Classic Rock Tune #2

[ibleedburgundy]

Hey there.

This is a classic rock band I recorded in my basement. We recorded the drums, bass and rhythm guitars live and then overdubbed vocals and lead guitar. I don't play on this one, which is kind of neat - I got to just run around setting levels.

I don't have anything in particular to focus on. On my system this sounds pretty decent. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance!

Mix 1

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1L4fMy_mRPaeWd3MFVxUTZ1b1U/view?usp=sharing

Mix 2:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1L4fMy_mRPaSmJlQmp4TDh5R2s/view?usp=sharing

Mix 3:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1L4fMy_mRPab3FnREphYVZCekE/view?usp=sharing

 

[RFR]

Not too shabby. Tight band.

 

[DM60]

On headphones could use a little more bottom. Middle and Upper sound perfect. Nice mix.

 

[andrushkiwt]

there's a weird "pop" or click at 0:38, right after a vocal line.

def a tight sound. nice work

 

[Chili]

Hey, that's a kick-ass song. Good riffs and good musical hook. Great performance all around.

Drums felt like an after-thought when they should really be driving the song. Snare and toms are there, but not much else. I have to really focus to hear the kick and overheads. Bass guitar is kind of lost in the mix, too.

The girl can deliver, but I think you got her too far out front. Same with the backing vocals.

Individual tracks sound good solo'd, I'm sure. Just got to get a nice balance.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

On headphones could use a little more bottom. Middle and Upper sound perfect. Nice mix.

Thanks! Mix 2 has a little more ass. I added more bass and bass drum.

---------- Update ----------

there's a weird "pop" or click at 0:38, right after a vocal line.

def a tight sound. nice work

Good ear. Thanks! Drummer hit snare mic right there. I edited it out with no repercussions I think.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Hey, that's a kick-ass song. Good riffs and good musical hook. Great performance all around.

Drums felt like an after-thought when they should really be driving the song. Snare and toms are there, but not much else. I have to really focus to hear the kick and overheads. Bass guitar is kind of lost in the mix, too.

The girl can deliver, but I think you got her too far out front. Same with the backing vocals.

Individual tracks sound good solo'd, I'm sure. Just got to get a nice balance.

Thanks! In mix 2 I tried to do everything you were hearing.

I pulled down all the instruments 2 DBs, and the vocals 3 DBs. I also lowered the backup vocals even more and pitch corrected them. The pitch corrected backups actually punch through better while also being at a lower level.

I turned the bass drum up significantly. I also turned up the overheads but not at the fader - I did it by significantly increasing the bus to the reverb aux. Turning down all the instruments also helped in this regard I think. The cymbals should be much more forward now.

 

[GONZO-X]

listening to mix 2

band has got a good tight groove...
the drum kit sounds a bit flat...
maybe a bit more oomph on the kick, and same with the toms
snare is a bit flat as well....
it makes the kit sound a bit too far back.
but i like the overhead capture, the cymbals come across clean.

the bass guitar is a little blurry, could be an eq thing, or maybe just level

i'm a/bing this against the who's 'wont get fooled again' as a reality check.

good performances out of the band

 

[Robus]

Good performances. I agree with others who have said the drums don't seem to be popping out much. Personally, I would lower the guitars by a smidgen. I did not care for the ambiance on the whole track. It sounded like they were playing in a cavern, seems to take away from the immediacy of the song.

 

[ido1957]

Good punchy tune and great band. Could use a little more clarity on the drums but that's already been mentioned. The tom rolls are coming out so it's ok there.

The quick little bass? riff that pops in once in a while is pretty cool. And when the solo is going it sounds like live ZZTOP where the bass fills in. Not sure if the bass is doing it by itself but sounds great.

The volume on the singer is good but it's hard to understand what she's saying. Not sure if it's something you can adjust but just a suggestion. Could be the John Fogarty effect lol...never could get his lyrics right back in the 70's. The tracks you recorded in the live take have a groove/tone you can't get multi-tracking. Much more gel together sound.

How did you approach micing this live part? Be interested to read that.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Good punchy tune and great band. Could use a little more clarity on the drums but that's already been mentioned. The tom rolls are coming out so it's ok there.

The quick little bass? riff that pops in once in a while is pretty cool. And when the solo is going it sounds like live ZZTOP where the bass fills in. Not sure if the bass is doing it by itself but sounds great.

The volume on the singer is good but it's hard to understand what she's saying. Not sure if it's something you can adjust but just a suggestion. Could be the John Fogarty effect lol...never could get his lyrics right back in the 70's. The tracks you recorded in the live take have a groove/tone you can't get multi-tracking. Much more gel together sound.

How did you approach micing this live part? Be interested to read that.

Thanks Dude!

Drums in the middle of the room. Two OHs, top and bottom snare, a 57 on each tom. OHs are a KM184 and an AT4040. Hey, it's what I got lol. Snare bottom is a 58.

Then I put an SM57 on a Marshall DSL stack and an EV RE20 on the Hartke bass cab (ampeg head).

The guitar amp was on one side of the drums and the bass amp on the other side - both facing the middle of the drums. The room is 35.5 feet long and 16 feet wide with 9 foot ceilings.

Vocals are the RE20 again. I think it fits her voice nicely. I got the idea from a thread somebody posted about which pics famous people use.

The guitar solos are just a 57 on a fender hot rod deville/tube screamer.

Preamps are Audient ASP008s and RNPs for all instruments. I used a Meek TwinQ on vocals with light compression and EQ.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Okay mix 3 is up in the OP. I tried to address the comments about lack of clarity in the drums and the general sound.

Previously I was using 3 different reverbs. I have no idea why I was doing that. Beer may have had something to do with it. Anyway, in the new mix there is only 1 reverb and it is applied to everything via bus. The levels I applied it at vary.

I also previous was doing parallel compression on the bass drum and I decided I liked the one track way better than the other one so I took it down to 1 bass drum track. I also messed with the snare, tom, and OH EQs quite a bit. I also removed the gain increase from the master channel.

I also took the guitars down a smidge.

 

[Supercreep]

Wow. Good stuff, IBB. It's like Mary's Danish and Sabbath. I like the guitars in particular. It would nice to hear double tracking on the choruses, especially those without the lead guitars after the first solo section. The level of polish suits the band and the performance- there's nothing artificial about it.

Nice work.

 

[rayc]

The vox remind me, in some ways, of Bourke Shelley from Budgie. It's a good 70s sound.

 

[easlern]

I listened to mix 3. Sounds great Dave! Nothing I would change.

 

[wizardof7]

The two things that stick out to me is the kick seems buried . Especially when the chorus kicks in . Snare is a little dull . But the vocals seem to be in a different space .maybe too thin,ad some lower end ( a little ) I like the singing and the performance is good . I would snip SOME of the highs and make the vocals have the same "air" as the rest of the mix bring up the kick and brighten the snare .I guess thats three things . lol

 

[Robus]

Listened to mix 3. The ambiance is improved, not so cavernous. Maybe time to flip it back to the band and see what they think.

 

[RFR]

Listened to all of them. Mix three is my fave.

My only nit is that it sounds too crisp. It's a good 'period correct' song that would have begged to be recorded to tape through a console.
Missing that vintage fat.
But, hey. Thats my bias, and I think you did a great job.

Btw, love the singer's vocals. You can tell her so.

 

[TripleM]

Late to the thread. I went straight to mix 3.

I thought the band's energy and performances were good.

Good lead singer. A note or two here and there gets a little harsh.

I thought the kick and snare sounds were pretty good. Hats sound nice and clear. Crashes get a bit swirly in other spots. Ride cymbal is a little pointy.

I didn't care for the guitar tones. Crunch tones were muffled and indistinct. Lead was harsh.

Bass was ok, but a bit light. Needed more low end.

Reverb seemed inconsistent across tracks. Some things were dry, other things sounded like a concert hall.

 

[Bulls Hit]

I listened to the last mix. Great band, they play well. Mixwise I would compress the vocal a lot more, level it off and gain it up to bring out some of the quiet breath. I like the vocals. Likewise drums are well played but the snare sounds flat. I see you have two mics on it - have you tried turning off the bottom mic? Also check the phase between the 2 ot them.

However take all this advice with a grain of salt as I'm listening through 2 tiny little nasty speakers called Nicole