It's Hard to Tell - if I'm mixing this right...

[Wonderlick]

Good day everyone,

After much hemming and hawing, I'll throw this up there.

I know it's not that good, but nonetheless, I'm doing this for nothing more than serious fun. I thank this forum for allowing me to lurk and learn as much as I possibly can. I look forward to the critiques, as I know it's the only way I can get better.

Tascam DP-01FXCD, AT2020, bass DI, Guitar DI (Zoom 505II pedal), and a Casio Synth, also DI.

And, a drum machine...sorry! I prefer real drums, I just don't have a real drummer right now.

Ya can't hurt my feelings, so fire away.

We're using this song, and some others, to find a drummer and work on playing live. And to also play faux rock star for a minute.

Again, I appreciate all of the help I've received up to this point, and look forward to improving my skills in the future.

Daryl

 

[Robus]

I has promise. Since you're asking about the mix specifically, I thought the track overall had a harsh, nasally, congested quality to it. Too many things happening in those midrange frequencies where human hearing is most sensitive. The combined effect was grating. If it were my mix, I'd try to thin that out and create some air and space in there. Way too much of that synth sound. I wonder if you didn't record some of the tracks too hot, which can create clipping that adds to the grating texture. Just to stray from commenting on the mix a little, I'd guess many more on this forum use some variety of MIDI drums than record with a live drummer. It doesn't have to sound plodding and mechanical. Just takes a little more work to give it a human feel.

 

[Wonderlick]

Totally fair - and accurate. The tracks varied on the recording level, but generally between -18 and -11 (on the drums). The synths were a little higher than that, although I matched the level on the Tascam. I'm hoping someone can enlighten me as to why the same recording level shown on the portastudio would translate differently in the DAW.

We all live distances from each other, and can only get together every so often.

Regarding the drums specifically, I know they sound bad/repetitive. Not trying to sound lazy, but I'm not a big fan of electronic drums anyways, and I don't want to put too much work into a skill I really don't want to learn...heck, I've got a long way to go on guitar.

But I truly appreciate your feedback, and I'll work on cutting out a little bit of the middle to try and thin things out.

Daryl

 

[Robus]

You're going to have a good song. How did you record it? Did you all get together, or send files? I struggled with recording levels when I made the switch from analog to digital. I was used to running the input gain high. I got all to familiar with that slight grating sound from digital clipping. So I'm sensitive when I hear it in other people's recordings. These days I just turn the gain way down since the digital format doesn't seem to mind.

 

[ido1957]

The timing is off between the drums and the rest of the band. That really throws me off when trying to tap my foot to this one.
It gets better or less noticeable later on but are you recording to a click?

When I write I get a groove going that I want to work with, then use a metronome to find the BPM.
Then TBH all I ever use for the bulk of the song when recording is a simple snare/kick/hihat but I use Sonar, where I can retain the tempo but just add a roll or crash here and there. The I pay for a real drummer to lay down a drum track. A simple drum track if on time is a lot better than a complicated out of time one. You don't necessarily need a complex drum track to get a good groove.

Robus has already commented on the heavy mid part of things.

The song itself is very very good - just work on that timing and it will shine. I see no problem getting a drummer to join - your material is very good.

 

[Wonderlick]

To Robus -

Thank you greatly! We did get together - and attempted to set all levels equal going into the Tascam. Then, they were transferred over to my laptop to mix on Reaper.

To ido1957 -

Thank you as well - yeah, we'd set the click on the portastudio, then try and match the drum machine to the click.

It's a combination of the musicians performing off time and the difference between the machines (I assume this happens?).

Our timing is just bad, though, in the end - we're all pretty new to this hobby - all aspects. We'll work on it though. To a certain degree, I'm aware of our negatives, just looking to get assistance from the ground up.

Daryl