19yr old records entire album on his PC in his room....

  • Thread starter Thread starter dctalkdotnet
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Re: Re: Re: Re: 19yr old records entire album on his PC in his room....

dctalkdotnet said:


But I feel like I'm trying to prove my artistic integrity here or something, so I'll shut up. But honestly if you don't respect me that's fine. I enjoy it and in fact, a few people do enjoy the music I make. :)

Thanks again for useful negative and positive feedback. I'm taking notes ;)
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I took a listen last night to "Thousand Lies".

I think there is room for improvement is a few areas that you should be aware of. Im not saying this as a put down or anything negative. It has more to do with taking what you have and tweaking it so that it goes from "pretty good for 19 years old" to "You need to seek band members out and start gigging the clubs..get signed" I know this hasn't been mentioned, but candy coating things than can be improved is not constructive, its destructive and limits you.

Improvements:

Guitar: The left and right balance of the acoustic guitars is distracting. There is more guitar in the left than the right which pulls the ear off the vocals. Get rid of the slightly dirty electric guitar that sits in the background. Acoustic tone is pretty decent maybe a little too edgy.
Guitar solo: Add some more edge and sustain to it. The tone is little too uninspiring, and its a little flat in a couple of notes. Borrow a Boss distortion pedal to give it some bite or even a used Rockman . Too Pod-ish :eek:
Add a some Bass guitar to the whole song.

Vocals: Change the reverb and back it off a tad too.
I think your voice is great and probably the strongest point. I like the harmony during the last coulple of chorus sections and that should be applied to all the chorus sections.

I think if you kick in some drums in the chorus as well it would be a huge addition (as well as the bass) to the overall song.

Ill try to remember to dwnld another song tonite that had drums and stuff to hear whats happening there.

Based upon what Ive heard talent wise from your voice and everything that if you fine tune some things that you would benefit from seeking some bandmates and start working with a local producer. The potential for getting signed is there if your willing to exploit it. I do think that the PC is limiting you and its time to move it to the next level. Just my opinion of coarse. Take it for what its worth.

SoMm
 
The overall sound you have achieved is great for a home setup, no doubt about it. And you seem to have a good ear for what is on the radio today. I think the lead guitar tone was a little weak on "Thousand Lies". Could it also be a little flat? One thing I thought that needed work that I haven't seen commented on was some of the lyrics. Your use of the words "amazing" and "joke" and other phrases lack sophistication and keep the tune from going over the edge. A lot of talented musicians have trouble with this area and I would visit the songrwriting forum or find someone to bounce these ideas off of.
 
dctalkdotnet: Welcome to the clinic. You got some compliments from some of the best ears here.
Im the 51 year old local deaf guy and I think you did a real nice job, you should be proud of your accomplishments but this is a place where constructive criticism is your friend. Once you learn the members of the family here you wont be able to leave home without checking in.

:D :D :D

Good stuff, keep it coming

Peace
Bill
 
sonusman said:
My ears hurt.



The song writing is decent. If you learn to write a hook, you will get signed!

Ed
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I echo what sonusman says. I think you have a marketable voice, and you are farther along in the songwriting track than many.

REALLY pay attention to trying to write a wildcard and you'll be home. You're almost there.

I also like your use of harmonies. Keep that up.
 
Im back just like I said I would be.

I downloaded "Fade" last night. I listened to it on the headphones and I listened to it on the monitors.

OUCH!

Here is why it hurts. Overcompression, and brickwall limiting really isn't a good thing, lots of red on the meters, distortion and the lot. Really, don't do that to your music.
Another thing is you are either suffering from hearing loss in your left ear or something is not right in your monitoring chain. There was at least 6db to 10db more on average in the left channel than the right. Flip the headphones on your head and you'll probably hear what Im talking about.
There was alot more audio in the 40Hz to 350Hz range than the rest of the song, so your loading the low end. There is also a bad dip in the 608Hz to 1.2Khz range, which is where I believe the vocals should be most dominant.

You have way to much stuff crammed into the low end. Move the guitars closer to the 450 Hz range and the bass needs a slight boost at 350Hz. Your vocals are buried in the mix because its lying with the rhythm section. I don't think the drums on this song are bad, but they are are to really pick out. Same with solo guitar, its buried. Im thinking your mixes need a better monitoring situation. If the monitoring isn't good, you miss the mark. Ive been there, done that before.

Like I said before, your voice is your strong point and I think an experienced mixing engineer/producer could do wonders for what your trying to accomplish. (that goes for everyone ;) ).

I really think that if you got a band together with your material, voice and overall talent you could generate some income from gigging. Gigging will refine your playing and its fun most of the time. Then in 6 months, drop your gig money of a 5 song demo in the studio with an experienced engineer. Start shopping.
There are lots of talented people out there that can't record themselves, and alot of engineers who flunked MelBay Book One who have Grammy's so dont' get hung up on not being perfect as an all in one act.

Yes its good for a 19 year old on a PC. But is that where you want to be? Wouldn't you rather be a 20 year old getting paid not to record on a PC, but recording in studio with professionals?
Your sitting at the cross roads of career performer and recording artist or 40 year old with so-so recordings on your PC.

Take the red pill! See how deep the rabbit hole goes!

I took the Blue pill.... Doh!

If you had mixed it on CEP2 I'd ask for a cd data disc of your session and associated files and offer my mix take on Fade. I don't do acid!

SoMm
 
Son of Mixerman said:
Im back just like I said I would be.


If you had mixed it on CEP2 I'd ask for a cd data disc of your session and associated files and offer my mix take on Fade. I don't do acid!

SoMm
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LOL

He should have used CEP2.
If they are indivual waves, couldn't it still be done?

I use Sonar XL myself.

I dont do Acid either.

Malcolm
 
Son of Mixerman said:
Im back just like I said I would be.

I downloaded "Fade" last night. I listened to it on the headphones and I listened to it on the monitors.
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Now THAT was a helpful post... thanks so much dude... as soon as I read your post I pulled up ACID and started playing with the frequencies you mentioned.... the low end did open up some when I cut some lows on the guitars.... EQ is one of my weakest points, so I tend not to mess it with it TOO much... esp. not boosting frequencies..... but your suggestions were great... thanks!
 
oh one more thing.... a while back I went to the doctor because the hearing in my left ear was muffled.... it turns out I had some fluid in my ear and had to take some medicine to get it draining out.... Iwonder if maybe that was around the same time I was mixing some of my music... lol
 
dctalkdotnet said:
oh one more thing.... a while back I went to the doctor because the hearing in my left ear was muffled.... it turns out I had some fluid in my ear and had to take some medicine to get it draining out.... Iwonder if maybe that was around the same time I was mixing some of my music... lol
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I have this same problem.

Sometimes it'll build up slowly over the course of a few days and you don't really realise that you're loosing certain frequencies... then all of a sudden it'll "pop" and you notice how much clearer you're hearing, so you're like... "Crap! Now I have to remix that tune." :p


WATYF
 
TAKE IT FROM ME! You young whippersnapper You think that it wont happen to you... So did I!!! Protect that hearing!!!! this is no joke at all
I wish I had listened when I was young. There were plenty of times I really overdid the exposure. In our teen band we'd practice in a guys very small basement with Drums,Vox , fender and ampeg amps of the day blasting away.(late 60's)

Today at 51 years old I can Not hear anything over about 6k and have developed tinnitus ( 24/7 ringing in the ears). Of course this is killing me Now. I love music and I miss so much of whats there. Forget about eq ing. Thats why I often post that Im the Deaf Guy.
Thankfully there are so many here willing to help me out. I cant believe what they can hear. You cant put together a decent recording when you cant hear whats wrong!

Remember exposure is not only sound DB level but the length of Time. 90 db for 4 hours and your loosing a lot
Headphones on for a long time can make you slowly deaf!!!



Peace
Bill
 
dctalkdotnet said:
oh one more thing.... a while back I went to the doctor because the hearing in my left ear was muffled.... it turns out I had some fluid in my ear and had to take some medicine to get it draining out.... Iwonder if maybe that was around the same time I was mixing some of my music... lol
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IM glad I could help. I have chronic sinus problems that give me ear infections alot. Instead of getting muffled I get hypersensitive to high frequency stuff. I try not to mix when things are acting up... I have always flipped the headphones to see if things are outta wack, also looking at rms levels on a meter can show if your stereo field is unbalanced. Take care of those ears ;)

SoMm
 
Just listened to A Thousand Lies. Not what I was expecting. It's a good song, I liked it but I can really hear a place for drums and bass. Not a drum machine either. You should either find a band immediately, or give this to someone who lay down some drum tracks for you. I'm sure you could find someone here that would be willing to do it. Hell, I'd even give it a shot.

[edit]

Just got to the lead part. Needs work. re-track it. It is really distracting.
 
DaveMontana said:
I like it - kinda reminds me of Bush, but more melodic.
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Thank you! I love Bush and I love melodic so I take that as a huge compliment...

HangDawg: Thanks! I've had others mention drums/bass for the song... it's not really what I had in mind but I'd be open to that suggestion...
Just got to the lead part. Needs work. re-track it. It is really distracting.
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I agree
 
I just listened to thousand lies. sounds pretty good. by that i mean, better than a lot of what's posted here actually.

nothing to hook me really but sounds good all the same. i agree with the others that with your voice if you found some sort of hook in your music you'd sound like a lot of other stuff on the radio anyway.

stick around and share. thanks for stopping in.
 
You've gotten mixing comments from people with way better ears than I do, so I'll leave that alone, but I have one thing to say...... I really like your songwriting and your singing is superb!
 
erichenryus and Swede: Thanks for your positive comments!
 
ahhh.. I wanted to take a listen but I'm not doing that mp3.com register crap.

First off I had 10 songs on there and when they switched to 3 for free they dumped 7 without telling me. Second off, they jam my email with so much shit!! SPAMFUkkers!!

..

ahh sorry to go on a rant on your thread mp3com just bugs me. If you get this up on NWR or elsewhere pm me I'd love to take a listen
 
You're starting to sound like a real mp3 clinic freak, Khomp!

I'm proud of you!
 
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