First Recording

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oneguy

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I was wondering if anyone could critique my first recording.

I first recorded the acoustic guitar and vocals together and then ran it through some effects with Guitar Rig.

I then added some guitar frills with the same acoustic.



Please note, I'm very new to all of this and would appreciate any and all suggestions specifically regarding recording technique, but any comments you have on my sound would be greatly appreciated. i.e. I need a voice instructor, guitar teacher, to record in a better way.

One critique I heard from someone I shared this with was that my vocals are a bit distorted. I'm not sure if it's related to the effects I added with Guitar Rig (I think the mids shouldn't be effected much with the settings I used, but there are some panning effects) or if it's related to the tracking. I may swallow my words a bit or not get enough vocal amplitude compared to the guitar.

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
After some thought I've changed it to not go through the guitar rig anymore to try and make the vocals less distorted. I played with some of the options on Audacity instead. Maybe this is better.



I'm starting to think it's probably better to record the vocals and guitar separate although I find it easier to sing while playing.

I also think that the problem with the track may have more to do with the tracking than the mixing. Guitar is just much louder than the voice due to heavy strumming and low voice I think.
 
Hi oneguy, what's the song you're covering? The second version is much, much better, I don't think the effects on v1 add anything. You've got a nice tone to your voice and it's got good potential (nice Damien Jurado type feel), but I can't understand a single word you're singing at the moment and the lead guitar is out of tune.

I would initially at least, try and record the vocals and guitar separate - you can address the issues with each much easier, and get used to recording/mixing better. I've never used Audacity, so I don't know whether you can multitrack on it, but as a start, I'd separate them out, boost the vocal volume and add a little compression to both to even them out. Hope this helps.
 
Dude! I don't know the first thing about you, but your choice of this song to cover means . . . YOU IS ALRIGHT in my book!!!!

I agree with Rob that the second version is better. But . . . I hope you won't be offended by me saying you can sound better in terms of the recording. You can definitely sing this song and it sounds like you can play it, and it is a really cool song. What is your setup for recording? It doesn't matter, I'm just curious what you have. I'm no pro, but I may be able to suggest ways to get better results from what you have to work with, and others here definitely can. In any case, I'd recommend retracking the single note guitar part and check the tuning of the guitar before you do. It doesn't sound quite in. As a rule, check your tuning when recording before every single take... Nothing is more frustrating than finishing a take and feeling like you nailed it, only to find out when you listen back that your guitar wasn't in tune. You are also distorting something in your signal chain. Comes back again to: What are you recording into?

J
 
Yeah - I know that Youtube video is fantastic :) I had to give it a try after hearing it.

Well I spent a few hours trying to retrack the vocals and guitar separate but I couldn't get the vocals to sound the way I wanted them to :(

(I've also started to hate the song after trying to record it a million times.)

For that recording I was simply using a Lexicon Alpha external sound card with a AKG D5 mic. I set the mic about about midway between the guitar and my mouth and slanted slightly upwards as my guitar is pretty loud and I was strumming a bit hard. The guitar is a Taylor 714.

For the lead I used the same guitar and similar setup but set the mic in front of the sound hole. I think the tuning on the lead may have been fine, but I was playing out of key. The song is in the key of Bm so I was using the B pentatonic in position 1. Most of the lead work was during the G parts though so I think I should have used the G pentatonic. It sounded ok when I was recording it but definitely sounds off key in the recording. But that advice about checking tuning before is definitely sound advice.

I'm working on something else now and may come back to this song too. I want to get something into decent shape this time before posting it. I think I am getting a better understanding of all this.

Thanks for listening.
 
oneguy,

Sorry to be rude... but enunciate better... it's too bashful.
 
oneguy said:
Yeah - I know that Youtube video is fantastic :) I had to give it a try after hearing it.

Well I spent a few hours trying to retrack the vocals and guitar separate but I couldn't get the vocals to sound the way I wanted them to :(

(I've also started to hate the song after trying to record it a million times.)

For that recording I was simply using a Lexicon Alpha external sound card with a AKG D5 mic. I set the mic about about midway between the guitar and my mouth and slanted slightly upwards as my guitar is pretty loud and I was strumming a bit hard. The guitar is a Taylor 714.

For the lead I used the same guitar and similar setup but set the mic in front of the sound hole. I think the tuning on the lead may have been fine, but I was playing out of key. The song is in the key of Bm so I was using the B pentatonic in position 1. Most of the lead work was during the G parts though so I think I should have used the G pentatonic. It sounded ok when I was recording it but definitely sounds off key in the recording. But that advice about checking tuning before is definitely sound advice.

I'm working on something else now and may come back to this song too. I want to get something into decent shape this time before posting it. I think I am getting a better understanding of all this.

Thanks for listening.
Click to expand...

I love the little girl in that video...she reminds me of my niece who also likes to belt out songs...brilliant


On yours....dont overthink things keep them simple



if you havent got two mics then track separately...the lead is out by quite a bit and even in your limited experience you should notice this

track the guitar with the mic pointing at the soundhole around 6 inches away....then track the lyrics on top...you seem to be in pitch so I guess its confidence thats making you record vocals with the guitar...

Try to find a good room to record in, find one in your home without loads of bare walls that has drapes and/or soft furniture, book cases...you can even move the furniture into the corners to make improvised bass traps...sing in a clothes closet...improvise with what you've got

Guerrilla Home Recording is a great book..it will explain things clearly and get you thinking about concepts you'll need in the future if you are going to take this seriously..worth the small investment


You have gotten over the biggest hurdle by letting strangers hear you sing and play...some dont even get that far, so now you can improve, this place is a great resource to help you improve

Whitestrat wrote some excellent advice in recording acoustic guitars here..well worth a read

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...iques/acoustic-guitar-recording-101-a-290919/

welcome aboard :)
 
I agree with almost everything that was said here. However, I would say that you should start by pointing the mic at the guitar where the neck meets the body. This is my default mic placement, and never seems to give bad results. Play with it to see what different placements sound like, and choose the best one. If you put the mic pointing at the soundhole, it will likely be wayyyy too bassy, and probably distort.

Whitestrat's tutorial is a great resource, but before you get into all that doubling and stereo stuff, you should just focus on getting a good sound in one mono track. Then you can go nuts with doubling and stereo.

Also, don't worry about any effects yet. Your goal should be two tracks, a guitar and vocal, that sound as good as possible on their own. Once you get that down, then and only then, you can worry about effects. Start with a very light reverb, and just enough compression to even things out.

Glad to see that you are getting started on recording, and you are clearly putting some serious effort into this. Keep experimenting, and I look forward to hearing your progress.
 
Yeah, I think my primary issue is really in my musical abilities (both singing and playing guitar). I think I need to focus a lot more on those two issues a lot more before I can really start recording. I am finding it very helpful to listen to myself though. It really exposes all of those flaws you think others don't notice...
The reason I was trying to play with the effects was to improve my vocals a bit (you know, like all the pop artists today :) ).

I am also finding it difficult to sing on key when I'm not playing the guitar. I don't know why, but singing with the ear phones, even in one ear, is difficult.

I think my skills may lie more in the song writing aspect than the actual playing, which is unfortunate as I really enjoy the playing.

I also think one of my main mistakes over the last few days is trying to sing exactly like different artists. I decided today that I am never going to match the exact voice sound, even if I choose artists with similar voice types.

So as I was writing and toying around a bit and thinking what my voice would sound good singing I came up with the following:


I recorded vocals and guitar together again (was just having fun so didn't want to separate) then doubled the track, delayed one slightly, panned both by 30% L/R, added a little bass to one and a little echo to the other. I wanted to give it a psychopathic sound. I personally liked the final the production for the most part so I guess that counts for something. I really just liked the lyrics a lot.

Please don't think I'm weird after listening to the lyrics...

Thanks a lot for all of your help over the last few days. I think I'm going to need a lot more practice and experience. You guys make this stuff look easy :)
 
Oh man, that youtube, that is so sweet! Cute llttle girl, belting it out. That's great. Love it when she lays her head on your arm when she delivers the lyric, "Home is wherever i'm with you".

Okay, enough with getting all sappy.

I'm assuming that is you in the video? You sing fine. Maybe you're just experiencing a bit of mic angst, feeling the pressure once the record button is pushed. If you're feeling somewhat naked singing without playing along, try holding the guitar while you sing. Just keep at it singing along with pre-recorded guitar tracks. You'll gradually get used to it.

Good luck
 
oneguy said:
Thanks for your response. I really appreciate it. I'm going to try retracking everything. I think I'm a little bit too antsy to want to release something and didn't spend enough time on the recording.

Attempting to cover : YouTube - Home - Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros Acoustic Cover (Jorge & Alexa Narvaez)

I'll never be able to sound like that little girl though :)
Click to expand...

You're welcome. I think you've got some good advice on this thread. I didn't know that song before (either the cover linked or the original), but I liked it and that girl in the video is so great - don't think it helped my cause when my already broody partner watched it either...

If you're in danger of hating the song, move on to something else for a while and come back to it later when you've moved forward with your recording a bit. If you're bored of it, you're not getting much out of it personally and it's likely to adversely hit your output. Keep posting your work up!
 
No way Mick! I wish that was me in the youtube vid! He's awesome dude.

I'm the quack trying to cover him in the first post :)
 
its not easy to do right...thats the challenge, and the fun bit (honestly)...but there is a certain amount of walking you have to learn before you start running

I dont think your weird by listening to the lyrics..I cant make them out ;)

you really need to stop for a second and try to read up on the rudimentaries..without the basic foundation you'll just be posting up these sketches for ages..

Learn to track the guitar on its own then practice, practice, practice, at singing separately...without these foundations you will really struggle to get a product that even family and friends will listen to..not meaning to sound harsh

If you want to pan things just panning the same track doesnt do much except make the whole song louder...with delay on one side and a slightly bassier sound on the other...its not a technique anyone would advise

Track the guitar part, now play it back and record the same guitar part alongside it on another track...now pan one hard left and one hard right...that'll give you a better soundscape..then record the vocals and leave them in the middle...as a general rule lead vocals, bass guitars, and kick drums are best left in the middle of the soundscape as your anchors

Here is a great resource for home recorders...have a read of the chapters that pertain to you...and remember that initially there is some groundwork to put in

TweakHeadz Lab Electronic Musician's Hangout
 
Thanks KC very helpful.

Why do you recommend playing the same guitar part twice rather than just copying it and panning on right and one left?
 
because panning the same sound wave does nothing but make it one louder wave..its the basic science of sound

when you double track it the small nuances in your playing, however slight, differentiate the two tracks so instead of making one louder mono sound wave you create a stereo soundscape...have a little practice and hear what I mean...itll blow your mind dude ;)


lol
 
forgot to say most of the guitar tracks you hear in here, even though they sound like one guitar are more than likely several layers done like this..I was reading how a simple acoustic track in some album or other was actual fourteen different tracks, on fourteen different guitars!!

layering is where its at ;)
 
At least the levels are in line in your second go. I think it could be quite fine as a song, too. I didn't miss you comment about wanting to create a psychedelic effect, but I think you're getting the cart before the horse a bit. The song has potential. The lyrics are fine.

IIIIFFFF what you are looking to do is make a good recording of the song, you need to first really figure out how the song goes and practice it enough so that you can play it well. Then you need to get good solid tracks of the sounds, tracks that are recorded well individually and work well together. Then (and only then!) do you really want to start thinking about what effects you should use, and bouncing echos around from left to right like a ping pong ball bouncing around in dry well probably isn't where you're going to end up :D, psychedelic intent or not.

You should heed the good advice given by several folks above: Find a way to record your guitar so that the track sounds really good... meaning when you listen to it with no effects, you say, "Yeah, that sounds like my guitar". It shouldn't be boomy, it shouldn't be thin, it should just sound like a guitar. Once you have figured out, record just the guitar part of your song (yeah I know you're going to want to play when you sing. I have a suggestion for you there, but first think about the guitar.) You want to do it a few times until you really get it right. If you have to, record it a few different times and then cut and paste together a copy that's good all the way through. Now instead of trying to make that mono track sound stereo, again, heed the advice given above. Do the whole thing again to create a second guitar track. Try to play it exactly the same way the second time that you did the first time. It's the teeny little differences in timing and loudness that will create the stero sound you want. Big differences will make it sound like two guitars. Now pan one of the tracks left and one of them right and you're in business. Put a (teeny) bit of reverb on it to give it some ambience and you'll have a nice background for your song. If you want to make it sound pychedelic, that's fine, but you need to start from here and go to there. I don't think you'll get far trying to make a pychedelic sound from the start.

Now for the vocal. I understand you want to play and sing... It would be better if you didn't have to but if you must, my suggestion is to play along with the track you've just made in your headphones and sing with your mic very close to your mouth. Yes, you'll get some bleed from the guitar, but as long as you sing out and keep the mic close to your mouth (off axis a bit so as to avoid pops) it will just fade in with the other guitar tracks. There's no way around one requirement here though... you will have to play and sing in time with the track. That's just a matter of practice. Record your vocal several times so that you can compile the best parts of each to make your final take. Try to keep your singing volume consistent and keep the distance to the mic about the same so that you can mix and match without too much difficulty.

In every step of this process, watch your levels and keep your guitar in tune!

Good luck. Whatever you do, post it back here. We'd love to hear it!

J
 
The song has a very classical style to it, I think that is coming from the flanger like effect that you have on your guitar. Its cool but the vocals are very soft and it makes it very difficult to hear full words. I know that it has already been stated but it is very important to finely articulate your words when you are recording. But definitely keep it up, the only way you will get better is if you keep making songs and fine-tuning them.
 
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