comments on my first recording. (skapunk)

  • Thread starter Thread starter echo
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echo

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Hi

I just recorded my first song ever with and I was hoping you would comment on it.
The band needed it for a compilation (the deadline for submission passed 4 days before we recorded) and therefore it was all done in one day.
Not having the time to borrow/rent mics everything was recorded with sm58´s, a akg d112 and a cad ndm 10 through a Yamaha mixer into my Fostex VF16.
Well I know it is not really good, but I really want some feedback so I can learn what to do better the next time.
The link is:
 
Well, the first thing I noticed was the drums are stereo, but all the other instruments seem to be panned straight up the middle. The guitars sound a little muddy and seem to be fighting with the horns. Everything else sounds pretty good to me - skapunk isn't my favorite genre so 'pretty good' is sort of a relative term.
 
the keyboard is recorded to two tracks and then each track panned. But yeah everything else is straight up. What else should I pan and how much?
 
Well, thats sort of up to you, there are no steadfast rules. You might try listening to some other ska songs and see what they do. I'd suggest maybe panning the guitar and keys opposite each other and leaving the horns up the middle. Leave the bass panned center - I like the bass sound BTW. If you have automation of some sort on the panning, you might try widening up the stereo spread during the chorus, etc. Overall, its really a matter of experimenting until you get the dynamics and balance you like. Are there really two keyboard parts panned? It really sounds like one part in mono to me, but maybe I'm crazy.
 
thanks for the advice. I thought about panning the guitar melody line. It sounds like a good idea to pan the keyboard and the guitar opposite each other, but I´m guessing that will work best in the verse right?
There is two keyboards panned hard right and left.
I used the stereo outs and send left out to one channel and then right out to another and then pardpanned them.
How about the overall volume of all the different instruments?
Is the bass to low? what about the vocals/horns - I still think it is pretty messy sound picture so any help would be appreciated.
I regret that I didn´t record two takes of the chorus for extra intensity in the chorus.
The bass is just a Fender squire P-bass through a start 90´s Trace Elliot amp using the DI out and then EQ a bit.
 
I think you'll find that the mix clears up a bunch when you spread out the instruments and you may need to change the levels to taste.

About the keyboard, I'm not really sure how the stereo outputs on your keyboard work, but I bet the left and right are the same unless you are using some sort of stereo effects. Can you hear a difference between the two tracks? Anyway, if you pan the same signal left and right, the result is obviously the same as a mono signal up the middle.
 
Keyboard pan

Hi,

Just a remark about the keyboards.

Our pianist has different stage piano's and keyboards. I know that on most of them there actually is a difference between left/right out when using the stereooutputs. Especially when using piano like sounds.

I noticed that the left output gives slightly more high and the right output slightly more bass... I guess it is to mimick an acoustical piano which has this characteristic due to the size of the thing.

It's also a little trick you can use when recording a piano as a solo intstrument. Put a little more high in one side a tad more low in the other side...

Just a little sidemark :) Do not pay much attention to it lol...
 
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