hernandog2
New member
http://soundcloud.com/chrisnavich/winter-song-3
I'd love to know what I did well/ poorly in writing/ recording/ producing/ mixing this song and what I could improve on for future songs of the like. I have never had any instruction on my recording processes OR serious critique of my songs and I'd appreciate to receive some from some an experienced community. Feel free to read through this if you would like to offer advice on the recording process, otherwise just listen to the song and save some time. I'd appreciate any feedback.
Here are some of the details of recording and production for this song.
(Note: I find the Rode NT1A has a sharper high end, more dynamic/ boomy quality, while the Apex 460 has a warmer/ less pronounced high end and almost slightly compressed sound to it)
Acoustic guitar recording:
I chose a bright sounding guitar with a lot of energy to keep the main instrument upbeat and audible throughout the song. Rode NT1A miced over the shoulder and Apex off center, pointed towards the 12th fret. Lowered the recorded volume, applied minimal EQ to bring up highs, and multi-band compression to reduce dynamic range as well as using it like an EQ.
Vocal recording:
Used Apex 460... I liked how it sounded compared to the NT1A. Lots of vocal takes whose changing can be heard at times. Manually spliced each phrase on the timeline with detail and adjusted the volume to be balanced so that it could be heard through the instruments. Did this partly because I wanted to avoid using compression/ limiting on the vocals - the mic does that enough on its own. No pop filter (took away some nice high frequencies), just lowered the sibilant sounds. Used a "Los Angeles Recording Studio" reverb preset from one of Cubase's reverb plugins at 39.
Bells (Glockenspiel) recording:
I recorded the opening/ instrumental glockenspiel melody using my rode NT1A and Apex 460, one faced at the upper keys and one at the lower to equally capture low and high notes. Panned glockenspiel melody (both mics) one direction and harmony (both mics) the other direction in stereo, and applied a slight high frequency reverb and pretty significant pingpong delay to both for wintery feeling (Title is "Winter Song"). No compression on these.
Wind sounds/ Synth/ Ensemble/ Drums/ Bass:
VST instruments from Cubase, MIDI. After the MIDI timing/ note volume was arranged properly, it was exported to audio (individual tracks for every instrument, including drum items) for fine tuning in the mix. Applied compression to every drum drum piece to avoid red zone.
Finally, I had to export it with still some red peaks (passing 0db?) and then re-imported the stereo mix to apply a limiter of -.2 output, which eliminated the red peaks (I not sure if it's called clipping if it's not recorded audio...). Not sure if that's a good technique to use to eliminate the peaks.
Majority of mixing done through Etymotic Reseach Hf5 earbuds (Sennheiser 280's FR response were too difficult to work with), checked through some crappy yamaha speakers that make any decent mix sound bad. Found that to be very helpful.
If you read through all that, let me know what your thoughts/ advice are. This is my first time really trying to mix a song and would only like to get better for this style of song among other acoustic types. Any feedback is appreciated, so much thanks in advance for that and your interest.
Chris
http://soundcloud.com/chrisnavich/winter-song-3
THANK YOU FOR HELPING!
I'd love to know what I did well/ poorly in writing/ recording/ producing/ mixing this song and what I could improve on for future songs of the like. I have never had any instruction on my recording processes OR serious critique of my songs and I'd appreciate to receive some from some an experienced community. Feel free to read through this if you would like to offer advice on the recording process, otherwise just listen to the song and save some time. I'd appreciate any feedback.
Here are some of the details of recording and production for this song.
(Note: I find the Rode NT1A has a sharper high end, more dynamic/ boomy quality, while the Apex 460 has a warmer/ less pronounced high end and almost slightly compressed sound to it)
Acoustic guitar recording:
I chose a bright sounding guitar with a lot of energy to keep the main instrument upbeat and audible throughout the song. Rode NT1A miced over the shoulder and Apex off center, pointed towards the 12th fret. Lowered the recorded volume, applied minimal EQ to bring up highs, and multi-band compression to reduce dynamic range as well as using it like an EQ.
Vocal recording:
Used Apex 460... I liked how it sounded compared to the NT1A. Lots of vocal takes whose changing can be heard at times. Manually spliced each phrase on the timeline with detail and adjusted the volume to be balanced so that it could be heard through the instruments. Did this partly because I wanted to avoid using compression/ limiting on the vocals - the mic does that enough on its own. No pop filter (took away some nice high frequencies), just lowered the sibilant sounds. Used a "Los Angeles Recording Studio" reverb preset from one of Cubase's reverb plugins at 39.
Bells (Glockenspiel) recording:
I recorded the opening/ instrumental glockenspiel melody using my rode NT1A and Apex 460, one faced at the upper keys and one at the lower to equally capture low and high notes. Panned glockenspiel melody (both mics) one direction and harmony (both mics) the other direction in stereo, and applied a slight high frequency reverb and pretty significant pingpong delay to both for wintery feeling (Title is "Winter Song"). No compression on these.
Wind sounds/ Synth/ Ensemble/ Drums/ Bass:
VST instruments from Cubase, MIDI. After the MIDI timing/ note volume was arranged properly, it was exported to audio (individual tracks for every instrument, including drum items) for fine tuning in the mix. Applied compression to every drum drum piece to avoid red zone.
Finally, I had to export it with still some red peaks (passing 0db?) and then re-imported the stereo mix to apply a limiter of -.2 output, which eliminated the red peaks (I not sure if it's called clipping if it's not recorded audio...). Not sure if that's a good technique to use to eliminate the peaks.
Majority of mixing done through Etymotic Reseach Hf5 earbuds (Sennheiser 280's FR response were too difficult to work with), checked through some crappy yamaha speakers that make any decent mix sound bad. Found that to be very helpful.
If you read through all that, let me know what your thoughts/ advice are. This is my first time really trying to mix a song and would only like to get better for this style of song among other acoustic types. Any feedback is appreciated, so much thanks in advance for that and your interest.
Chris
http://soundcloud.com/chrisnavich/winter-song-3
THANK YOU FOR HELPING!
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