Every Day - bare bones mix

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junplugged

junplugged

Taking the slow road
Here's an old song I recently edited and decided to record and get it out of the way.

I'm not a drummer, but I felt like putting some on there, it was fun. It took me 3 weeks to get it to this point.

the rhythm acoustic and vocal were supposed to be the scratch track to see how I did with the drum track, but I kept it for now.

I finally started using some compression and that helped a lot.

comments welcome.... j.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2151&alid=-1
 
Hey there j.

I checked out your tune.....I think that it's a good song. The recording isn't the greatest, and there are some timing issues. But like you mentioned, you're not a drummer. There is a lack of bottom end on the track. I don't hear a bass guitar, so I assume you didn't play one? The bass drum is audible but maybe the whole track is over compressed? I'm not an expert on the mixing critiques, but I can hear the vocals fine, and your voice has a slight Bob Dylan quality to it. What is your recording setup/technique? I'm sure you'll get some more usefull advice soon.....thanks for sharing it!
Jason
 
Hey Jason, I wanted to use real drums only as a guide instead of a machine, then I liked the sound so much more that I tried to use it as a track in the mix, but here's those results.

At some point I may like to record a pro playing the kit.

For now I'll try to just get a good acoustic and vocal sound and go back to using the machine as a guide.

It was a lot of fun and I didn't think I could even get to this point. Actually, it was easier to arrange the parts and patterns playing them myself than if I was to program them. but now that I have it worked out, I might try that since it's easy now that I know what I want.

Thanks for responding and listening - j.
 
No problem

I know what you mean.....I play drums myself, but I have a really hard time making songs with them, beacause I can't hear a metronome whilke playing, and have nothing else to cue me in on changes.....I have a lot to learn about song writing. That's why I stick to mostly recording other people. PLus, all I know how to do is play drums....I'm learning to play guitar, but not good enough to post anything yet.... I definately can't sing.....now I'm depressed....Yeesh...
 
I noticed you tempo was the same as your avatar strumming.. :)


Yes... there are some major drum timing issues in here... but im sure you know that already.

Work on that a little and im sure it would help the song out a bunch.
 
Jason - I had to write out a chart for the drums and even then, I had to write out the patterns and then I had to follow them and count and keep track of how I was playing and keep the click track/drum machine pattern in my head phones. It took 3 weeks.

As far as timing, The basic beat and tempo are ok, I think, but it's the actual timing inside the measures of my stick hitting the drums and my foot on the pedal and all that smaller level synch stuff that sounds off to me.

Non-musician's don't know what I'm talking about and they think it's good on their first listening. They don't hear the timing stuff I mentioned here. Without the guide in the phones, I'd loose the beat too, I'm sure....

JMarcomb - that's funny, maybe all my songs are that tempo :)

Actually, I think I used 4 stills to make the avatar and they loop within half a second or so, I can't remember

I'm not sure I'm gonna be working on my drumming much after this....

Today, I set up the patterns and song in the Roland R8 and it's now on track 1, so I'm setting up for acoustic tonight. I should have the drum machine version up soon.

Thanks for the comments and listens! - j.
 
hey mate

listened to your tune.

firstly, for a non-drummer, you drummed pretty well i thought. like there were a few bits where i could say the timing was a little dodgy, but no way i could do any better.

the worst part of the song however, i thought was the singing. maybe it's just not my style, but ithought it could be performed better.

song wasn't too bad. not my style of music. maybe add some more layers on there. it can still be "bare bone", but i think it would sound good with a few keyboard licks and maybe a solid bass line too.

good luck.
 
I had some throat trouble and it messed up higher notes I tried to hold.

After this, I just used drum machine and recorded acoustic, but it doesn't match up, they sounded like big hair drum sounds.

I guess I'm going to keep it one way or the other. Either solo acoustic & vocal or drums w/ bass and a band style arrangement.

I'm trying to get a decent sound recording acoustic now, and it ain't happening. It's either boomy or missing lows and low mids and has squeaky highs, either compressed, bare, v67, ecm8000, nada. Time for more research, this may take days, when I finally get a decent acoustic sound down, I'll put it up there on NWR.

Thanks for the comments.
 
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