attempt to "bring the rock" failed ;)

[wes480]

well, this is my first attempt. Second day of messing around in the studio - aka - bedroom. I know there are a lot of problems with this...which, I will go into later for advice (from my perspective)...but, I will just give you the file to start with...and let you guys rip it up for a bit. hehe.

After 2 days..the biggest things I have learned are - 1.) this stuff is HARD, 2.) you learn a lot every time you mess with it...experience is key.

looking forward to some feedback.
-wes

 

[Fangar]

Hey Wes,

Thanks for posting the song. I like ur vocals. The snare drum is to in your face. Need to back that baby down about a foot. When The drums come in, the guitar goes away. It may come back with that snare under control. Overall, your talent shines through well. Good use of harmonies throughout the song. I would be proud of that start.

Fangar

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Did you say 2 days? You did this after having your stuff for just 2 days? Do I understand you correctly there?

WOW! My stuff sounded like horse manure first the few months!

This, on the other hand, is a remarkalby clean recording- sounds like you're on the right track (hey! A pun!) with your tracking technique. The acoustic at the beginning sounds a little lo-fi since it is all exposed. When the stereo guitars kick in is sounds conciderably cleaner over all.

Let's talk mixing- pretty darn good, except that the snare about blows my head off. Trying to (BAM!) hear the (BAM!) rest of your (BAM!) instruments for (BAM!) critique is kinda (BAM!) hard.

I think the kick is a little high, too. Try taking the drums down and see how that works. As it is, those drums are killing your dynamic range so that the vocals sound too quiet and the guitars are hardly there. I had to put my headphones on just to make sure they were in stereo.

(The drums sound pretty good, though. The snare sounds a little flat to me, but we could talk for days about what the "right" snare sound should be...)

The bass is full in the low end but if it has any definition it is being masked by the drums. In the places where it plays without the drums I think I would like to hear a little more definition to it. I might roll off some of the low end (especially if I went direct in) and see if that helps.

Your harmonies are gorgeous! Very well balanced and blended.

Other than the drums, I have heard some pretty darn good CD's with this kind of quality.

Damn good show!

Chris

 

[wes480]

thanks a lot for the input guys. Chris - yeah..well, technically I have "had" the stuff for about a month...but, there always seemed to be something in the way of it all working (new computer..whatnot)..so, I've just been able to play with it this weekend. Don't really think there is anything "right" about what i did..hehe, but I guess that's the beauty of it. I have an Aardvark Q10...and..basically just miked whatever I was recording and went with it.

In terms of the drums - it was a long battle..hehe. Yeah, now that you mention it the snare is pretty up there! The biggest problem i had was when i used the overheads...it sounded like a garage (becuase the room isn't treated at ALL), so I am going to try and come up with some panels...carpet..or something. I ended up just having the overhead mike (only had 1) right down on the cymbal (ride)...which..didn't actually end up getting used...and, that mike didn't pick up the crash cymbal very well - so there wasn't much "high end" action in the song...that is my overall feeling. makes the muddy bottom seem even worse.

As far as kick drum goes - I was using an SM58...i hated the sound...but, it was all i had. I am wondering if the bass drum itself is even tuned very well and such....i played with it for a while, and could never come up with anything better. Had the sm58 about 3 inches from the drum head...right in the center. I need to invest in a kick drum mic eventualy, you think? As far as snare...sounded muffled to me as well. it was an sm57 pretty much right on it...I ran a couple of EQ/filters in cooledit on it...to make it sound a little more 'there'...the dry track wasn't very satisfying to me. Drums are tricky...my feeling on that right now is that my room is pretty bad...don't like that garage set feel...but, listening to this track...it sounds pretty low fi drum wise. any ideas?

Need to learn how to really use EQ/compression..what not.