Here Goes.......take a listen....

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NickHall

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Ok guys, my first post to this forum (although ive been reading and listening avidly...)

Ive been playing with recording for a while after splitting up with my band (and manager)......I posted these tracks up on the mixing / mastering forum for advice, and figured I should do the same here......

I'm doin everything on the tracks, and have to say I'm more musician than I am producer, so ANY comments would be hugely appreciated.................







Cheers....

Nick
 
Just listened to Whereevery You Go.
Nice. Good mix. Nice quality.

The others are still downloading.

Life is kick ass.
Really good.

Better Days is damn good too.

Too bad about your band.
Maybe it's for the best.


By the way, welcome to HR.com.
Nice to have ya here. :)
 
Thanks BadGas....Glad you like em.....

I'm really in need of some advice as to the mixes aswell, as Im planning to get the cd mastered in a studio next week.......

One of the guys on the mastering forum suggested 'Life' needs a lot more work.....

Thanks for the welcome ;) glad to be here.....
 
Listening to Life ...
You sing good but it's a little burried in there and not cutting through enough, it's ok in the begining and then looses something latter on. I dunno. I sounds "scooped" meanning midrange sounds cutout. Also it sounds "esssy" which I noticed is magnified by compression (or bad mic placement). Don't know if you used compression or not I would expect the vocal cut throu better if you did.

It might be that I expect more up front "in-your-face" vocal in this tune.

The lead is getting lost somewhere in there to.

The acc guitar tone sounds like recorded direct not miced.

All that said. it's realy good over all. The bar has been raised very high here in MP3 clinic lately but you got to take it all with a bag of salt :)

It's hard to review all the tunes, becuase it takes time and I want to be fare and listen few times. So I'll stop on this one for now.

I'll try to listen to the other ones latter

cheers
 
Nick, howdy!
Listening to Life and I'm really liking it. YOu got talent! Let me mention what caught my ear.

Is that a GUITAR solo near the end? Needs to stand out much more and pan center. Vocs bring up as song builds, voc level should build with it. The spoken parts sound good (did you do that with eq or an effect?) but I would cut level a hair on those, need to be more suttle, just "there". Acoustics, I like the pickup sound but I believe a mic on the strings sound would be better for this one, what do you think?

Hope my humble opinions are of help here and don't sound like I actually know something :)

S/R
 
On Life.

Really good song - the music was nice, the lyrics were so-so. Terrific singing - both melody and harmony. Nice instrumentation. I didn't care for the spoken answer-backs. But the song had an absolutely great feel to it.

On Better Day.

I didn't think it was as strong as life. But again, the vocals sound terrific. Harmonies would make it a bit stronger.

On Whereever You Go.

Maybe a good song, but I only got 33 seconds of it. So it's tough to tell.

I gotta say - I really like your overall sound and style. Look forward to hearing more.
 
life:
nice pop song. overall a very well put together and well written. performance is top notch. how'd you do the drums? are they loops? are they real? they sound excellent. the rest of the mixing needs work. the acoustic sounds really thin. are you recording that with a mic? the vocals are very well performed but getting lost in the mix once the chorus sets in. what's the signal path from voice to disk? are you eq'ing that at all right now?

i have the same comments on the other two as well.

all very nice songs but something needs to be done to get your vocals to the front of the mix. you sing very well.
 
Listening to "life" and it's a really good song.I'll listen to the rest later when I get a chance.The one thing that about the mix on this song that jumps out like a glaring red light is the vocal.It's buried and needs to be brought into the forefront.The backing tracks are burying it.Is the lead vocal off center to the left?It needs to be dead center I think to cut through a little better.

The bass is overpowering everything on my speakers.It's like a big roar instead of a defined sound.How do you have the tracks spread out?How are things panned?I cant hear a lot of panning.It seems like everything is bangin straight up and down expect for the lead vocal and the other vocal thing in the right speaker.
 
Wooaha...Loads of comments to take care of....

Firstly thanks for all the positive stuff.....good to know its going in the right direction...

Fed: Im not sure exactly what ive done to make the vocals lose mid range, and I believe the sibilance may have been caused by a little too much 'enhancement' at the time of recording the vocals.... I use a JoeMeek mic with a VC3 Compressor / Enhancer... so the vocals were pretty evenly compressed initially.

Yup, the acoustic is di'd in. To be honest I've tried mic'ing it up, but its a Yamaha APX10, and has two pickups, a piezo and an acoustic...the sharp / brightness ur hearing really is the way the guitar sounds, and no attempt I, or any sound engineer has made has ever made it sound warmer....its just the way it sounds Micing it up just adds a 'mic'ed up' sharpness to the mix....

SolomonsRequest: Yup it is a gitar solo near the end, although its not actually guitar, just a synth....I've turned it up a little in tonights mix, and - well pointed out, it was panned a little to the left in the automation (must have put it there and forgotton about it) thats done. Same comments apply on the acoustic as above.

TripleM: What can I say?....thank you thank you thank you....

erichenryus: Thanks once more. Drums are a collection of different patches within 'Reason'... I dont like using loops (always seem like I'm ripping someone off...)...but I originally programmed the beats on my JV-1000 - midi'd to my Boss DR-770. After getting thoroughly sick and tired of never getting the right sound, I tried messing with the patches in Reason....the extra flexibility ofall the patches meant I eventually found the ones I wanted.

Same comments on acoustic as before. As for vocals...this IS the bit im struggling with....I just cant seem to get the vocals up fornt in the mix....They were recorded From mic to VS-1680, and then more recently moved over to Logic...so I now have ample ability to play with them, but am still stuggling with getting them to sound 'full'.

Kramer: Same deal here....the vocals..... As for the bass, I realized that a few days ago (bare in mind the mix you fellas have heard is a week or so old, but as not a huge deal has changed for the better,I havent updated the one on the site...) and have completely changed the bass sound.....its now a lot more punchy and less muddy...

There is a lot of panning, but the problem is that there are a lot of instruments playing....you have:

AcousticGuitar - DeadCentre
Vocals- DeadCentre
Bass - Dead Centre
BV - 20% Left
Voice - 20% Right
Rhythm Electric- 15% Right
Strings- 25%Right
Piano - 15 %Left
LeadGuitar -25% Left(except in solo...dead centre)

So the big question remains- how do I get the vocals up front, and separate the drums and bass a little more?....

Once again guys, thanks for the warm welcome.....
 
Welcome aboard...

And now for some honest impressions...

Good songs... liked "Life" the best. Your vocal sound is great (both talent-wise and recording-wise). I sure hope (for your sake) that you don't live in the St. Louis area,.. otherwise I may kidnap you and force you to sing for my currently "singer-less" band. :p

But your acoustic guitar sound leaves much to be desired on all the songs. (It sounds like it was run direct) On "Better Day" the elec git leaves much to be desired, (it also sounds direct, through a low-end effects unit,.. please tell me that's not a Pandora's :p ) and the drums on "Wherever" also are very detracting from the quality of the song. (The bass is buried a little as well in most of em, but that's a very minor point.)

I only say this (so bluntly) because there's nothing worse than a really good song that's made "worse" by crappy drum samples/cheesy guitar effects/plastic acoustic sounds. If this were just your own mixes for the fun of it (like most of mine are) then I wouldn't give a rip,.. but if you're talking aboot having these mastered, (which I thought I saw you mention earlier) then I would do whatever it takes to get a decent sound out of the primary instruments... Borrow a buddy's guitar, (heck.. if you live near me I'd lend you my Taylor) or use someone's amp for the electrics... whatever it takes to make the best of the recording. Cause these are some good songs.. and it would be a shame to detract from the listening experience just because of the gear being used.

But don't forget the fact that I loved your vocals... :D Really liked the falseto on "Better Day".

WATYF
 
You might want to try record vocals without any effects/compression first and get closer to the mic. There is a good technic I read here on HR.com where you place a mic slightly above your lips because "essses" go down when you sing. It will allow you to get closer to the mic to.

I realise there is not much you can do with acc guitar. But the part you are plaing on it might not be bad for electric. I wonder how it would sound without acc at all. Sorry :) the sound is just realy dreadfull to me :) and it's up there in the mix (can't you trade it in:)). But like someone said in another thread "People know a good song when they here it" and this one is good.


cheers
 
I have only listened to "Life" but I am definately hearing it as radio friendly...I do have to agree with the others though...I dont really like the acoustic sound, not bad, just kinda flat. The end guitar solo is buried too low and as the song builds to a finale the vox start to get buried a bit. That being said, The song is great, the melody is great and I expect to turn on the radio some summer day and here this one comin thru!!
 
NickHall said:
So the big question remains- how do I get the vocals up front,
Click to expand...

I think you should try out some other mics if possible. Check out the microphone bbs for ideas. Something fundamental is missing in that vocal recording. Maybe it's just never getting captured in the first place.

And you have to fix that acoustic guitar recording.

Your music is very good, but it's getting ruined by the vocal and guitar recording in my opinion. When you go to master this, can you possibly rerecord those parts in the studio first?
 
thx guys...

I actually recorded the parts a coupla months back, and only turned to mixing them recently......so I'm sure I can rerecord the bits that need it.

Thinking back, I'm pretty sure I eq'd the vocals whilst recording them...so I think I'll goback and try again with no eq, and a bit more effort on the compression. At the time, I'd only just aquired the mic, so with a bit more effort, I may work some magic on it....

As for the guitar...Trade it in?.,...woahah...lol....Its a great guitar...a one-off....very special.....and it has a sharp sound that works really nice when played in a live situation (especially when played with another guitarist playing a Gretsch or a Taylor, as you get some great seperation).......

I guess I need to have another go at recording that aswell.....and I will try mic'ing it aswell....

WATYF: Nope, dont live in the St.Louis area......I actually live in England.....so I dont think theres much chance of me fronting ur band :D but thanks for the offer ;)

The electric guitar on Better Day isn't actually electric....its acoustic being put through a coupla effects (on board effects on the VS-1680 16-track...)...So I never really did expect to get it to sound that good. I do have a guitarist lined up who may be able to spend some time on that......(trouble is, he never plays exactly what I want him to play.......;)....damn musicians....)

Thanks again guys......I'll give it some more work, and upload it again when its geting a bit closer.....
 
Eep.....I totally forgot, I put up a slightly different mix of 'Life' the other day (one of those mixes you spend hours messing with only to realize when you listen in the morning that youve wasted 6 hours...)



But hey, take a listen and see if you think this is going in a better direction:....

The vocals are slightly higher in the mix, and more up front (Stil havent sorted out the sibilance though)
The bass is a different patch (not sure if its any better or just 'different')
The acoustic has had a bit more eq'ing and sits a little better in the mix...
however: The overall level of the backing has dropped as a result (as you' xpect), and I feel the drums dont have as much 'punch' now...

My overall impression of this one was that it sounded more 'together' however this also lost a lot of the presence from the song....

I'd hugely appreciate a listen and comments on the differences

Cheers...
 
Last edited:
One Last thing:

I know i'm giving your download speed a test at the moment, but theres also a 4th track I'm planning to put on the CD here:



This one is a purely acoustic song....Acoustic rhythm and acoustic lead + solo vocal...... This one was recorded at 32khz, but the quality is stillpretty good, and you can hear how the guitar and vocals sound together. On this one you can see why I like the sound of my guitar, as the 'crispness' of the 'picked' guitar is clear.


Cheers

Nick
 
Hey Nick,
I wouldnt expect you to go back and mess with panning again, but heres a suggestion that I believe will open things up (maybe for the future?):

AcousticGuitar - double, pan hard l/r
Vocals- DeadCentre
Bass - Dead Centre 2% right, kick 2% left
BV - 20% Left (if many voices pan further out)
Voice - 20% Right
Rhythm Electric- 70% Right (100 being hard pan)
Strings- 25%Right (I double like orchestra 90% l/r)
Piano - 15 %Left
LeadGuitar -25% Left(except in solo...dead centre)

these of course are personal settings and change all the time, yada yada yada :) But putting that acoustic center will totally compete with vocs. Notice the slight seperation on kick, bass, because they compete too.

Outstanding work my friend! S/R
 
Sounds pretty good to me. I only heard the second mix of Life and the vocals were up enough in that one. The guitars are pretty much thin and distant sounding. No body to them. The songs are nice tunes.........radio friendly for sure.
 
Thats it!

Now I can hear the vocal and the Bass guitar has a tone now instead of mud!Good job on the adjustments nick!This is definetly a radio friendly tune.You have a great voice and now I can hear it.:D
 
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