Did I do a good job? Listen and tell me.

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheGreatBongChicken
  • Start date Start date
Equipment used.

Just to fill you in on what I have at my disposal(not very much)

I used SM57's on the toms and snare, the only drums micked aside from the kick. I can only record 4 simultaneous, I'm considering buying a firepod so I can do 8, and have a better deal with the drums hopefully. It's a small room though, and the cymbals actually picked up very well through the 57's.

The bass guitar was sent into an amp head, eq was put on and I think some compression, and then recorded out of the line output on the amp.

The acoustic was a Taylor that has an internal mic, and the mic and piezo were blended to what Julia(The songwriter, singer and acoustic player) wanted.

I played the electric through a DigiTech RP100 using the amp modeling system, with some light delay and reverb. The electric was a Yamaha RGz321p with the old pickups removed and replaced by Seymour Duncan Screamin Demons. The solo part was recorded on a twenty-something year old Leyenda Les Paul.

The vocals were recorded with a SHURE KSM mic, not sure exactly what make... it's not mine, it's Julia's and she let me use it for her vocals.

The keys were just done direct, it's the standard Yamaha Portable Grand Piano sound.

All was mixed in Mixcraft 4. It's all I have.

Anyone have any advice on things I did wrong, or new ideas on micking drums with just 4 mics let me know.

-James'
 
Whoa, way too compressed and loud. Way too bright and muddy at the same time. The highs sound shrill and the bass is boomy and muddy. The vox and cymbals sound brittle and harsh. There's really way too much to mention. Sorry man. Start over.
 
Post a normal mp3. When I play this through media player, it says the rate is 96 K.
 
Sounded good on my earbuds, i digged the tune. Couldnt really pick out anything wrong with it though. =)
 
DavidK said:
Post a normal mp3. When I play this through media player, it says the rate is 96 K.
Click to expand...

Holy crap, I didn't even notice that. Maybe that's why it sounds so rough.

Yeah, please post a better clip.
 
The vocals are quite muddy sounding, lacking definition. The song needs much less compression.
It's a good song, just needs some stuff.

Go back to your original tracks. Take all the processing off of them. Now, using primarily subtractive EQ as minimally as possible, make the tracks sound as clear and natural as possible.

Experiment with high pass and low pass filters on the individual drum tracks to make them as clear as possible. Set up a drum buss for the 4 drums mics.
Use some gentle compression on the drum buss. Avoid the squashed sound.
Your drum tracks actually have a ton of potential.

Set up an FX buss. Download SIR or buy a Impulse Reverb. Go to sound vault and find the EMT plate reverbs. Try a 2.8MS plate in the FX buss @ 100%wet. Send your vocals to this buss. Adjust the vocal send so that you can just barely perceive the reverb.

Get rid of any peizo guitar stuff. Try recording your acoustic with the sm57 or a large Diaphragm mic if you can. It will sound better.
Set up an effects send on the acoustic. Send this to the plate FX buss. Set it so that you can just barely hear it... now, back off just a tad. Acoustics have some natural reverb.


Electric guitars just sound better to me when recorded thru the air. I love to use my Egnater on the 10 watt setting thru a cabinet with some Webers. I use a SM57 to capture that.

This recording and song show a ton of talent!:D
 
My comments above were made on the original low bit rate MP3. Some of what I heard was artifact. Some , not.

It does sound more open with less compression. I still don't care for piezo sound acoustics though.
Again.. much talent is evident here.
 
James' said:
Here ya go,




Thanks for the input so far everyone! I took down the compression.

-James'
Click to expand...

Definitely better. It needs panning work, there is too much stuff in the middle. Think WIDE. The middle cant handle much more than a snare/kick, vocal and bass. If the drum overheads were spread wider, the piano panned, the guitars panned harder left and right, the vocals wouldnt be in such competition.

The song is prety cool, me likey. Its just a bit crowded right now.
 
When you mention panning the guitars, do you mean the acoustic and electric right and left? I did that during the electric guitar solo, the rythem electric and acoustic go left and right for that. But should I do that for the rest?

I actually only have four mics on the kit as well, kick, two toms and snare. Someone mentioned panning the overheads. I did that with the two tom mics but that's about as far as I've gotten.

The Piano is panned for the chorus and then I have it center for verses. Maybe I should bring it out a little for the verses?

I'll work on having a less muddy vocal track.

-James'
 
The Piano is panned for the chorus and then I have it center for verses. Maybe I should bring it out a little for the verses?
Click to expand...

The piano should not be centered at all.
 
You actually might be a lot better off using your tom mics as overheads rather than toms. Then pan them in different directions 70-80%.
 
Well, I have to go for a while. I'm working on another mix of it, I'll post it when I finish it.

But in the meantime, any comments, and suggestions are welcome.

Honestly, I really don't know much about low pass, high pass filters... I have a very small understanding of what they do. I used one on the bass guitar, and have a small understanding of it. Could someone give me more of an indepth description of them? And maybe point out where one would be usefull?

-James'
 
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