Ketchup Sitgmata

tubedude

tubedude

New member
Ketchup Stigmata

What a name for a band huh? Still not sure I get it, but thats ok.
These guys are all still in high school, and they had some pretty cheap equipment (marshall mini-stacks with blown speakers and shorted out guitar electonics, cheap drums,etc)
But writing wise, I really like thier stuff, thought I would share it.
Spent last sunday recording this, and a little while messing around with the mixing on it, mostly playing with vocal level envelopes though.
Quick run down...
AKG c451b and Soundelux U195 on overheads
MD441 on all guitars clean and otherwise...
RNP direct for bass
Vocals are Soundelux U195 into RNP, including the doubles.
Not my best work, but I didnt have a lot to work with, and I havent spent a ton of time mixing either. I actually like the way it sounds though just like it is, doubt I'll do much more to it, really, though I will entertain suggestions, mix wise and otherwise.
I like the song.
Alot.
Enjoy.
www.nowhereradio.com/ketchupstigmata/singles
I would use hi-fi or download or dont even bother. Lo-fi sucks bad.

Peace!
 
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Couldn't resist something with the title "Ketchup Stigmata" -- I'm kind of a ketchup fiend! :D

This song has a good radio friendly quality to it. Pretty good for a bunch of high-schoolers :)

Recording wise, sounds good. I really like the vocal on this. The bass was a little bit hard to make out (I'm listening on headphones, and in lo-fi, so it may just be on my end) The bass drum also sounded like it may could use some reverb -- imho --

Otherwise, great job! :)
 
Future HR collabers?????? :) he he

Kewl tune! I can picture them "doin' their thing!" out in a local park or arena! :)
 
Couple of quibbles: that squeal at :44 just as the electric comes in could be a little less piercing I think. Also, (as always) I'd like to hear the vox up more. Am I alone in wanting to hear the vocals on everything? I feel like I'm always saying "turn em' up!" (and people are always telling me to turn mine down).

I have no problem hearing the bass on this - in fact my only other complaint is that the mix seems pretty heavy on both low and high end. I might lessen the extreme-ness just a bit. But sounds mostly very solid - especially considering they're high school kids.

Chris
 
Thanks for taking a listen... hope you enjoyed it.
Yeah, that dude squeals and whammys all over the place, I think several times in almost every song. That one happens to be one of the more high pitched hurtful ones I think. He has a neat style though, especially for what I almost see as just a kid.
One of my biggest problems is keeping the vocals DOWN, since I will have them WAY louder than everything else if I dont fight the urge tooth and nail.
You might be right about the high and low, I think I probably fried my high end hearing in bands through the years. Anyone else have a problem with too much high?
Lots of bright mics too, U195, c451b are both bright...
I'll post another one if anyone is interested.
Peace!
 
No problem with high end here... I thougt the recording was great... I felt that you made them sound better then they are...
One thing that jumped at me were the harmonies somewhere in the middle of the song ... felt a little out of place but that's a small thing... and maybe it's good that it jumps out like that.
I realy liked the kick drum the fact it wasn't lost in even when the dist guitars kicked in... that was great...

cheers
 
my savior

Had to give it a listen tubedude since you were my savior with my own tube amp!!

Mix sounds really cool...I think they are definately on to something...who would of though Macy Gray...and Billy Corgan would sound so cool singing over an uptempo Nirvana song!!! lol....all those people came to mind while listening...not meant to be a bad thing at all...a very unique and impressive sound they have.
And you did a really nice job...
in fact...heck...I'm gonna play it again and keep my foot tappin!!!!
 
man that kid has a weird intriguing voice....at first i thought it was a chick......wow...the song is pretty cool ..man that voice...its like "campy" sounding to me ..like a guy making fun of singers while he's singing....the drums sound really good i thought...right in the VERY first little guitar lick it sounded like one of those chords doesnt fit ....ok i just tried to find it on second time i guess it fits....weird..lol...when the guitars get heavy (im on phones)..it seems to get crispy to me..the highs ..the middle section where it breaks down a bit the loooong feedback part...maybe needs a fatter guitar sound ...it sticks out right there as sounding "preset" guitar to me....



MAKE THEM USE A CLICK TRACK !

:D
jamal
 
Yeah this sounds like this would be some fun shit to catch at your local stage. I like the song a lot too especially when shit kicks in.

At first the guys voice reminded me of Janis Joplin a little bit. I know that sounds far out but..

You can cover up a lot of this because they just sound like a scruffy bunch of ruffians, but i really would like to hear the vocals a little more up front.
 
Jamal Bucket said:
man that kid has a weird intriguing voice....at first i thought it was a chick......wow...the song is pretty cool ..man that voice...its like "campy" sounding to me ..like a guy making fun of singers while he's singing....


MAKE THEM USE A CLICK TRACK !

:D
jamal
Click to expand...

Haha, I've come to love his voice and style very quickly. So did you like it, or no? You kind of said it was weird intriguin but then you never really said if you actually liked his voice. I think he has a cool nasally sound to him, and he does pretty good with doubling. His 1st time ever recording and he did all the doubles in one take, and he totally understood what I wanted from him at the time.
I think just about everyone should use a click, but it wasnt happening at this session, didnt even try to incorporate it this time.
Want another one?
 
Nice job on the recording side. I found the heavy guitars a bit biting, mainly the one in the left channel. The drums are very nice, I'd like more overheads but that's personal preference maybe. On the performance side, a few timing glitches here and there. Unique sounding singer, the song is bit 'typical' of current trends, but hey.

Good stuff.
 
pretty nice stuff..........the distortion sounds a little phasy in the heavy parts.....the vocal almost sounds too dry and maybe a little low.....it seems like it could fit in just a tad smoother........the instruments are all sounding solid, and the mix is very clean
 
Late at night (now) I listen through these dumb headphones. It sounds pretty balanced through them. The left channel guitar is a bit dominant, and the vocals are a bit sunk in the middle of everything (what's interesting to me is that I can hear the vocals really well, but it's like the singer's a little guy sunk in the middle of a big swirl of noise). Probably just these headphones. I'd down the former 1.5 and up the latter 1.0.

But who mixes through headphones? LOL

Good song, well played and recorded.
 
Well, the vocals dont really seem loud or low to me, but I can hear them fine, so thats where I put them. To me its not lost, but maybe it is on some systems, cause I heard that from one other person. I used a compressor and squashed em pretty good, and then used envelopes to even out the rest and try to get them smooth al lthe way through. Pain in the ass.
I'll look at raising it .75 or so and see what happens.
That phasey sounding guitar is a Fender cheapo combo amp with a cheap guitar I think. Thats how it sounded in the room, nasally, kinda irritating. The 441 / RNP combo actually smoothed it a little if you can beleive that, and I think better placement would have helped even more, but time was a pressin, pushin, shovin...
Good call on the oh's emeric, I was kinda thinking the same thing before I bounced it down, but the mix is working so well for me right now that I think they will just stay where they are. The 3 most important elements are fine anyway, snare kick and hats, so F*** it. :)
Thanks for taking a listen everyone.
 
Great drum sound! Very impressive sound overall. Wish I would have had this kind of access in High School... Great recording Tube!

The singer needs a little work but he has time. ;)
 
Pretty good recording and mix. Snare sounds excellent, cymbals are kinda lost. I really like the clean sound on the opening guits, but the midrange bulge on the chorus guits seems too much to me. Vocals might be just a little on the low side.

Pretty tight band, good job overall here.
 
sounds pretty good! tempo was a little messy but i'm getting so used to hearing everyone locking to a click that maybe that's not a bad thing after all.

only thing that stuck out to me was the snare drum. no crack in it. that's mostly my taste but i want more balls from the snare drum.
 
Yeah Paul, that's a pretty rockin' tune.

I think the lead vocals are fine where they are.

I personally don't think the harmonies need to be panned quite so hard in this mix.

I'd also like to hear just a touch more guitar out of the right.

Considering that the band has a ways yet to go getting tighter, you managed to get a very tight mix going. Thanks for sharing.


Tom
 
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