you and a polished recording.
 
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