Just threw up a song...

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sirslurpee

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I recorded a new song with my band today.. The quality kind of sucks, but for 3 mics, on an acrylic drum set, and recording the bass and guitars at the same time as the drums, it sounds really well.

Sincerely You - Myspace

Btw, this is not the kind of quality that is going to be on the CD we are making. I am doing everything tracked at once and using better drums and whatnot.

Let me know what you think. Recording quality. Music quality. Whatnot...
 
the instruments sound like they are right on with their playing for a live take. the vox need some pitch work for sure. and of course they are super loud compared to everything, so with proper reverb (NEVER OVERDO REVERB TO COVER UP STUFF) and sitting better in the mix it may work much better. Were the vocals tracked seperately?

I take it they were since there is a stereo moment during the bridge...

but i'd say for 3 mics it's not bad, what kind of mics were they? If I can, i'll find a 3-sm57 setup we did once that surprised the hell out of me.
 
it wasn't 3 mics total... in fact, for the instruments it was 5 mics. They were a CAD CM212 condenser, a CAD KM-215, a CAD snare mic (i forget the model) and then 2 audio Technica mics on the amps... The bass was done recording-out from the amp.
The vocals were tracked separately. I had to use like 3 or 4 tracks.. I know the vocals are a little bit loud, I'm having problems getting everything else up without drowning the vocals out. I think I am going to re-mix it tonight and try to get some of that out. Also I had a problem with the mic gain changing because the intro and first verse vocal parts were recorded before practice, and then we practiced (and i had to change the gain on my firepod cuz I use it as a vocal preamp for our singer) and then we recorded again so the gain is not exactly the same. I used some automation to keep the volumes of each of the parts about the same though. I like the idea of putting a little reverb on there and trying to get them to be a little less loud in the mix. I might up the compression on the master track a little more and EQ it too...

Anyway, it's not a bad recording. Definately not sm57 quality mics though :)
Thanks for the input. It's definately appreciated.
 
i love stuff like this. live and loads of energy.

you know what - whatever happens, this version of the song has a place somewhere, too. when i was in and out of studios, i used to literally record the entire studio with a couple of mikes, and throw it onto a CD as a live demo. obviously i recorded the same songs properly (tracked and mixed, etc) but i just love live records. i even left all the banter between band members in between songs.
the song is immediately catchy, nice tune.

as a mix for a CD? depends on what sort of cd - studio or live. if i heard this on a proper CD, i'd probably give the band a wide berth and not bother again. if i heard it live or on a 'live' CD, i'd be very gripped to hear more.

if that's the case, count me in. i like this one.
 
also, to bring the music up and the vocals down, don't worry about volume. that's a big problem with homebrew projects, they try to make everything as loud as possible.

Bring the volume of the vocals down to meet the others. DO NOT overuse compressors, the less compression that is needed, the better. We learned the hard way on our last recording as we lost some stuff in the mix from overcompression when it finally hit the mastering studio.

Try to make it so that when you export the two channel wave from the max peaks hit no higher than -4dB.

Then try and use a mastering plugin or two judiciously. But again, bring the vocals DOWN to the music, not the music up to the vocals. Then try to bring the overall volume up.

Does that make sense?
 
Thanks.. I do like the live sound of it as well. I think it gives it a really cool feel that you don't usually hear on the CD. Anyway, I remixed the song, brought the vocals down, added a little bit of reverb, remastered it. I hope it sounds better, but let me know what you guys think. Same link:

Sincerely You
 
Good energy- keep it up. There's a really good song in there.

Start with your drums and get them cleaned up to where you like them. As you add instruments, keep in mind that at the loudest most dense part of the song, the drums have to be acceptably present. Turn everything else down so as not to upset that balance and just work backwards from there, balancing all the instruments through all the dynamic parts. If you can't do it without major editing, consider retracking it with appropriate dynamics.
 
Thanks.. I was kind of wondering if the drums were going to be too loud in that mix. I plan on tracking 1 track for each guitar and 1 for bass, and if they play quieter or louder, I'm going to adjust it approprietly. Also, I was kind of wondering if I should pan the guitars less? I mean, when I mix the final versions, I am panning my overheads hard, the toms gradually from left to right, depending on where the snare is in the OH's, I will probably pan the snare mic to kind of center that signal out, and then the guitar and the rest is centered? Should I offset the vocals at all or should they mainly be centered?
Thanks for the help.. this is the first real recording I'm doing and I plan on making it sound halfway decent.
 
Get the levels sorted out and worry about the panning later. Try to get the mix in front of the mic, meaning record the track with the dynamics already in place - you'll save yourself frustration later by working the kinks out early.
 
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