First recording - Flute

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobinHood_3
  • Start date Start date
R

RobinHood_3

New member
Hello,
This was my first recording of my flute and piano.
I covered the song Just Give Me A Reason.

it was recorded using the microphones of my headset because I don't have a good microphone jet.

I hope you like it!

View attachment jgmr_1.mp3
 
Hmmm. First thing is that piano track is simply rubbish. Pianos have sustain pedals. Pianos never play two consecutive notes exactly the same volume. Pianist can never play two notes at exactly the same time. Pianists also never play every note length exactly the same - as in no two note lengths will be exactly the same. So, despite the piano timbre not being too bad, it sounds robotic and lifeless.

The flute is low in the mix, so difficult to hear the fine bits. Breath noise when you breath in is quite clear, but it's not a bad sound. Some eq and reverb would liven it up, but a better mic would make the instrument sound 'rounder'. Oddly, I hear many similarities with the MIDI piano track - you are playing very accurately, so sadly, it does indeed sound like a beginner MIDI track, because you are concentrating on pitch (which was a bit off in places), and playing your quavers all the same length, and you're playing on the beat to a very military band sounding piano.

Having two very rigid timing tracks does make it sound a bit unmusical, which is sad, because you can obviously play the notes.

So - if it's a MIDI file you used for the piano, either play it in by hand, or if you're good at editing, get in there and add some sustain pedal controllers, and edit the velocities so there is a flow, it's going to be very hard work doing this manually - so could be easier to find somebody who can play it for you. Flute wise, experiment with mic positions and distances until you know your odd microphone better. Lots of things to experiment with, then you can do some eq'ing and treatment. It's not a bad start, but the piano track is really spoiling the flute - and isn;t accompanying the flute, it's spoiling it.
 
I understand about working with what you have but recording flute on a headphone mic is just unreasonably not anywhere yet.
 
Yeah the piano is very midi-ish....get some velocity on it.

I'm no flute player, but you may want to try playing more legato. For type of music, it just begs for it. Also may want to practice a bit with a metronome to get timing issues settled. On the 8th notes, it sounds like you are trying too hard. Just relax.

Nice to hear something that's somewhat atypical for these boards.
 
I think your playing is a bit too "objective." As in, you need to loosen up on the rhythms and take some liberties.

Also, remember you're playing a part not meant for flute (vocals) on flute. It's your job to make it work, simply playing the melody on a different instrument isn't enough and is usually quite boring. Listen to some other instrumental covers and note differences. If you've played a lot of written flute music this can come naturally if you let it.

One more thing, your tonguing sounds a bit too harsh. This could stem mostly from your mic setup, though. Try to give each note less of an accent, possibly more legato. It's really distracting on the low notes (intro), but I know it's hard on flute.
 
Back
Top