Another newbie acoustic recording (warning: sappy 70s love song)

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Sage97

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It's the Bread cover, "Make it With You."

I did everything so please feel free to offer advice/feedback/comments.

In fact, I'll start. I think my guitar playing is lousy especially for a song that's very easy to play. My bass playing which I took up just a few minutes before recording the song is even worse. Lastly, I need to redo the vocals. My excuse? I'm a newbie. :)

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=4579/singles
 
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NO! Dont redo the vocals!! Excellent vocals throughout... I mean really excellent. And I wouldn't change anything in the arrangement.

The guitar tracks' tone and rhythmic tightness though don't match the quality of the singing, IMO. It'd be worth it to do some intensive tracking of the guitar parts to get them tighter and richer. The bass is very close, but that frequent quick rhythm is just a little off some of the time.

I think the vocal is so good in this that it'd be worth spending a lot of hours tracking the guitars to get a fuller tone and articulate rhythm. Oh, and I wouldn't pan the guitars so far to each side myself but that's a matter of personal taste.

How have you been mic'ing the guitar?

Tim
 
Hey, the vocals are awesome! Very nice. The guitars are good, but I agree with Tim, a little behind the quality of the vocals. Especially the rhythm guitar. The little lead parts and solo sound great. I've never heard the original, but I'm liking this. The guitar/bass tone at 3:00 sounds a bit muffled on my system. Overall, very nice song!
 
Tim and Snakedog,

Thanks for the compliment on my vocals and the critique on my guitar playing. I'll try to redo the guitars here within the next few days and pay more attention to tone and tighter playing.


Tim,

Thanks for the rumble CD. I have yet to listen to it because I know my solo would be the most laughable one. :)

To answer your question on the rhythm guitar, I didn't do an XY with my SP C4s this time. I was experimenting and ended up with one pointed to the 13th fret and the other one below the bridge. I did not measure the distance between the two mics though. Mic positioning is still tough for me. I did set the RNC per your recommendation in previous threads. The lead and the other guitar was done with just one C4.

Just in case you're wondering. The vocals were done with a Rode NTK through RNP and RNC. The RNC settings stayed the same all through out the recording for the guitar and vocals.

Ernie
 
The vocals are great, and the guitars don't bother me much. What does bother me, though, is the high-pitched noise that starts at around 2:45 and continues to the end of the song. It fades (or is masked) for a few seconds around 3:00. You must find that noise and kill it.

Don
 
In listening to this more...

Firstly, I think my post sounded a little cutthroat about the guitar/bass and I wouldn't have said anything about it - because they're really pretty nice - except that the vocal's so damn good. Whenever I hear an mp3 here where parts seem to be at very different levels of sound quality, it always strikes me as the first thing to address. But hey, one person's idea about sound quality might be totally dissimilar to another’s. So just an opinion.

The rhythm guitar sounds like it was played pretty quietly. I know it's mixed in at a low level and I'm not referring to that, but to the tone and articulation. I'd retrack it with a tight rhythm and strong sound, which I've heard you do before on other tunes. Then when you mix it in I think it'd give a solid backing for the sentimental vocal.

The lead gtr actually sounds very good, and with a solid rhythm gtr behind it might be just right. There's just one phrase that's a retrack candidate IMO, at 2:23.

As far as mic'ing, since there are two guitars, if it were me I'd use a single mic on the rhythm gtr as was used on the lead, probably at the neck/body joint, then pan the gtrs at 11 and 1 o'clock to get a slight soundstage effect while keeping the accompaniment balanced OK in level, left to right.

one pointed to the 13th fret and the other one below the bridge. I did not measure the distance between the two mics though.
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Yeah, that can sound nice - make sure to hard pan the mic's in the mix though or you're likely to get phase problems. Why would you want to measure the distance between the mic's?

Tim
 
DonF said:
The vocals are great, and the guitars don't bother me much. What does bother me, though, is the high-pitched noise that starts at around 2:45 and continues to the end of the song. It fades (or is masked) for a few seconds around 3:00. You must find that noise and kill it.

Don
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I have been trying to figure out where that noise is coming from as well. I have no answers at this time but it is extremely annoying.

Thanks Don.
 
Tim,

I can't thank you enough for your compliments on my voice. Thanks again.

When I first did the rhythm guitar, it sounded so bright so I retracked it using a Taylor with dead strings and without a pick. I guess it worked! :D

Seriously, I see what you mean and will definitely redo the rhythm guitars. I could have sworn reading here somewhere that in this mic position, the mic to guitar distance needs a certain fraction of the mic to mic distance to avoid phase problems. Was I dreaming?
 
Sage97 said:
I could have sworn reading here somewhere that in this mic position, the mic to guitar distance needs a certain fraction of the mic to mic distance to avoid phase problems. Was I dreaming?
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You're probably thinking of the 3 to 1 rule. But it pertains to mic'ing different sources that will be mixed to the same channel, not multiple mic's on a single source. So you're OK at whatever distance gets you the sound you want. Just keep the mic's hard panned L and R.

Tim
 
Nothing sappy bout it! Those songs have made millions of dollars... Great voice and guitar playing/sound. I have nothing to add but good job!
 
Nice tune...
Quite 70`s vocals.
You sound a bit more male and grown up to be compared to Jon anderson :) not putting your voice down.
It sounds great, youre voice that is.

I agree on the other comments on the guitars.

all in all

YOU`ve got a smashing hit going on here. :cool:
 
Sage97 said:
It's the Bread cover, "Make it With You."

I did everything so please feel free to offer advice/feedback/comments.

In fact, I'll start. I think my guitar playing is lousy especially for a song that's very easy to play. My bass playing which I took up just a few minutes before recording the song is even worse. Lastly, I need to redo the vocals. My excuse? I'm a newbie. :)

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=4579/singles
Click to expand...

aiiih its a cover tune. :o :o :eek:

well its still a smashing hit. :)
 
Nice, faithful cover. Makes me want to track it; I love Bread, but I can't sing for poop.

Incidentally, that critical first and 2nd strum on the 2nd guitar part (and the beginning of each similar phrase) is supposed to be an upstrum, and down near the bridge, to get that autoharp sound...

You really have Gates' vocal nuance down nicely. No newbies excuses from you, this is pretty good. I can tell you're new on bass, being a bassist, but for what you attempted, you landed it just fine.

Very enjoyable, thanks for the pleasant trip. Now I gotta got gt my Bread CD and break the parts down.. :)

Someone should do Mother Freedom.. :)
 
Llarion said:
Nice, faithful cover. Makes me want to track it; I love Bread, but I can't sing for poop.

Incidentally, that critical first and 2nd strum on the 2nd guitar part (and the beginning of each similar phrase) is supposed to be an upstrum, and down near the bridge, to get that autoharp sound...

You really have Gates' vocal nuance down nicely. No newbies excuses from you, this is pretty good. I can tell you're new on bass, being a bassist, but for what you attempted, you landed it just fine.

Very enjoyable, thanks for the pleasant trip. Now I gotta got gt my Bread CD and break the parts down.. :)

Someone should do Mother Freedom.. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks again for the compliments on my vocal style. It's no longer popular but I still like it.

Excellent point on the upstrum part. Will definitely try that when I re-track.

I actually don't play bass. I don't even have a bass guitar. I just used the three strings on my Taylor to do the bass parts which is why it sounds the way it does.

Thanks again.
 
Well, you should get an inexpensive one; you'd get adequate pretty darn fast. It's a great weapon for your arsenal! :)
 
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