gtrplyrguy
New member
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Our first submission- cover of Sweet Child O Mine
- Thread starter gtrplyrguy
- Start date
chamelious
www.thesunexplodes.com
I wasn't a huge fan of the original song but i gotta say thats still pretty offensive.
RawDepth
New member
1) I feel the instruments need more separation. It is difficult to detect exactly where things are located. Perhaps they have too much "spacial" effects which smears them or spreads them too wide between left and right. The piano, strings, and drums are so heavily processed with effects that they sound distant.
2) I detect a guitar in the background in a few places but it is almost buried.
3) The vocals sound almost dry, meaning no effects.
4) This vocalist would benefit from vocal lessons to develop more power and pitch control. (Not an insult, just a helpful step in development.)
When I mix a song, I stick my head in betweeen the speakers and close my eyes. I imagine that I am floating just above the stage as the band plays. Perhaps just above the lead singer. (With eyes closed you can better detect direction and source of sound.) I think of it as a three dimensional sound stage right there beneath me. I expect the music to make it easy for me to imagine the players standing somewhere near me. Using panning, I try to mix so that I can easily judge exactly where each musician is standing. I also set volume levels and reverb based on how far away they should be. If one instrument sounds too low or hazy, it may seem that he is too far away from the rest of the band. If an effect "smears" that instrument too much to the opposite side, this can blur or ruin the overall image.
When the image in my mind's eye seems more vivid and correct, then it is a better balanced mix.
2) I detect a guitar in the background in a few places but it is almost buried.
3) The vocals sound almost dry, meaning no effects.
4) This vocalist would benefit from vocal lessons to develop more power and pitch control. (Not an insult, just a helpful step in development.)
When I mix a song, I stick my head in betweeen the speakers and close my eyes. I imagine that I am floating just above the stage as the band plays. Perhaps just above the lead singer. (With eyes closed you can better detect direction and source of sound.) I think of it as a three dimensional sound stage right there beneath me. I expect the music to make it easy for me to imagine the players standing somewhere near me. Using panning, I try to mix so that I can easily judge exactly where each musician is standing. I also set volume levels and reverb based on how far away they should be. If one instrument sounds too low or hazy, it may seem that he is too far away from the rest of the band. If an effect "smears" that instrument too much to the opposite side, this can blur or ruin the overall image.
When the image in my mind's eye seems more vivid and correct, then it is a better balanced mix.
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gtrplyrguy
New member
i assure you it is not a karoke track there are far too many mistakes to be called a karoke track.
to the last poster thanks for your honest and helpful critique . i will listen to it tonite and start messing with the mix more . my problem right now is we are still waiting on a good set of near field speakers. there are only a couple of tracks that have effects on them, i will listen to the instruments that feel buried and probably have to re-record them as they were probobly over processed during the take. keep the advice comming...i will let you know when the song is re-uploaded...
WhiteStrat
Don't stare at the eye.
Not karaoke? How about all MIDI then? It sounds very programmed--lacking in dynamics and expression. Besides sounding like MIDI, it sounds like it was played back through a very limited set of MIDI instruments.
So how much of this was played by a human and recorded with a mic? I'm just trying to get a handle on what I'm listening to.
So how much of this was played by a human and recorded with a mic? I'm just trying to get a handle on what I'm listening to.
gtrplyrguy
New member
Well, I will explain my setup. Everything was played by me. The only thing that wasnt was the drum loop. Sadly, I will not ever have room or the setup to record live drums. The piano was my MD-4072 keyboard played live and DI into my converter. I do not use MIDI as I dont even know where to start, I never learned MIDI and am not interested in MIDI. I would rather say I "played" something than I "programmed" something (if that is how MIDI is even done). The problem with the piano track is, frankly, I suck as a piano player. I am a "both hands playing chords" type of player and cannot play melody. So it sounds very, as you called it, expressionless.
The guitar strumming in the back that gets lost at times was me playing my Ibanez. I ran it through my Line 6 pod and DI in. I probably should have mic'ed up my cab but, as I said in my original post, we have moved into a very unfinished studio and room is a luxury we dont have at the moment. Another part of me just doesn't really like an electric playing a strumming part so I found myself burying the guitar in the mix. I have yet to buy an acoustic but when I do, the strumming will be replaced.
The lead melody at the begining of the song was again played on my Ibanez but with 2 takes. It was quite by accident that I used 2 takes as the first take, I accidentally muted a note so I retracked it and liked how the 2 blended. Those tracks were also played through a Line 6 pod and DI in.
The light percussion at the beginning was played on my keyboard using sampled drum sounds in the tone bank of the keyboard. They were just added as kind of an afterthought. The strings were again from the keyboard and added as a last minute to try and level out the song and hide a bit of amateurishness in my piano playing.
I will admit that only the vocals were mic'ed but all but the drums were played by me. The lack of expression was a lot because we were going more for the Sheryl Crow or Luna version of the song which is also very scaled down.
In the next week or so, I will attempt to re-track the piano to more of my liking so I dont try so hard to hide it and probably replace the strumming guitar with more of a fingerpicking background. As far as the vocals, I probably should have mentioned this in my original post but that was a 1 take that my wife did after just getting over being sick and was only put in as reference. It will be scrapped and replaced with my daughter singing the song and my wife singing a harmony part. I didnt even bother adding anything to the vocals as I knew it was just a scrub track.
Well, thats the long version of it and now its back to the drawing board for me and I appreciate all the input.
ido1957
9K Gold Member
I agree you need to breathe some life into this mix. Panning and levels and effects all need some attention. The playing is fine and carries the song okay, but could use some sparkle. The DI affect is going to flatten the guitar tone a bit compared to a mic on a speaker. The piano should be okay as it's meant to be DI recorded. Drum machines are drum machines. There's a few drummers on this BBS that might help you out - drop a note here or in the drum forum and see if you can get someone to play live drums.
What software are you using? Plugins? Mic? Mastering?
This reminds me of my first few recordings - stick around here and you'll get some good advice. It was invaluable to me....
The vocalist is good - comp a few tracks for a solid take....
I hear a lot of potential here so keep working on it....
What software are you using? Plugins? Mic? Mastering?
This reminds me of my first few recordings - stick around here and you'll get some good advice. It was invaluable to me....
The vocalist is good - comp a few tracks for a solid take....
I hear a lot of potential here so keep working on it....
gtrplyrguy
New member
Thanks for listening.
I have figured out a lot of the problem with the sound and mix. I am using Reaper and it uses an external source MP3 encoder which I tried loading and running but apparently it isnt windows 7 compatible. So I jumped on the net and downloaded a free encoder. I listened to the mix in Reaper and then the MP3 it made and it did lose some subtle quality. But the real hitch is my web hosting site (Yahoo) seriously diminished the sound. It is night and day from the original recording. I found it out by uploading the MP3 to Soundclick and instantly noticed a difference. The only problem is since it is a cover, I dont want to leave it on Soundclick with possible copyright issues. My own website is one thing but Soundclick is something different to upload a cover.
Apparently I never listened to the file off the web site after I uploaded it and was a bit let down at the comments on here until I got home from work and listened to it myself off the website.
I have figured out a lot of the problem with the sound and mix. I am using Reaper and it uses an external source MP3 encoder which I tried loading and running but apparently it isnt windows 7 compatible. So I jumped on the net and downloaded a free encoder. I listened to the mix in Reaper and then the MP3 it made and it did lose some subtle quality. But the real hitch is my web hosting site (Yahoo) seriously diminished the sound. It is night and day from the original recording. I found it out by uploading the MP3 to Soundclick and instantly noticed a difference. The only problem is since it is a cover, I dont want to leave it on Soundclick with possible copyright issues. My own website is one thing but Soundclick is something different to upload a cover.
Apparently I never listened to the file off the web site after I uploaded it and was a bit let down at the comments on here until I got home from work and listened to it myself off the website.
gtrplyrguy
New member
I agree you need to breathe some life into this mix. Panning and levels and effects all need some attention. The playing is fine and carries the song okay, but could use some sparkle. The DI affect is going to flatten the guitar tone a bit compared to a mic on a speaker. The piano should be okay as it's meant to be DI recorded. Drum machines are drum machines. There's a few drummers on this BBS that might help you out - drop a note here or in the drum forum and see if you can get someone to play live drums.
What software are you using? Plugins? Mic? Mastering?
This reminds me of my first few recordings - stick around here and you'll get some good advice. It was invaluable to me....
The vocalist is good - comp a few tracks for a solid take....
I hear a lot of potential here so keep working on it....
As far as equipment im using:
Im using Reaper 64 bit on Windows 7 (looking for a good MP3 encoder to work with it)
Plugins i'm using so far is just the eq's in Reaper
Mic is an AKG Perception 120 (not the best but for the price a decent mic)
gtrplyrguy
New member
Ya know, I have got a couple of helpful posts from a couple of people here and I will take them to heart but Im not sure how the rest of you think you are helping. If you notice my post count, I am new here and I came here for help. Im sure I can take the picture of the train wreck and put it up in the studio and my recordings will sound a lot better.
How about if those of you with 4 or 5 post answers give a little helpful advice to help someone new or go to someone elses post and ambush it cause you sure as hell aint helping me any.
How about if those of you with 4 or 5 post answers give a little helpful advice to help someone new or go to someone elses post and ambush it cause you sure as hell aint helping me any.
Chili
Site Moderator
No problem, just gotta have a little thicker skin around here. Some people will be more direct than others. Just have to listen to what will work for you and laugh at what won't. Like that picture being reversed... (what's up with that Ocnor??)
Welcome to the site. Stick around, lots of good info and very knowledgeable people in the art of home recording. Most everyone is willing to help out.
peace,
Monkey Allen
Fork and spoon operator
Sounded like she was singing while she was doing the ironing or something
ocnor
Lord Of The Thighs
Everyone did just as you asked and you got pissed off and started handing out neg rep. I guess my train wreck picture didn't explain it well enough so here goes. It sounds like your girlfriend plugged a walmart mic into a soundblaster and sang to a midi track or a ringtone that you downloaded for free. Was that specific enough for you? You're welcome..Glad I could help.
PS: enjoy the yummy red chicklets
Murdersgalore
New member
Sorry...I laughed at the trainwreck pic. Seriously though, By putting this up in here for review considering the quality of alot of the other stuff on here you would have to had known you were gonna get bashed up a little. If you thought this mix was a good one than your ears need a hell of alot of training. Honestly, and I dont mean to sound cocky, I feel (and Ill bet some of the other more seasoned folks here feel) that I really cant offer you any advice untill your skills improve. Im not the best by any means, but Im not good on explaining the basics and from the sound of things you need to start at the beginning.
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Yeah this is awful. Sorry. Your intentions were good I'm sure, but everything way misses the mark. There's just too much wrong with this to even get into it. It's not the audio player or the MP3 conversion. A good mix will still sound good even at 92 kbps. You need to start all over.
ido1957
9K Gold Member
Upload the .wav file to YOUSENDIT and we can hear the original wave file.
Upload a 320KBPS MP3 to lightningmp3.com
These would be the highest possible quality.
Soundclick isn't going to give you any problems with a cover tune. A LOT of people have unlicensed covers on their site. Their limit is 128KBPS mp3 though.
Upload and post a link to one of these sites so we can hear the better quality song. Then mp3 conversion and bad sites are not going to cause you problems and give us a better idea about the mix.
Post the link