Here I go again (on my own?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter ChristopherDawn
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ChristopherDawn

ChristopherDawn

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Okay, here's my first 'real attempt' with 'real gear.' I did some songs about a year ago that were just terrible. This will hopefully be better. I already know it sounds a ton better (so if you think this sounds like shit then that will give you an idea of what those ones sounded like :D).

Anyway.

This was done in one day (you can probably tell).

Snare: sm57 > GR MP-2nv
Kick: D112 > GR MP-2nv
OHs: Soundcraft M-series Pres

Guitars: sm57 > GR MP2-nv
Bass: Soundelux u195 > GR MP-2nv


All of them tracked to Sonar 3.1.

I haven't added the vocals into the song yet because I want to get the music good first, then I'll take that 'next step' into working on the vocals.


Let's see. I put an L1 (waves) limiter on the kick to get it to stand out enough for my tastes. Guitars are panned at 50% l/r. During the solo they're automated to come center so I can have the solo centered. No reverb. Snare has some reverb (Truverb) on it. Bass has some compression (C1), as well as the guitar that starts the song (C1). Both guitars are rolled off at about 80 hz.

That's about it, no big EQ stuff.




If anybody wants the wav they can IM me for it: xchristopherdawn on AIM.
 
Can you describe what you mean by tiny? :)


After listening to it at work I'm noticing the guitar on the left has a ton of 'fizz.'
 
ChristopherDawn said:
Can you describe what you mean by tiny? :)


After listening to it at work I'm noticing the guitar on the left has a ton of 'fizz.'
Click to expand...

I think he meant "tinny." It is a bit, but not overly so. Actually quite fitting for the genre. I wouldn't worry about it too much personally. Nice tune.
 
He's probably talking about the (predominantly left) guitar... You could probably dip a dB or two around 2.5k to smooth it out a whisker... It's a bit painful at listening volume...

Oh, TINY - I thought he said TINNY - Sorry...

It could be "more huge" I guess...

I like the roomy drum sound...

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com
 
Massive Master said:
He's probably talking about the (predominantly left) guitar... You could probably dip a dB or two around 2.5k to smooth it out a whisker... It's a bit painful at listening volume...

Oh, TINY - I thought he said TINNY - Sorry...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I guess this is a case of 'really bad capturing of a really bad guitar sound.' Heh. Thanks for the advice, I'll try that to take it down a bit (which I agree it needs).
 
Okay, so I went back and played around with the guitars to try and cut back on that hi frequency crap. I ended up putting a high cut filter in around 4k. There was a suprising amount of high crap that I didn't notice until I a/bed it and checked it out.

I also took the drums and time aligned them to the snare (ohs and kick). They were around 6 or 7 ms off from the snare track. I think it got it a bit tighter sounding.

So here's the new version:



I also got a little time to work with the vocals. We ran them through a bass amp and I blended it with the original signal and compressed to get what we have. It's really rough and I don't have it blended it with the music as I'd like, but I'd like opinions:



Coo.
 
Okay, I have a nicely (in my opinion) mixed version with the vox now. Same link as before:



I'm trying to work the backing vocals in with it but they're just clashing to all hell with each other and I can't get them to fit.

Thank you to everyone that's taking a listen.
 
You should throw a "club crowd" sound effect behind this... :cool:

Kinda' reminds me of "The Germs - Live at the Whiskey" :)

Except for the Darby Crash commiting suicide after the show part... :eek:

Cooler than the first one... Quite different sounding also... Not just the vox... The "space" feels different... Switched verbs? Added verb? More room mic on the kit?

Ah - Read back - Time aligned the kit. That'd be it. Good step.

John
 
Did you take take the version with the vox? I'd like to hear that one after listening to the music.

I like the room-space feeling on it.
 
I learned a new way to pan that I liked a lot so I ended up redoing the guitars on all of the tracks.

I thought it was pretty good and then I listened to "Hollywood Phase" last night and it just clicked. The guitars and bass just WENT together and the drums were all there and audible. The vocals just sat in there perfectly. Well, at least this is all to me.

So now I'm trying to get the other two to gel together just as great.

I'm uploading all three of these songs here:

http://www.purevolume.com/cxlarson/music2

Just click on the 'download' link next to the song and save.

So you can go check them out as they are now, but I'm still working on Wake Up and People These Days. Let me know what you think of Hollywood Phase, because like I said last night everything just sounded perfect (besides the poor wah solo and bad bad ska sound).
 
Man, I know what you mean. The track I'm working on now is frustrating me to death. The rythem guitars from the verse and the chorus are all different, and while the chorus guitars sound pretty good, the verse guitar is mud. And the kick drum is mud... as is the bass. Man the whole track is mud.

Anyways, going to check out your stuff now. Just needed to rant a minute :)
 
Yea, it works pretty well. There's a rawness in it that's hard to get. Vocals sound good but it's a little hard to hear the words. Not sure if that's because of the voice or mixing, but I don't think it should be too much louder, if at all. There's a good balance. Kinda reminds me of early early Bad Religion :cool:
 
Thanks for the listen, man. Which one did you check out?

Yeah, the vox actually remind me a lot of Tiger Army sometimes, and then other times a little like older AFI.
 
I listened to all of them but I was refering to Hollywood phase. It's tight and has a good raw power to it.
 
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