First Recording Project, Feedback Appreciated! (Rock)

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Bill S. Preston

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The same old story: I'm recording a full-length album for my band, and I'm doing the whole thing alone with cheap, low grade equipment. This is my first recording project, and of course, I'm trying to squeeze the most "professional" sound I can out of everything. The song I'm attaching has all the parts recorded, but I have big reservations about the mix/eq/etc.

Although I've never posted on this site, I've logged more hours lurking and reading posts here than I care to admit. :p I've applied a lot of the techniques I've learned just from reading your posts, and naturally, I would appreciate any feedback you all would have. And please, feel free to be ultra-critical, because constructive criticism is what I'm looking for.

Thanks everyone!

 
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cool... you sure your name's not dexter? :cool:

anyways, i like it all, except the sound effect/keyboard/sample? in the middle-- it reminded me of a fucked up .mp3 playback or something; i dunno... but for the genre, it's excellent.

sorry if this is a lame review. i'm just enjoying a couple/few glasses of wine tonight and listened to your tune, or the part you put up.

i'm sure you'll get some reviews soon by the pros out here who give excellent advice, i'm learning. but i think your stuff is good. how many players in the band? website?

ciao,
zim
 
Not bad at all dude :)

Couldn't have done a better job myself.

U sure about the piano @ 37 seconds? Sounds really off.

Are you sure you've never mixed before? It sounds very well balanced to me. That's something alot of starters get wrong.
 
This is your first?! I don't believe you dude. Thanks for making me feel like shit. :(

Great job.
 
First, thank you all for the replies. Any and all feedback is really helpful. Specifically:

anyways, i like it all, except the sound effect/keyboard/sample? in the middle-- it reminded me of a fucked up .mp3 playback or something....how many players in the band? website?
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Ha! Believe it or not, I was trying to make it sound "messed up" or thin. I was actually going to make it sound worse, but I got lazy and left it! Thank goodness I didn't go even more overboard. Also, we have 5 players in the band, and the website is www.karatehighschool.com. Sorry, I saw an opening for a shamless plug, and I took it. :p

U sure about the piano @ 37 seconds? Sounds really off. Are you sure you've never mixed before? It sounds very well balanced to me. That's something alot of starters get wrong.
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Thanks Halion, I don't have speakers on this computer, but I'll check that part out when I get home. I think I know what you're talking about though. Also, yeah, this really is my first recording/mixing project. Thanks for the compliment, you rock.

This is your first?! I don't believe you dude. Thanks for making me feel like shit.
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Geet - first off, I really like your band, The Premier. Yesterday, I listened to the song you posted, but I haven't had the time to comment on it yet. (Will do so after this). Yes, it's my first try at recording, and it's hard for me to tell if it sounds any good because I've listened to it so much, you know what I mean? Again, thanks.

You all rock a million times over!

Paul
 
I really like it. I dislike the piano strongly, and strongly doubt it's a first time home recording. Infact I'd place my bollocks on that NOT being the case. However, it's still a good, well written song, if you exclude the random a tonal piano.

Good job.
 
bazzlad said:
I really like it. I dislike the piano strongly, and strongly doubt it's a first time home recording. Infact I'd place my bollocks on that NOT being the case. However, it's still a good, well written song, if you exclude the random a tonal piano.

Good job.
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Ha! Thank you, bazzlad. I guess I should qualify this by stating that I'm not a complete newbie to music, I've just never recorded anything on my own. My band has recorded a few demos in local studios before, but I knew nothing about recording (even though I tried to pay attention to what the engineer was doing). Looking for complete control (which musician isn't?) I decided to buy some gear and just record everything into my laptop. But your comments are appreciated, even if you don't like my poor, random piano line! :p
 
This is a really good job for a first recording effort.... you and your band have talents. :)

I really like the drums and guitars sound you are getting....

I also dislike the random out of tune piano parts....

Good job!

Do share with us the gears you are using. :)
 
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That totally sucked...






































































































































...me right in.

Very nice job to my ears. :D
 
Bill S. Preston, Esquire:

That kicked ass. And I even liked the piano. I wish I could try to find something negative to say in order to help you out a bit, but this is exactly the kind of music I would buy nowadays.
 
This is very good. Nice mix. Song is ok. Not my mug-o-suds but that's just me.

Recording wise. I think the tracking is fine. The final mix seems to be clipping in places. Maybe a bit less mix buss compression/limiting. But that's totally fixable. I think that if the rest of your project is this good, you'll have a nice final product.

Nice job.
 
Again, thank you all for the replies/feedback.

...but this is exactly the kind of music I would buy nowadays.
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Awesome! I'll be sure to Inbox you when we release it, so you can be the first to spend money on it! :p
The final mix seems to be clipping in places. Maybe a bit less mix buss compression/limiting.
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I agree here. I've been experimenting with compression and limiting in the mix buss, and this one just sounded the "most right". I need to start listening to this thing on some different speaker systems, and with some practice, I hope to get there.
Do share with us the gears you are using.
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With the exception of the drums, all of the instruments are being recorded into the super-small Tascam US-122 via USB into my laptop running Sonar 2.2XL. The guitars and bass are all recorded directly into the 122 through a Line 6 Guitarport. The keyboards were all recorded one track at a time through the 122 as well. The vocals were recorded with a Studio Projects C1.

Again, thank you for all the replies! Your feedback is both helpful and appreciated.
 
I actually loved the piano parts - they may not be "dead on" and tuned to the song, but it gives the song character IMO. I don't feel that everything always has to be "perfect" anyway - so kudos on the piano.

I'm pretty impressed with the mix too! Things seem pretty balanced to me - sounds like your making good use of Sonar as a recording tool. I'm not picking up on the clipping here - although parts do seem pushed to the max without a terrible "overcompressed" sound. Like your Web site too.

Thanks for the listen - I wasn't expecting to hear something of this caliber. Lots of times I see posts for "listen to this and let me know what you think". It ends up only being a song idea uploaded to SoundClick.

Good luck to you man.
 
Wow did you have this master by a pro. It is really hard to believe you recorded this with that equipment and it being you first. If you did that means I really suck.
 
Bill S. Preston said:
Awesome! I'll be sure to Inbox you when we release it, so you can be the first to spend money on it! :p
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Please do! You have a guaranteed sale.
 
Sounds awesome man,

I even dig the piano.

I would probably go a bit easier on the string synths, but that's just personal taste. Everything is real tight, vocals sound awesome,

Drum triggers?

Peace
 
For your first recording project... holy crap! Everything is extremly equal! And you even used a bunch of studio tricks in it which is rare for first timers you know? When I first read your post I expected it to be like a 1 mic basement recording. But after the first minute it blew me away. Now lets move on to the piano/synth thing.... most everyone here dislikes it. Personally I think it adds some dimension to the Chorus section of the song, but if it followed the guitar more, like only played chords and didnt have a melody to itself it would sink into the mix more. But take out the atonal sounds during the verses/bridges. These are just suggestions! ;) Anyway you and your band seems to have alot of talent. Tell me when you tour in Maryland, I'll be sure to come! :D
 
Sorry I got here so late. I really dig the song and the mix. The arrangement must have been very tricky.
Oh, and I totally get the random piano thing, very cool.

How did you record the drums? I don't think you mentioned that unless I missed it.

Rock on brother nice job!!
 
kick ass song :D

could you tell me your mic and electric guitar chains?

everything is great except for that piano :confused:
 
As usual, all of the feedback you all have posted has been very helpful and wonderful. A few comments/answers:

Like your Web site too.
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Thanks Warble. That means a lot because I created the site design myself as well. Your comments about the music were appreciated as well.
Wow did you have this master by a pro. It is really hard to believe you recorded this with that equipment and it being you first.
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No, I did the "mastering" myself. Obviously, I have a million miles to go in this area. I simply ran the mix through a multiband limiter and some compression, and tweaked the settings until it sounded right to me. I really have no idea what I'm doing in this area, I have no knowledge of frequency bands other than the articles posted on this forum by Blue Bear or the guy from Massive Mastering (which are amazingly helpful, of course). Hopefully, I'll be able to go back and make the whole thing sound better before I have to let it go and release this (which is soon! :p )
Now lets move on to the piano/synth thing.... most everyone here dislikes it. Personally I think it adds some dimension to the Chorus section of the song, but if it followed the guitar more, like only played chords and didnt have a melody to itself it would sink into the mix more. But take out the atonal sounds during the verses/bridges.
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Thanks, Metal. Right, a lot of people have commented on the piano part, and the majority don't feel that it's right for the song. I have to admit that since I wrote the song, and I've heard it so much, that I can no longer hear it with a fresh pair of ears and may not be listening objectively. I'm going to put the song away for a few days or so and listen to it again, and see if my feeling about it changes. Right now, I dig it, but...you never know.
How did you record the drums? I don't think you mentioned that unless I missed it.
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The drums were recorded with six different mics, which triggered Drumagog. The end result is 60% original drum tone, 40% triggered drum tone.
could you tell me your mic and electric guitar chains?
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Vocal Chain: Studio Projects C1 into a Tascam US-122, into my laptop.
Guitar Chain: directly recorded through the Line 6 Guitarport, into the 122, into my laptop. In both instances, no other outboard gear was used. Just a lot of computer tweaking to get the sounds the way I wanted them.

All in all, this feedback is very helpful, and again, this message board in particular has been a great learning experience. You all rule!
 
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