A song from someone new here...

T

the dairy giant

New member
I have been asked to move this here (from the microphone section), you'll see why i initially posted it there if you read on...

I found this place while looking up mic and preamp reviews, and spent an entertaining evening reading such threads as the 'chinese mic' one and the 'best mic pre' one.

So I have recorded some stuff, at home, and I was looking for some advice on equipment, and came to the stunning conclusion that it can hard for people to judge how something sounds when they know what your using...
I wanted equipment advice, but if I say what I'm using now I think there might be some standard answers.

So anyway I have a few songs, and I thought if anyone was kind enough to listen to a track or two, they could say what they find good and/or bad about the way I've recorded my voice and guitar (and anything else, but thats what I'm specifically interested in, everything else is from inside the computer). What kind of mic/pre etc would make this sound better etc (apart from the most expensive ones of course), and can experienced ears tell from listening to this what level of equipment I currently have.

Now I'm not trying to catch anyone out, Maybe I've got crap equipment, maybe good equipment but don't know how to use it, or somewhere in between those points. I'd really like to hear some impartial opinions... and I'm not fishing for praise.

OK, if anyone is up for it here is one that is mix between folky and electronic, it has 1 vocal and 2 acoustic guitar tracks (a fairly nice Seagull cedar guitar). It's called 'coffee and chocolate milk', believe it or not.



The next one I think of as a mix between Beck-ish country and old genesis-ish stuff (!), there are some vocal tracks and acoustic guitar, takes about 40 seconds before these 'recorded' sounds come in. The guitar isn't too prominent in this one. Called 'a rainy day'



Thank you to anyone who reads this, and bigger thank you to anyone who checks the music out.
 
Hi

I really like "Coffee choc milk", it has nice quitars and vocals. The mix is also wide and deep which is very good. Nice work.

/Jack Real.
 
Listened to Coffee, and think it sounds damn good. Very clean recording, good playing, and nice voice. I couldn't give you any equipement advice, as you seemed to capture the sounds pretty good with what you got.

Great tune, and very good mix.
Ed
 
I liked the hook in "Coffee and Choclate Milk", decent home recording...



A rainy day had a lot of good bits going on, I liked the guitar sound in that, that bridge you went to just after the 3:00 minute mark was a nice addition and broke the song up just when it might have started to feel a bit long, If anything, with this song, though I enjoyed it, I'd remember it more by the feel then any lyrical hook popping back into my head...


Good recordings though...
 
I listened to 'Coffee' a few times again this morning - just a beautiful song with a great hook and great arrangement. I guess us 'would-be' engineers get so hung up on spending another $1000 to squeeze a few db's of clarity out of an already good production. It wouldn't matter to the average listener whether you ran your vocals through a Great River or a DMP3. Only engineers and technicians will notice - barely. If the song is good and they like it - they'll buy it period.

If obtaining more high-end gear will further inspire you to create and record your music, then do it. Otherwise, you've already demonstrated that you can make great sounding recordings with your existing setup. Only you and a select few will hear the difference :D
 
Listening to Coffee and Choc. right now... Very well recorded. It's a touching song and really well sung. Jeez, when the vocal came in after the instrumental build-up it sounded like it was going to be a newly discovered early Simon and Garfunkle recording with added synths. I wouldn't guess what you're using for mic's and pre's, but there isn't the hard edge that cheap condensers often get so whatever you're using is working for you. A little vocal sibilance - easy to fix. Gtr sounds more compressed than is my own taste, more in its lows and low mids. The high end sounds very sweet and clear. Mix-wise I think there's some muddy build-up in the 150-300 Hz rage... maybe it's just too much of the low synth sound. But it makes it hard to tell what's going on with the guitar in that freq range.

Going to check out your other songs.

Tim
 
loving the acu sound

try more pre-delay, and a lower hi cut on the vox reverb maby???

sounds good.
 
Thanks everyone!! I'll try some of those suggestions out.

I found this site while looking for info on mics etc, was thinking of getting something like a SP C1 and their preamp (as of this time last week I'd never heard of them...).
So that would run me about NZ$800. Maybe I shouldn't bother... music for me is a way to spend money, certainly not make it

So I'll tell you what I was using. I have a couple of Audio Technica ATM41a dynamic mics, these were bought over 20 yaers ago for our little band PA, as SM58s were pretty expensive here. They were sold to us as being competitive quality-wise... I tried to find some reviews of them recently, but they seem to be below the quality threshold to get reviewed by anyone, I think they still make them though. This goes through a little Behringer Eurorack mixer (I probably wouldn't buy from them again from their theft reputation), into an M-Audio Audiophile USB interface into the computer. And I guess I'd have to spend a bit to get a noticeable improvement in quality...

WARNING!!! if anyone does check my other songs, there are a couple on my site that were recorded with the same mic, into a little mixer my brother built for a band in the late 70s, and into the audio input of my old iMac. So quite a lot worse I beleive, though still most of the people I play my songs to don't notice the difference!!!

Thanks again.
 
Listening again I can only think about the fact that when you've long since passed away your daughter, then her daughter, will still have this song.

Tim
 
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I don't think anyone would've guessed that you were using dynamic mics into a Behringer mixer. It only goes to show that you don't need to spend a fortune to get good results.

BTW, I also wrote and recorded a song for my daughter recently, so I can certainly relate to 'Coffee'. The imagery of you and your daughter stacking firewood and sharing a quiet 'coffee' break is very moving and heartwarming. I've had moments like this with my children too - where time seems to stop and you fully appreciate the wonder and innocence of your child....and knowing that it's all too fleeting.

This song really captures that for me.
 
I feel out of place here, because there is no growling.
Maybe if you put in just a little growl...? For me?

Very very nice song.
 
Timothy Lawler said:
Listening again I can only think about the fact that when you've long since passed away your daughter, then her daughter, will still have this song.
Click to expand...
That is a nice thought, if slighty disturbing on a personal level! what me? mortality??
When i looked at your post this morning, it mentioned Fonterra, now its gone.... Yes, when they were in the news here quite frequently, their name would always be announced as 'the dairy giant Fonterra'... which I thought sounded silly, but also like some big milky monster terrorizing the land, and a good name for my 'band' (of one). How have you heard about that company? I have nothing to do with it apart from being bemused by the way it was referred to by the media. I did a google search for the term, it seems to be used worldwide for dairy conglomerates, don't know why...

DC-XPL, having had some good comments about the recording quality, maybe I'll put my mic plans on hold for a while... not sure. I suppose something like SP C1 and their preamp would make some kind of difference??? (probably including picking up every background noise in the house :rolleyes: ) Have you posted your song?? I'm glad this one 'resonates' a bit, I thought the lyrics were a bit pedestrian when I wrote them, but it was an actual day, and that is exactly what happened, so, why not. There was one change due to poetic licence, it was actually caramel milk in real life, but that sounds less universal somehow and has 1 too many syllables :)

Cellardweller, I think if I tried to growl it'd just make you laugh.. thanks for your comments.
 
When i looked at your post this morning, it mentioned Fonterra, now its gone.... Yes, when they were in the news here quite frequently, their name would always be announced as 'the dairy giant Fonterra'... which I thought sounded silly, but also like some big milky monster terrorizing the land, and a good name for my 'band' (of one). How have you heard about that company?
Click to expand...
Caught me... ;) I edited the post as the comment seemed trite and OT from the music we were discussing. I think I heard about Fonterra a few yrs ago when they were starting to form an alliance w/Nestle. It was brought to mind again here by the "dairy giant" screen name, NZ location, and the fact that the milk creature graphic (kind of a Michelin Man turned milky :D ) looked professionally done. Funny, isn't it, the trivia that sticks in one's mind?

Tim
 
Wow... both are excellent... great mix... well balanced and warm... nice use of reverb...

-Keith-
 
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Very nice song, and so relaxing a tune. Storyline plus the heartgrabbing music-line, makes for a touching listen. :)
 
Nice quality mix. Real smooth soft vocals. Not sure about the panning of the vocals off to one side though. Seagull guitars sound real nice and thick and also bright, which is the key to a good sounding acoustic.
Nice guitar playing.
 
Ive listened to coffee and chocolate milk lots of times, because it sounds nice quality wise and musically.
Did i mention pink floydish?
 
"coffee and chocolate milk" is in my work mp3 rotation, contrasted by the blasphemous growls of F_ckasia, NL5, metalhead28, and Vesuvius Jay:D :rolleyes: (and others too numerous to mention)

I have to go listen to the other one now...
Seriously good mellow tunage!
 
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