POP/PUNK basement recording

TK3RECORDS

New member
I know the band isn't very good at all and the performance was not very good at all but I think I engineered this pretty well.

This is one of the best recordings I have ever done. I want this to be the best mix so please everyone pull this mix apart and bash it to hell and let me know what is wrong with it.

 
I listened to it

as if listening to a kindof Blink182 song. In otherwords, to me its sounded the just like that. People with real mix knowledge will be better than me but good show. Some of the singing didnt sit too well with me but I think you did a smashing job. I donºt know that much though.

Erland
 
Sounds okay - reminds me of the starting line a lot.

Could do with the guitars turned down a little and bass up a little. But that would be my personal opinion.

To get a better drum sound you might want to play around with tuning and new heads, etc. I just thought the snare sounded a little 'boxy'. Maybe play a bit with eq?

I record similar stuff to this so should be putting some new stuff up soon.

Hope I've helped and not offended!

Neil


BTW, loved the song. ;)
 
Sounded ok. I liked the sound of the bass and kick.

Boy that tempo was floating around a bit. What was that drummer on? He'd have a great fill in one spot and something bad in another. Sticks hit each other in a spot or two (I believe it was untintentional).

The vocals were off pitch slightly here and there. And there and there and there. :D I know doubled vox don't fit the genre, but I'm thinking it'd make his voice sound a bit better.

A small mistake or two in the intro. The guitars sounded just a little on the abrasive side. Just a bit.

Pretty decent job of recording though.
 
Neil Ogilvie said:
Sounds okay - reminds me of the starting line a lot.

Could do with the guitars turned down a little and bass up a little. But that would be my personal opinion.

To get a better drum sound you might want to play around with tuning and new heads, etc. I just thought the snare sounded a little 'boxy'. Maybe play a bit with eq?

I record similar stuff to this so should be putting some new stuff up soon.

Hope I've helped and not offended!

Neil


BTW, loved the song. ;)

That's hilarious that you commented about it sounding like starting line. That is what I thought.

About the drums. I will assure you this is the best they would have sounded under the circumstances. The snare had very old heads and never sounded good anyway, but I did what I could with eqing it. As far as the toms. I have always heard that it's hard to make Tama Rockstar toms sound good and I will concur with this. There was nothing I could do. Another thing, the acoustics...this was done in a wide open basement with no treatment. I thought the acoustics came out quite favorably.

You didn't offend at all. Thanks for you comments.

Any more? Anyone?
 
TripleM said:
Sounded ok. I liked the sound of the bass and kick.

Boy that tempo was floating around a bit. What was that drummer on? He'd have a great fill in one spot and something bad in another. Sticks hit each other in a spot or two (I believe it was untintentional).

The vocals were off pitch slightly here and there. And there and there and there. :D I know doubled vox don't fit the genre, but I'm thinking it'd make his voice sound a bit better.

A small mistake or two in the intro. The guitars sounded just a little on the abrasive side. Just a bit.

Pretty decent job of recording though.

I agree, as I said in my post, the performance wasn't good at all. The drummer has a lot of maturing to do and he was very nervous. The vocalist was never really good but improving. That was the best take and we had no time to redo.

I agree about the guitars. I used a POD2 and the thing just wouldn't let their guitars sound goog but I didn't want to record them through miced amp because none of them had good equipment.

Thanks a lot sir.
 
oh yeah, about the bass. As far as I'm concerned that is the only good piece of equipement that band owned. I plugged that thing str8 into the board with no processing whatsoever and it sounded amazing from the start.
 
I think you did the best you could given the situation you described. Like others said there are timing issues and some singing faults but it's raw, and I like it. It has energy. I'd imagine it'd sound really slick if they got their act together, practiced a bit more, maybe some new drum equip. or heads, and maybe even some vocal harmonies once those pitch issues were sorted out.

As an engineer, I hope you're not afraid to say, "ummm want to try singing that again? I think you can do better".

Maybe try recording w/ a metronome in the future if the timing issues come up again.

Hehe, it's definitely starting line influenced as far as the song structure is concerned, but it's hard to beat Kenny's range.

I'd actually bring up the lead octave line a little, if possible.

Good job dude,

-gabe
 
These were all young high schoolers who needed a bit of practice. For drums we only had time for 2 takes and vox we had 3 takes and that was best. These guys have some maturing to do I agree.
 
the drummer needs a couple more tricks.....he plays like a drum machine that's only got 1 pattern


oh, wait, that's some nice change around 3:30. Tell him to do more variations throughout the song.

AL
 
Had a listen again and I'd agree the vocals could perhaps do with a couple more takes.

Also the lyrics - "I'll make you my queen"? San Dimas anyone?

But seriously, for a bunch of high schoolers thats pretty good. I can tell teh acoustics in the room were a bit dodge - I guess that comes through on the drums.

I've been recording for only a year or two now and I usually use the POD 2 with great results, maybe you just need to play around with it a little more (or it could be their guitars or playing). Just out of curiousity, what settings did you use on the POD? I usually use the Rectifier or British high-gain.

finally, I'm also in High school. When I get my MP3's up in the next couple of weeks (the band are organising their site) it'd be interesting to compare recordings of a similar genre across the pond.


Neil
 
This is good - really good.

As far as the mix goes, I thought the drums were a little muddy.
The playing fits the song perfectly. Rough around the edges.
This sounds a lot like the late 70s when local punk bands recorded in local studios and released records on local labels and actually got airplay on major commercial radio stations!
This brings back fond memories!
 
Dims got a point about the length...and don't cram all your "tricks" into one song either.The starts and stops were cool but sounded like either an afterthought, kinda overburdened with them.Bad Drum take too.The kit sounds ok(some EQ might clean it up a little) GREAT FOR A BASEMENT RECORDING.Better than anything I ever did in my basement.Drummers timing is a little off.Voice is perfect for this style but I feel like the punk/pop thing is kinda played out.One song ok....whole CD's worth ...I don't know.Keep truckin gents,you got a good thing going.Decent recording.I thought I saw the POD mentioned.Great for recording.Good sounds right out of the box.
 
Hmmm... I am listening to this and it sounds like I have a slight layer of cotton in my ears. First of all everything sounds like the highs were cut above 4 - 6khz or something. Also the drums sound like they were recorded with the mics about 4 feet away or something, escpecially the snare. Did you guys record this live together then with overdubs? Or track it seperatley?

Beez
 
Drums and bass first, overdub guitars, overdub vocals.

The drums were mixed to be kinda of "roomy". I didn't want to tight of a drum sound. It was recorded in a basement so it couldn't have been recorded any other way anyway. No acoustical treatment.
 
I don't know if this happened during mixing of if you did some post-mix compression, but there is an incredible amount of compressor pumping (listen on phones). Check your attack/release times or back off on the compression, that could take away the blanket over the drums.
Then again, it's the overcompression that makes this sound like something I could hear on the radio. Very commercial-sounding and appropriate for the genre.
Overall, a very good job.
 
Yeah I am really keen on the over-compressed type sound. I have this theory on compression that it gives tracks so much more life.
 
Back
Top