A little something from a side project

[NL5]

This is from a side project that I am actually playing in. The songs were written in one day, recorded the next (6 in total). The band has never actually played together, so it's supposed to be kind of raw (including mistakes).

Any and all critiques welcome!

.

 

[jeffmaher]

A good piece of work.

Try this:

Hit your link and let the tune play. As it goes, lift the first four bars on the graphic EQ on the player 6db, 3db, 2db and 1 db, respectively....see what you think. It soulds like you rolled off the bottom a little severely in the master?

 

[greyharmonix]

this sounds great. i like the way all the stuff you record sounds. if you don't mind me asking how do you mic your drum kits and what mics do you use?

 

[NL5]

A good piece of work.

Try this:

Hit your link and let the tune play. As it goes, lift the first four bars on the graphic EQ on the player 6db, 3db, 2db and 1 db, respectively....see what you think. It soulds like you rolled off the bottom a little severely in the master?

Yeah, I'll check it out. I usually listen on a bunch of systems to make sure the bottom is full and tight - haven't done that yet.

this sounds great. i like the way all the stuff you record sounds. if you don't mind me asking how do you mic your drum kits and what mics do you use?

Well, the short answer really won't tell you much, so I'll try and give the short and long answer.

I don't do anything fancy when it comes to micing technique. One thing is to take advantage of cardoid mics. I put my snare mic so that it almost completely rejects the hats. I use an ATM23HE on the snare for most tracks. This track has a MXL 603 on the bottom snare (I just shove it underneath the snare). I use audix D-2's on the toms, d-4's on the floor toms, and I used a d-6 on the kick this time. There is a tiny bit of sample blended into the kick, but it was 90% without the sample - and I may end up just tweaking the actual track a bit more and take the sample out. No special micing technique on those mics really. For OH's I always make sure they are equidistant from the center of the top snare head. 9 out of 10 drummers look at me like I'm crazy when I bust out the measuring tape, but 10 out of 10 drummers always comment about how great the drums sound raw, and they see why I measured. The OH's were Gefell UM92.1's. Preamps used were all API 3124, except the OH's that run thru a Fearn VT-2.

The long answer to follow......

 

[NL5]

Ok, the long answer -

I've used a ton of different recording gear, but I've found that the biggest differences in drum recordings (aside from a good drummer), is tuning, quality cymbals, and a good room. I am lucky enough to have a pretty large room. My house is a ranch with a "great room", so I have acoustically 1000sq ft, with all hardwood, and very few parallel surfaces. I get the drum kit out from the nearest wall by six feet, it's fifteen to the next closest, and one wall is over 20 feet away. Plus, with vaulted ceilings, I generally measure my overheads at 66-74 inches away from the center of the snare.

I will say this - I wouldn't worry about gear until everything else is right. It's really only the last few percent that gear helps with.

Also, a lot of my drum sound comes from the way I mix it. I time align the snare top, bottom, and overheads. Which reminds me, room mics are HUGE to the sound I get too. Probably better than half my drum sound comes from the OH's and room mics. I generally squash the heck out of the room mics. I like a UAD 1176 running in british mode (all in), and I get the needle spasaming as hard as I can, then tuck that track till it sounds just right, and you miss if it's muted. I use very little EQ, maybe a touch of reverb on the snare and kick.

Hopefully that helps, I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but there are literally a million little things in this game.........

 

[greyharmonix]

thanks for describing how you're doing things. it sounds like a pretty sweet setup. i'm totally jealous. im a fan NL5 keep posting up your stuff!

 

[Waffleness]

I do like this, drums sounds well recorded, and vocals are nice and clear.

I think the guitar are the weak point, bit muddy (maybe its the tone/amps?) but overall its a great recording, and wish I could do this kind of thing!

 

[NL5]

I do like this, drums sounds well recorded, and vocals are nice and clear.

I think the guitar are the weak point, bit muddy (maybe its the tone/amps?) but overall its a great recording, and wish I could do this kind of thing!

Thanks. I'm going to tweak the mix again before I call it final, so I'll put a bit more bite and a bit less mud in the guitfiddles.

Thanks!

 

[joeym]

Really good tune NL!
Great voice, nice arrangement.
The guitars sound a little muddy to me, they could use some definition. Drums sound pretty good, but I detect some timing issues and the overheads might be a bit too loud, maybe it's just me. Is the drummer playing to a click?
Song reminds me of Matchbox 20, great singer.

Joey

 

[NL5]

I do like this, drums sounds well recorded, and vocals are nice and clear.

I think the guitar are the weak point, bit muddy (maybe its the tone/amps?) but overall its a great recording, and wish I could do this kind of thing!

Really good tune NL!
Great voice, nice arrangement.
The guitars sound a little muddy to me, they could use some definition. Drums sound pretty good, but I detect some timing issues and the overheads might be a bit too loud, maybe it's just me. Is the drummer playing to a click?
Song reminds me of Matchbox 20, great singer.

Joey

Thanks!

I took all the advice from here and made some tweaks. Also made some I thought it needed. Let me know if this sounds better.

 

[Supercreep]

Nice work, NL5!

Drums sound pretty good, dude. Is that you singing?

This sounds pretty well-polished.

 

[NL5]

Nice work, NL5!

Drums sound pretty good, dude. Is that you singing?

This sounds pretty well-polished.

Thanks!

Did you listen to #2?

That's definitely not me singing! I wouldn't put you guys thru that. He's the singer from my main band. I just upgraded to Cubase 5, and can now nudge his vocals with a pitch corrector, and I think that little push really makes his vocals shine. We are working on some new stuff for our band that I can't wait to get done. The timing on this track is WAY better than on our EP, and I'm hoping that the new stuff is spot on.

 

[ido1957]

Guitars seem more defined in #2, almost too loud as they bury the vocals a bit. I'd probably add some bass to the mix as mentioned before.
Trouble is how do you mix bass so that it doesn't explode when you hit the loudness button on your stereo?

 

[jeffmaher]

Big improvement in the EQ balance. It's movin' me! Good work. I listened to both again.

 

[NL5]

Guitars seem more defined in #2, almost too loud as they bury the vocals a bit. I'd probably add some bass to the mix as mentioned before.
Trouble is how do you mix bass so that it doesn't explode when you hit the loudness button on your stereo?

Big improvement in the EQ balance. It's movin' me! Good work. I listened to both again.

Thanks for listening and critiquing. I thinks it's pretty dang close now.....

 

[NL5]

Anybody else wanna weigh in?

BTW - Both links go to the second version now. We need to be able to edit posts!

 

[mixmkr]

there's some nice stuff going on. My biggest nit, is that the panned guitars and drums seem to be just the SLIGHTEST out of sync with each other. I'm talking like maybe 7-10ms or so. It makes it so it doesn't all feel in the pocket and that nudging the tracks on your DAW would line things up much better. Something live that no one would ever catch, but you "probably" would on the recording.

Gtrs sound great as do the lead vocals. Nice balance, all that good stuff. Not much advice needed on that stuff.

And in all honesty, I might be off too...meaning the bass and drums may be the culprit... just not together as tight as they could be.

great ending. Love it. don't throw that away

 

[Chili]

No critiquing, just enjoying.

thanks for sharing.

 

[NL5]

My biggest nit, is that the panned guitars and drums seem to be just the SLIGHTEST out of sync with each other.

LOL. Yep, they are. The funny thing is, this is WAY better than my regular bands EP. We did this to a click, and most of the guys are starting to get used to it, but not 100% yet. The guitars were laid to a click, but drifted a bit, so the drummer got kinda caught in the middle.

This is just a "for fun" project, and was done totally on the fly, so it's gonna be a bit messed up, that's kind of the point. Hopefully the guys from this project that are in my regular band will get the click thing down for our next album.

Thanks!