Introduction: My struggle with home recording

I could be way off base here, but the impression I get is that you are currently starting out by EQing every instrument to sound good on it's own. In a mix the individual tracks are usually a lot thinner than you might think, and they need to be EQed to not step on each other, and to fill the gaps left by the others, unless of course you are trying to blend two together, like HiHat and Tambourine or kick and bass, but even in these cases you want them to blend and compliment but also to have a unique feature that you can pick out if you listen closely. Listen to your mix as a whole and try doing some small EQ cuts to clean up overlapping instruments, just sweep the freq around until you hear the muddiness disappear, or the instrument jump into it's own space, also sweep the boosts you might have on kick and snare until the defining freq of each sits well with the other instrumnents.
 
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vox said:
I get is that you start out by EQing every instrument to sound good on it's own.
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Have you seen the FX chains you can download? You provide a signal . Everything is preset. Thresholds and all. You just need the first plugin to set the level.

In my experiments they work, getting mixed results.

This is the Guitar 'Go and Play' chain. All preset.
Screenshot 2022-03-14 115139.jpg

there is one I didnt have
 
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I didn't count but thats like 15 VSTs. Who comes up with this stuff?

Off the Cockos/Reaper homepage downloads.

sounds like this
 
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vox said:
I could be way off base here, but the impression I get is that you are currently starting out by EQing every instrument to sound good on it's own. In a mix the individual tracks are usually a lot thinner than you might think, and they need to be EQed to not step on each other, and to fill the gaps left by the others, unless of course you are trying to blend two together, like HiHat and Tambourine or kick and bass, but even in these cases you want them to blend and compliment but also to have a unique feature that you can pick out if you listen closely. Listen to your mix as a whole and try doing some small EQ cuts to clean up overlapping instruments, just sweep the freq around until you hear the muddiness disappear, or the instrument jump into it's own space, also sweep the boosts you might have on kick and snare until the defining freq of each sits well with the other instrumnents.
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I'm trying to write while recording. I need to hear it played back in order to write. I have no clue what my stuff is sounding like while I'm in the moment playing it. It's only when I listen to myself played back that I can hear it with clarity and generate new ideas.

So yes, I want it to sound good from the get go, otherwise it's not inspiring. It doesn't give off the sound and vibe I'm going for, and therefore it just kills the energy and mood. I cannot hear what I'm wanting to hear played back, therefore I can't write. I need it to sound good from the start.

You guys might like what I've shared so far, and I won't say its not decent from an objective point of view. But to me it sucks and might as well be a recording of alphabet belching. It's not the sound I'm trying to create.

I honestly don't even know what the sound I'm trying to create is, but I do know that that's not it. It's one of those things I'll know when I hear it. That sound has not been played back through my speakers yet, and nothing has perked my ears up. Its all stale, sterile stuff that sounds dead to me.

EDIT: Nevertheless, I think I will continue on with this most recent one just for the sake of finishing a song. I don think that this one could potentially sound the way I want it to with the right guitar, bass, and drum sound. Lots of times its about how the thing is played rather than what is being played. You can liven a riff or a groove up just by using different feel/finesse. It does make a difference.
 
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What ?

You cant hear it until, what? dude I can predict the notes I play. As I improvise I know what it will sound like up or down , in my head...

IHateHomeRecording said:
I honestly don't even know what the sound I'm trying to create is,
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Get a girlfriend. Rock n roll is all your teenage love. You gotta make some things happen. Then write about that..Those ups and downs. Thats what it is...music...its the sex you had with the women when you were 14-20 ...After 21...who gives a shit if you get laid..
 
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LazerBeakShiek said:
Get a girlfriend. Rock n roll is all your teenage love. You gotta make some things happen. Then write about that..Those ups and downs. Thats what it is...music...its the sex you had with the women when you were 14-20 ...After 21...who gives a shit if you get laid..
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I'm an incel. I don't date or go around women. I've never had sex, and don't really want to. I'm 31 now. Seems even more cringe and unenticing the older I get. Never was for me. I also hate things that talk about sex, and the idea of sexual promiscuity. It's just completely not for me. I'm prepared to die a virgin. Can't even imagine myself engaging in the act of sex. Seems impossible. Does not compute.

That's what makes me funny. As a person I'm nothing like the music I like to play/listen to. I just like the guitar/vibe of it musically. It's metal that isn't sinister or dark. It's sounds fun and happy.
 
I'm not a slave to my impulses. I knew when I was just a little kid barely able to have conscious thoughts that I would never have a woman. It's just something I "knew". Thus as I got older it just never even crossed my mind to even try, so I didn't. There is no species on earth where all the males get to breed. This "there's a lid for every pot" crap is just boomer nonsense.
LazerBeakShiek said:
Write about that..

People are going to want to know that...


How about you go out and live some life. Then write songs of warning or prophecy. To help future generations. Shits always changing. Code breakers can follow the clues and breadcrumbs..Its in the rules.
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What do you mean by "live life"?
 
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