Speedy VonTrapp
New member
Warning: This post is going to be long; I'll be posting as much info as possible in order to get better help sooner instead of posting a bunch of follow up posts about equipment, etc. Please bear with me, thanks!
Here is my equipment list:
Yamaha MD4S recorder
Shure SM58 Mic
Peavey PVM 22 Diamond Series Mic
Cheap electric guitar - Cort
Danelectro "Fab Tone" stomp box
Digitech Vocal 300
Computer equipment:
Lexicon Core 2 sound card
Cakewalk (I forget the version. It's the one before they changed name to Sonar.)
Fruity Loops 3.0
Several freeware/shareware such as AnalogX progs, etc. (I have not used these much at all, and not for the example that I am using here. I'm only listing to show that I've got it, in case someone might suggest using them, which I doubt.)
There, with that out of the way, here is my problem:
I know how to operate all of the above equipment, but most of it, only enough to make it work, and not to make it efficient, and work to its full potential.
I have tried recording a song, laying down the drums and bass with Fruity Loops, plugging my guitar into the recorder through the stomp box, and running vocals through the Digitech pedal into the recorder.
By the way, the music is rock.
Some things that I know already:
--A real drum kit is much better. I just don't have it, and don't have immediate access to someone that does.
--Same for the bass.
--This set up will never let my song sound like I bought the CD from a store, done by a professional.
I cannot seem to get the mixing down. I can record all of the tracks, throw them all into Cakewalk, and start some kind of mixing, but I just don't know what I'm doing. My biggest problem is that I don't know what the problem is, or where to begin. The song sounds like 3 separate parts: bass/drums, guitar, and vocals. It doesn't sound like a "song." Does that make sense to anybody? I can't seem to get the tracks to melt together so that it sounds like a complete work, instead of some vocals stacked on a guitar, stacked on some drums.
Obviously, the answer to that question depends on quite a few things that I may or may not be doing with any number of knobs on the recorder, and effects/EQ in Cakewalk. I just don't know where to begin. I've read a bunch of mixing tutorials, and can't seem to do much with what I've got.
Here's something to let everyone know what I've tried:
I've pretty much left the sound alone inside the Yamaha. If the EQ settings aren't straight up, they're probably pretty close. Once in Cakewalk, I've added some general effects like reverb, to see if I could smooth it out some, to no avail.
I copied the lead vocal track, so that there were 2. I panned one about half way to the left, the other about half to the right. This seemed to give a bit more texture, so it's a method that I'll likely reproduce in the future. (Side note here, I'll normally record 2 tracks of anything I'm recording with a mic at the same time anyway, using both mics in different positions and set ups, potentially making this step obsolete.)
Does my dilema sound familiar to anybody here? I know that I can't make it sound like the latest #1 single quality with my set up, but I'd like to have something that I could use for a demo for myself, and its seems like I should be able to do that with the equipment that I've got right now. Right now, it just sounds almost silly.
I've played a live recording of the song for people and they love it. I play the version that I tried recording myself with my home studio here, and the responses are totally different. It almost sounds silly.
I'm just not sure what it is that I should be doing to make the whole song sound more "together," for lack of a better term. I'm sure there are a bunch of small tweaks here and there, not just one big fix. That's what I'm looking for. Does anybody have any idea what my best next (or first!) step should be? Keep in mind, that if I didn't mention it here, I didn't do it. That goes for ANY knob tweaks, etc in Cakewalk. I haven't played with the EQ at all yet, really, because I just don't know how to proceed. Timing on the tracks isn't an issue for me right now, either.
I just want something that sounds a bit more respectable. It's hard to find the motivation to keep recording when what I listen to sounds like crap, and then think that crap came out of me. I have it in my head, I just can't seem to translate it to the recording the way that I want it to.
Eventually, I will post a clip from the song here for people to check out and see what they might suggest. (I'm at work right now, and will probably post it tomorrow or sometime soon.) Please don't let this stop you from responding, however! I'm looking for any good advice about how to proceed, if my problem sounds familiar to anybody here.
I apologize for the length of the post. Thanks for sticking with me, and reading it all. I appreciate any help that I get from the post. I hope to hear from you all! Thanks!!!
-Speedy
Here is my equipment list:
Yamaha MD4S recorder
Shure SM58 Mic
Peavey PVM 22 Diamond Series Mic
Cheap electric guitar - Cort
Danelectro "Fab Tone" stomp box
Digitech Vocal 300
Computer equipment:
Lexicon Core 2 sound card
Cakewalk (I forget the version. It's the one before they changed name to Sonar.)
Fruity Loops 3.0
Several freeware/shareware such as AnalogX progs, etc. (I have not used these much at all, and not for the example that I am using here. I'm only listing to show that I've got it, in case someone might suggest using them, which I doubt.)
There, with that out of the way, here is my problem:
I know how to operate all of the above equipment, but most of it, only enough to make it work, and not to make it efficient, and work to its full potential.
I have tried recording a song, laying down the drums and bass with Fruity Loops, plugging my guitar into the recorder through the stomp box, and running vocals through the Digitech pedal into the recorder.
By the way, the music is rock.
Some things that I know already:
--A real drum kit is much better. I just don't have it, and don't have immediate access to someone that does.
--Same for the bass.
--This set up will never let my song sound like I bought the CD from a store, done by a professional.
I cannot seem to get the mixing down. I can record all of the tracks, throw them all into Cakewalk, and start some kind of mixing, but I just don't know what I'm doing. My biggest problem is that I don't know what the problem is, or where to begin. The song sounds like 3 separate parts: bass/drums, guitar, and vocals. It doesn't sound like a "song." Does that make sense to anybody? I can't seem to get the tracks to melt together so that it sounds like a complete work, instead of some vocals stacked on a guitar, stacked on some drums.
Obviously, the answer to that question depends on quite a few things that I may or may not be doing with any number of knobs on the recorder, and effects/EQ in Cakewalk. I just don't know where to begin. I've read a bunch of mixing tutorials, and can't seem to do much with what I've got.
Here's something to let everyone know what I've tried:
I've pretty much left the sound alone inside the Yamaha. If the EQ settings aren't straight up, they're probably pretty close. Once in Cakewalk, I've added some general effects like reverb, to see if I could smooth it out some, to no avail.
I copied the lead vocal track, so that there were 2. I panned one about half way to the left, the other about half to the right. This seemed to give a bit more texture, so it's a method that I'll likely reproduce in the future. (Side note here, I'll normally record 2 tracks of anything I'm recording with a mic at the same time anyway, using both mics in different positions and set ups, potentially making this step obsolete.)
Does my dilema sound familiar to anybody here? I know that I can't make it sound like the latest #1 single quality with my set up, but I'd like to have something that I could use for a demo for myself, and its seems like I should be able to do that with the equipment that I've got right now. Right now, it just sounds almost silly.
I've played a live recording of the song for people and they love it. I play the version that I tried recording myself with my home studio here, and the responses are totally different. It almost sounds silly.
I'm just not sure what it is that I should be doing to make the whole song sound more "together," for lack of a better term. I'm sure there are a bunch of small tweaks here and there, not just one big fix. That's what I'm looking for. Does anybody have any idea what my best next (or first!) step should be? Keep in mind, that if I didn't mention it here, I didn't do it. That goes for ANY knob tweaks, etc in Cakewalk. I haven't played with the EQ at all yet, really, because I just don't know how to proceed. Timing on the tracks isn't an issue for me right now, either.
I just want something that sounds a bit more respectable. It's hard to find the motivation to keep recording when what I listen to sounds like crap, and then think that crap came out of me. I have it in my head, I just can't seem to translate it to the recording the way that I want it to.
Eventually, I will post a clip from the song here for people to check out and see what they might suggest. (I'm at work right now, and will probably post it tomorrow or sometime soon.) Please don't let this stop you from responding, however! I'm looking for any good advice about how to proceed, if my problem sounds familiar to anybody here.
I apologize for the length of the post. Thanks for sticking with me, and reading it all. I appreciate any help that I get from the post. I hope to hear from you all! Thanks!!!
-Speedy