First track I've written and recorded

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fatoaf

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Hi all,

I recorded a complete track last night with a mate of mine called 'People Say'. It's still very ropey round the edges but I'd really appreciate it if you could give me some advice about how to improve the mix - I'm not sure what instruments I need to turn the volume up/down to get the best sound. I've also not panned the instruments eitherside, is there an standard way of doing this to get the best results i.e. move guitar to left, backing vocals to right?!! (i guess drums stay central?).

http://www.reverbnation.com/Consumer

I did the lead vocals, harmonies, drums, keyboard and bass (via keys) and my mate did the backing vocals at the end and the guitar.

This is my first bash at writing and recording a track so any constructive criticism is welcome!

Cheers,

Nick
 
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A link is good :)

Good tune - kinda Doobies vibe to the guitar.. :cool: I like the writing and the performance is tight.

Yep - panning would help this mix a bit. It's also a bit cloudy. What kind of equipment are you using to record this? I can make out the instruments and vocals okay but they are not super clear....
 
hi,

Thanks for the reply. Not heard the Doobies so i dunno if that is a good or a bad thing!

I've used a VS2400CD as the recorder.
A set of red5 drum mics I got off ebay for percussion.
Shure SM58a beta for the vocals after going through a studio master VMS compressor.
Also used the SM58a for the guitar.

I'll try splitting some of the instruments to either side, i reckon the toms on the drums need to be louder, as do the vocals, guitar could do with being quiter.

Wonder if I should use the compressor on the Virtual Studio for the drums or does it sound muffled because the mics are cheapo?

Cheers for the help,

Nick
 
He was referring to the Doobie Brothers... that's what i thought of anyway when I listened to the guitar strumming... you really should "Listen to the Music"... pun absolutely intended!! Anyway, for the mix, here are my suggestions.

The snare on this song is dark, and very quiet. I don't think it's even neccessarily a problem with how you recorded it, but sounds like the drum itself needs to be tightened up, especially on the top head.... needs more snap. If you want to try to work with what you've already recorded, bring the snare volume up, and lift the EQ around 2-4k. Also, your crash comes through too loud and dull. Try bringing down everything but the highs on that, and that may fix both the dullness and volume issues at the same time. Bring the kick up more.

Because I don't really know this track's volume, I would say you either need to bring up everything but the keys and acoustic guitar, or if you don't have room to do that without clipping, lower those two things to balance more with everything else.

I would probably try panning the keys to one side a bit and the acoustic git to the other... not hard panning, but just a little bit leaning to each side.
 
Oh, and don't even start messing with compressors yet. You should do as much as you can before jumping to compression. Using compression to fix all of your problems at this stage will give you a squashed sound that won't be even as good as what you have.
 
The song doesn't play when I click, & click & Click & you get the picture. Sorry!
 
89gtsleeper said:
He was referring to the Doobie Brothers... that's what i thought of anyway when I listened to the guitar strumming... you really should "Listen to the Music"... pun absolutely intended!! Anyway, for the mix, here are my suggestions.

The snare on this song is dark, and very quiet. I don't think it's even neccessarily a problem with how you recorded it, but sounds like the drum itself needs to be tightened up, especially on the top head.... needs more snap. If you want to try to work with what you've already recorded, bring the snare volume up, and lift the EQ around 2-4k. Also, your crash comes through too loud and dull. Try bringing down everything but the highs on that, and that may fix both the dullness and volume issues at the same time. Bring the kick up more.

Because I don't really know this track's volume, I would say you either need to bring up everything but the keys and acoustic guitar, or if you don't have room to do that without clipping, lower those two things to balance more with everything else.

I would probably try panning the keys to one side a bit and the acoustic git to the other... not hard panning, but just a little bit leaning to each side.
Click to expand...



Absolutely fantastic advice, thanks so much. I'll give this a try soon and post back with results.
 
rayc said:
The song doesn't play when I click, & click & Click & you get the picture. Sorry!
Click to expand...

Hi Ray,

Thanks for letting me know.

I can't check this cos my work firewall blocks the stie.

I'll have a look when i get home.

Cheers,

Oafy
 
rayc said:
The song doesn't play when I click, & click & Click & you get the picture. Sorry!
Click to expand...


check the popem blockem.. (i.e. popup blocker had to disable mine for this site)
 
Sounds like a cool melody. The song itself is nice.

Sounds like one of those songs for shows and that have good emotional input and work good for soundtrack.

The vocal performance is pretty good. No nits with it.

Recommendations:
- Raise the snare (2-5dbs).
- EQ snare up for sure around 2-3kHz. Maybe scoop around the lowmud range. 250-450Hz. But slightly.
- Raise kick (3-5dbs).
- Pan keys and guitars left and right.
- Leave keys alone.
- Raise guitars a little.
- EQ master around 2-3kHz again (2-3dbs).

Sorry, don't mean to be annoying to give advice too specifically. Just hoping any of these recommendations help you get rid of things I wanted fixed in my recordings.

Also some settings will probably help you take it and run with it to achive the sound you want.

Good song.

:).
 
A very nice 1st effort...

The performance is quite good, but the recording is too dense and a bit muffled at least to my untrained ears. I would love to hear it with extensive panning and more brightness overall. Nice job.
 
thanks chaps for the feedback and advice.

i'm hoping to try some of these tips out on the weekend and will post back with my results!
 
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