Some OVERground shi*...

R

RAMI

Guest
I try to take my time writing and recording, but I just can't stop. So here's another one I wrote this week and recorded yesterday and today. As I always say, it's not finished until I get feedback here, so I might as well get that as soon as possible...

Mundane Monday
Click " PLAY HI-FI"...NOT the green arrow up top.
 
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Nice!!!!! Funky stuff!

Is it me, or when you are moving along quickly wit recording, do your vocals get a little "dipthongy"? I know it's very exciting when the songs come so fast, but these last couple you've done have sounded like you're rushing the recording/mixing/mastering process just a little bit. Like a detail job on a Ferrari, and "oop, you missed a spot on the mirror there..." Just an observation... I get that way myself, ya know? (Of course, it's been a REAL long time since my writing output was as prolific as yours...)
 
Thanx...It's possible...but even though I've been recording stuff at a pretty good pace lately, if there's one thing I make sure to pay a lot of attention to, it's my vocals, since I know it's my weakest point and doesn't come as natural to me....but you might be right.If anything, I'm not crazy about all the lyrics in this. There are some lines I will rpobably re-write and re-record.
 
Now that I think of it...Are you sure you heard the right tune, Phil? Because you said it was funky, but it's not really a funky song. Make sure you clicked on the "Play hi'fi"...not the Green Arrow, which plays all my tunes.
 
Rami, nice tunes dude. Guess it's what I'd expect from you, another cool tune, bur Damn, man....you crank em out so damn quickly. What can I say?? Straight up RnR....Very cool and catchy. No real critique as usual, as the tune is cool. Really enjoyed the listen, and will PROBABLY listen to it several times this weekend... :D I really liked the way the way the vocals flowed on this one. Didn't seem to have to delve really deeeply to feel I understood the tune. It just really fit life. Not depressing, or down, but kinda the waiting for the weekend type of tune. Makes you appreciate having a good time, doing nothing but hanging....
 
A little bit of L1 on the mixdown, but it doesn't compress more than about 3 or 4db...too much??? Or not enough?
 
Not quite sure. It could be the unknown headphones I had to dig up to listen here at work, but *something* was making my ears twitch. Listening fatigue. 3-4 dB on the L1 probably wouldn't have done that all by itself. I'll listen again through the monitors at home and see if I can narrow it down.

Did you submix the drums through a compressor or anything like that?

It might just be that the kick is pretty dominant. Nice and boomy, sounds good... but half way through the song its a little too much. That could easily be exagerated by the cans I'm using.

What are you recroding on/with/through, by the way? Sounds good. And *great* tune. :D

-Chris
 
Hmmm... it *could* be consitent limiting on the drums- which are the loudest clearest elements of this mix. Good impact at first but wears off after a while.

Ack, enough. I've got to get home and stop trying to listen to this with headphones.

Chris
 
Let me know when you hear this through whatever you're used to listening through...I'm a drummer first, so it's totally possible the drums are too loud or too dominant. Thanx Chris, I'm still learning to mix, etc...so any input is appreciated.
 
Llarion said:
Yes, I generally read and follow instructions well...;) Funky takes many forms... :)


Hehe...i wasn't questioning your intelligence...Just wanted to make sure...Cool, if you hear a funky element to this, I ain't gonna argue :)
 
Grrr!!!!

D@mn you, Rami!!!

I was just packing my stuff up here at work and found myself humming "....I'm oh so mondayyyy-ayyy...."

Its an hour drive, too. Whadda ya bet it'll be stuck in my head all the way home?

:D

-C
 
Hehe...that's all part of my evil plan to take over the world...

seriously though...Let me know what you hear later on.

To answer your question, I record on a TASCAM 2488 (24 track, though I'll be pushing it if I ever use more than 12 for any song)...I don't submix anything...I compress, eq, etc...everydrum seperately...After I mixdown to 2 tracks, I bring it into my PC and simply put it through the L1...then I put it in Wavelab and make sure it doesn't exceed -12db average volume...I find any louder than that sounds too shitty.
 
another meaningless post since my soundcard IS OFF TONIGHT

Maybe you should stop taking the conservative way out and staying OVERground. Maybe you should take some risks and shi*t and not always "play it safe." Underground is where it's at dude. I mean c'mon, look at the stats... have you ever seen a thread hotter than The Bomb's today? That thread got more views/replies in two hours than our posts will get in their lifetime. Underground is the way to go... now the only question we all ponder is... can we handle HAMMERHEAD's power and also its ability to attract the opposite sex? Can we handle that number of women after US?? CAN WE?

Oh yeah, and at 1:47, it's just not right man... it's outta wack (yeah obviously don't take seriously since I can't hear anything... it's an E-mu 0404 for anyone who is intrigued)

Serious review coming soon :p

Oh yeah, AND by the way "Force of Nature" just showed up under my name today. I'm not copying you... it just showed up.
 
Yeah. Drums are pretty loud. Looking at the waveform of the mix its pretty obvious, as it is in the monitors. Your kick and snare are regularly peaking over 6dB over the other *peaks*- sometimes 9. RMS levels jump almost 6dB with each hit, too.

I'd try bringing each drum down 2-3dB and turning the the guitars up 4-5dB. Then rebalance the bass and the vocals. Then adjust from there. You can probably be more agressive with the panning, too. Kick the guitars out a little farther - that'll keep room open in the middle for the vocals while increasing the over all level.

How'd you mic the drums? Sounds close mic'd without (or with very little) room sound. Overheads? At least I'm used to the drums offering more of a stereo image- that may be part of what I'm missing.

Compression setting on the individual drums? That could easily be a trouble spot. Something about the attack of the drums bothers me- it might just be that its loud, but I'm still not sure.

The other thing I thought of was to ask how you get the mix from the 2488 to the computer? If you're running it pretty close to 0dB and have a stock soundcard... sometimes the cheap convertors can't actually handly 0dB and it starts to clip the convertors even if its not clipping the 2488 on one side and Wavelab on the other. That's could also explain what's irritating me about the peak of the drums.

Dunno. It sounds *good* except that I feel like I'm getting kicked and punched in the head after a while. It could be just the relative volume of the drums, but something sounds a little off. I'm throwing out a bunch of things that it might be...but I could be totally wrong.

Anyway- good work over all. The recording itself sounds really clean. The mix needs some touchups... but so do all of mine. ;)

take care,
Chris
 
Ok...I think it's just a matter of turning down the drums if that's the case. Funny, I panned the guitars a little less because I was sick of people telling me that I pan them too wide.
as far as micing the drums is concerened, there's not much close micing going on. I mean, I use 4 mics. Kik snare and 2 overheads. I have a feeling it's just a matter of turning down the drums. I do agree that I find my drum mix isn't as spread out as I'd like it.
Getting my stereo mix to my PC has nothing to do with my sound card. That's done by transferring the wave through my USB. And I'm not really close to 0db on the TASCAM...I leave alot of room.
I'm going to try all your suggestions, Chris...I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and give me your observations...thanx alot.
 
Wow I just got back...
New Rami song posted, ok listening as I write.
This is some loud stuff, its cool sort of a bit laid back and groovy to me.
Its sounds like good beer music :D .
No but hounestly I like the tune, I think your song and arrangment are getting tighter with each effort, also your vox are killer on this on,
your improving way way way "a lot" not that your other stuff was below par, but I just think your stuff gets more and more pro.

Cool title and lyrics, and cant crtitsize much on this, in fact I cant find anything, exept that you failed to Use this Hammer stuff :D
 
Thanx Nak. When you say "loud stuff", do you mean it's louder than most stuff you listen to at the same volume. It's actually averaging ay -13db, which is 1db lower than usual for my songs. I'm a little paranoid to not join the "volume war". I tuned my snare lower on this and tried to get my drums fatter. I wonder if I should thin them out a bit after Chris saying they're too loud and now you saying it's loud....Now, I have to re-listen and see why. Thanx guys.
 
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