For all the acoustic lovers....

Hey Philby:

Real solid performances, no doubt about that. It sounds like there's some distortion on the guitar in parts, as if it was recorded too hot. I also hear a lot of plosives, so you might want to try a pop screen for the vox.

You've also got the standard 424 tape hiss happening, but these are real folksy kind of recordings, so it dosn't bother me much. There's a nice immediacy to the sound - like I'm listening to you playing in my living room, & that's cool. Personally I'd work on eqing the guitar and vox a bit more, or at the very least turn the guitar down a little, because it steps on the singing in places.

nice playing & singing,
Chris
 
I listened to Working Class Hero. There's some greatsongs on that Plastic Ono Band album and this is one of all time favorite Lennon tunes. I agree with Mr Marx comments but will add that it seemed left heavy. The voice over clip at the end was interesting.
 
cheers...

Thanks for the feedback guys...much appreciated..

Track Rat - Working Class Hero is also one of my all-time favourite songs, I actually wasn't too keen on doing it in case i made a complete balls of it & ended up hating the original :)

about the 'left heavy' thing...you're very much right...i've come across that problem before...theres something up with my soundcard whereby one of my speaker out jacks doubles as a line-in..as a result i've been unable to transfer anything from my 4-track to Goldwave that sounds balanced..to be honest i'm stumped & can't fix it..

I've tried messing with the 'Pan' in Goldwave - i've tried setting it a good bit towards the right & it seems to sound a bit better - i'll post one that i've tried this with if you'd be kind enough to give your views on that..

I just found the voice clip while searching on the net...i felt that a little quote from john would add a bit to the song...

groucho - thanks for the feedback man..

which songs (and particular what parts of each song) did you notice "some distortion on the guitar in parts, as if it was recorded too hot"..??

yeah the hiss is a bit noticable & times...in "Working Class Hero" i think that noise is down to poor recording by myself rather than the limitations of the machine...

any tips on how to make a home-made pop screen? i've heard they can be made up for a fraction of the price at home..would fit in with my lo-fi style... ;) how exactly do they work btw?

Any specific recommendations in the EQing of the guitar/vocals?
just a matter of making sure the volumes are correct or do you have other suggestions?

Thanks again for all the feedback lads...good to get another set of ears... ;)
 
You can make a pop filter by stretching panty hose over a hoop. I made a couple and I used 6" embroidery hoops. with one of these you can hide the seam of the panty hose. Or you can just bend a hoop out of a coat hanger.
 
Lead me Upstairs:
Some clipping on the acoustic guitar, and a muddy vocal track. Performance is good. I can't hear anything in the right channel .... A nice song, but I'd try to make this song better by better production somehow.

Working Class Hero:
Same production problems, but performance is good. I don't know what else to say. Try to get the panning thing fixed.
 
Re: cheers...

Philby_Walsh said:
Thanks for the feedback guys...much appreciated..

I've tried messing with the 'Pan' in Goldwave - i've tried setting it a good bit towards the right & it seems to sound a bit better - i'll post one that i've tried this with if you'd be kind enough to give your views on that..


groucho - thanks for the feedback man..

which songs (and particular what parts of each song) did you notice "some distortion on the guitar in parts, as if it was recorded too hot"..??
Click to expand...

About the pan problem: have you checked your sound card's mixer settings? It sounds quite possible that that's where the problem lies. Either that or maybe you're not going in stereo from the tascam to the computer?

The distortion I heard was more in Lead Me Upstairs. There's one spot right before the vox come in. As far as eq stuff, the guitar sounds a little mids heavy. Acoustic guitar/vocal stuff is tough to get right - often harder for me than complex full band arrangements, since any eq shortcomings are right in your face
(nowhere to hide!).

Chris
 
Nice stuff. The vocal seemed a little too subdued in the Lead me Upstairs and a little clippy on the guitar in spots. "... Class Hero" was nice. I`d enjoy hearing you do that realtime
 
CrankyOne - Had another listen to 'lead me upstairs' & i see what you mean about the clipping on the guitar...prob due in part to my style of playing & incorrect mic levels...

I def. need to get the panning thing sorted cos this song songs quite different to when i just mixed it to Mini-disc..its annoying to hear it so lob-sided on the left channel..

groucho - re: the pan problem

I've been trying to solve it for ages but Im lost to be honest..

check out this thread

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35929

and if you have any suggestions i'd be delighted to hear them..

Toki987 - Thanks for the input man..i love the song too.

Thanks for the input guys...any more input on the song/my screwed up soundcard would be a great help
 
Upstairs - sounds like small room or small room reverb?
Is acoustic mic'd close w/ sm-57?

I'm looking for as much acoustic solo examples as i can find since i'm doing that kind of thing at the moment. Have any links or tunes you listen to for the acoustic sound?

Good song and performance.
 
junplugged - all the songs were recorded in my bedroom (pretty small room) pretty close to the corner...is it that obvious? I wouldn't pick up on something like that listening to it..

The mic was a beaten-up old Peavey one my drummer gave to me for free...not the best mic in the world but it does the job till I get another one..


Thanks for the praise..its a david gray song if anyone didn't know...what did you think of the rest of them?

try this link for some acoustic tunes...not sure exactly which songs are on this sit ebut I remember liking this guys stuff about a year or so ago so maybe you can pick something up off him...maybe if you mailed him he might be able to tell you which songs are the type you are looking for

http://www.feel-rock.com/songs_01.htm
 
Working Class Hero

You have a good voice for this kind of tune. Intonation is right, dynamics are on target, timing is on, just the right amount of edge. Good voice for live stuff; I think you'd have the crowd's attention. I'll ditto the other observations on panning and so forth. Nice job.
 
cheers Treeline,


I'm not really a singer....I was in a few bands a few years back and still want to keep playing, even though i'm not in one anymore, so I got a 4-track and decided to mess around with it..I'm singing more out of necessity more than desire..I'm a guitarist really..

I hope to keep recording on the 4-track and maybe move up to a decent digital recorder when I get some money together...there's only so far you can go with a 4-track (quality-wise)..

Do you have any tunes I can check out?

Once again if anyone can give me some help regrading my panning/soundcard problems I'd really appreciate it...

Thanks..

Philby
 
I downloaded this yesterday but checked it out after being on the phone for an hour, I thought my right ear was screwed up.

Listening today, it really is a panning problem.

I like the song, reminds me of The Stones. If you fix the panning and distortion on the guitars you should be set.

Nice one.
 
Never heard David Walsh Before,but I dig the tune it makes me want to post some of my solo acoustic material you sound like a natural,good voice and decent quality for a 4track,I've got some old 4 track stuff I did in '95 and it's great except for the sound decrapitaion.Keep 'em coming and let's hear some originals...
 
davie g..

the song is david gray (see www.davidgray.com) not david walsh! its funny cos a friend of mine called david walsh is sitting next 2 me right now..

I'm working on an original one right now...have drums(Fruity loops) and rhythm guitar done, just gonna throw some vocals & maybe bass/lead over that..

the quality doesn't sound gr8 so far..drums sound muffled & you can hear that I don't have the best quality acoustic/mic in the world..getting a shure 57 for x-mas for sure..hopefully that will improve things...

I'll post post that song up here when I get it done...

GET YOUR STUFF POSTED QUICK MAN!!
I'd love to hear your 4-track stuff...

what gear do you have now?
 
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