I warned you this wasmy first attempt

  • Thread starter Thread starter CaptainBad
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Not bad, honestly! I'd say percussion is the first thing I'd focus on. Just something to move the song along a bit more. The percussion elements that are there are occasionally a little distracting. A little 'blip bloop'-ish, if that translates at all through text :) The shaker and kick work great. Perhaps a bit of a traditional kit might work? Or more hand percussion, perhaps. I'm no expert in the genre, you probably have a better idea of what to do than I do!

Vocals sound great, guitar sounds great, piano could use a little verb to add a bit of realism to the midi. Nice work, especially for a first try!
 
Thanks for the input. I'm reading a lot here and trying to put into practice what I can. I agree the percussion needs work.
 
I think some live percussion would definitely make this sound a ton cooler. I like the basic arrangement of the song. It's got good build and parts. I thought the calimba part was a little loud. Is calimba the right word?

I'd love more details on what you did in the recording process for the song.

Great vocals, Randy.
 
Hah, I quite liked it. The groove is a bit shaky in the first 20sec or so, but then it gets going quite well.

Making a slow sparse tune sound good isnt easy. Very nice job there!

The general consensus here at HR is always the more "real instruments" you record the better, and I agree.

Whatever you could replace with a natural track would only make it better.

Overall I thought it was a great job, vocals, mix, all sound good, Welcome to Home Recording!
 
Thanks for the encouraging words. I think the MXL mic was a good choice. It was recommended here. I would have surely gotten somthing not as good had I not read here first. I have a friend that uses the presonus preamp and software so that is the direction I went as well. I don't have anyting to compare it to, this being my first experience, but I think it is a good place for a beginner to get into the hobby. You asked about how I did the vocals. Based on some of the recommendations on this site I recorded the vocals, duplicated the track and offset it by a few miliseconds. I applied some compression and reverb. I did this for both the solo and the backup vocals. I also used an automation track to turn up or down the vocal volume as needed. The guitar is just me in front of the mic. I duplicated the track and paned one left and one right. I plan to keep tweaking it. Maybe replace the midi steel guitar with a rif of my own on my electric. I also, have a drummer buddy that could really help on the precussion. I also have a copy of this without the solo or guitar. I'm planning to use it and some others I'm working on as backing tracks to play with live at a small coffee house venue.
Thanks again for the input.
 
Duplicating the track and panning it isn't going to do anything. It just makes things louder, same as turning up the mono track.

Some people put a slight delay on one side and pan the same track. But I don't really like that. Stereo recording requires 2 mics and more set up but it sounds really nice.
 
CaptainBad said:
You asked about how I did the vocals. Based on some of the recommendations on this site I recorded the vocals, duplicated the track and offset it by a few miliseconds.
Click to expand...

If the copy is panned the same as the original you can get the same effect on one track with a delay plugin. But in that range all it does is cause phase interactions which can be interesting sometimes but are rarely better sounding than the single track. If the copy is panned away from the original get ready for a surprise when it gets played in mono (which it will sooner or later).

CaptainBad said:
The guitar is just me in front of the mic. I duplicated the track and paned one left and one right.
Click to expand...

If one isn't delayed or otherwise altered then it's no different from one centered track. If you delayed one copy get ready for that surprise I mentioned.

If you want a "bigger" or "wider" or "thicker" sound then double tracking is a better way to get it.

By the way...

"Real guitars are for old people." - Eric Cartman
 
Thanks for all the input. I will be implementing the ideas in future projects.
 
A favorite tune!! Great job. Maybe bring the bass in the middle. Vox is tad hot for me. Maybe place it back into the mix a little and roll off the low end. Hard tune, nice job
 
CaptainBad said:
Based on some of the recommendations on this site I recorded the vocals, duplicated the track and offset it by a few miliseconds. .
Click to expand...

You sure you got that recommendation here???? It's really not an effective way of doing it, as others have said. If you want "doubled" vocals, then sing twice.
 
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