Listen to my recording and be picky!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nik D
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Nik D

Another brick in the wall
Well this isn't the final mix, and I only recorded the drums. This was an online collaboration, and I don't have more than an stereo mix of the guitars and vox. I want feedback on the drums! Seriously I want you to rip me apart, I totally want to master the art of recording drums (among other things). There are a couple of errors that I need to fix, but nothing major.
Here's my rec chain: mics into Samson 16 ch mixer, into Layla 20, into Nuendo running on a p4 2ghz Win XP. My mics are: Ovh- Oktava 219, Snare top and bottom SM 57, Toms - CAD tom mics. Kick - CAD kick mic. Click here http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists...id=1627&alid=-1
The song is Spring From the Shadows.

Btw, sorry I have this up in 2 spots, I accidently posted it in the mix place.
 
HOLY DRUMS, BATMAN!!!

Lemme' guess. You're the drummer, and you mixed it, right?

hehehehe

Don't get pissed or anything, but I don't think I've ever heard drums so OUT FRONT in a mix before.

Maybe you mixed it that way so you could get a drum critique...if so, I'm woefully unqualified to offer any opinions on drums...that kick's not missing any low end, that's fer sure.

Sounds like it's gonna' be a cool tune. Are you thinking about adding a vocalist???

(the last part there was a joke...I could hear him a little at the beginning)

:D
:D

-chris
 
And for the record...

Don't give a second thought to the 1 star thing...but just so you know, I didn't do that. I have a standing rule...as long as somebody can get ANYTHING other than 60 cycle hum on tape (or 50 cycle for our European participants), you get 2 stars. Anything above that is discretionary.

:D
:D
:D

This is GOING to be cool...(pull back the kit a tad)
 
Yep, I know the drums are really out front. I was a quick mix, and the rest of a song was a premixed stereo file. There wasn't much room to mix with, so it's still far from being done. When I get back (I'm out of town for another week) I have to fix a couple of off hits, and rough spots, and I want to EQ a little more attack on the kick. Hopefully I can get all the individual parts and do a good mix with those.
 
drums are loud as hell, you need less bass on kick and more attack if you'd like, good call.

and yeah - vocals are hardley hearable...ha along with everyuthing else besides drums...ha
 
Tell me nik...what do you hear wrong with this mix?

What elements jump out at you as not being mixed like something you would listen to on one of your favorite albums?
 
I'd like to hear a bass in there too. I mean it sounds like your recording the instruments ok. Its just the mix. sounds like you've got the same reverb on the vocal and acoustic, which is ok but the drums have none. So its like the drums are up front and intimate and dry, which sometimes is good too. But the gutarist and the vocalist are way down the hallway around the corner. Also everythings mono except the drums and voc harmony. Which again is ok but.
Dude, I just turned up the mids and high on my desk heaps(like 10 db) and it made it way better. In fact just doing that brought the singer and guitarist halfway back the hallway. You wouldn't want everyone that listens to have to do that?
You said to rip it apart but I dont think its that bad. I just remastered it (just roughly and quickly) with some eq and some limiting on that kick and it sounds good.
Scott...
 
Hang on I think my ears are fucked. I made it sound too toppy. Sorry, take my eq coments with less exageration. More like 2 to 3db on mids and highs.
 
I listened, and thought of some comments, but I like Kramer's approach... tell us what you think it needs, it'll help you focus on what's essential. Good call, Kramer.

Mark
 
I just listened to the 8-4-02 song, and willl critique only the drums.

You have good mic placement I think.
Your snare sounds wicked as well as the symbols and high-hat

The kick sounds like it has too much high-mid in it....more of a treble type 'tick' would be less harsh on the ears, yet get the kick out there like your attempting to now. The kick is way too quiet.

Your toms are OK, but I think they are too middy. I think they need to be swept just a little and given the 'tick' as well. Other than that, they are sweet.
 
There's actually alot I think it needs. I totally agree with the verb, and I actually tried it, but couldn't get what I was looking for with my plugins. I still think I might be able to get it with lots of tweeking though. I really wish I could mess with it as I read through all your great advice, but alas my computer is in michigan, and I'm in New York. I would love to get a better snare sound. I'm not sure if that's possible with my current set up, and possibly snare drum. I'd really like to get a nice preamp, but I'm flat broke. (although I bought a 15 dollar accoustic guitar on ebay last night.... hehe I couldn't resist!) Another thing is the sound of my drums, peticularly the low tom, it has a not so pleasant ring to it. Probably the head, possibly how it's miced... I know some monitors would help me heaps! That's my next investment. I'm doing my mixing on some Boston speakers that came with my Gateway. They're nice speakers and all, but they could never come close to real monitors. I would still love to get my hands on all the individual guitar and vocal tracks and play with those. There is a bass part going to be added, so that will help round some things out. There are a couple of sloppy things in my playing that I'll see if I can fix. Oh, and just again, I didn't record anything but the drums. All the drums were done in my basment "studio". Thanks for your comments, every one does help alot!
 
Ditto on the drums and the vocals. I think you have a nice singing voice buried somewhere in there. The song had a decent vibe to it that I rather liked. Can't comment on the lyrics, too tough to hear.

Some of my reactions that I didn't hear from the others... The quiet sections and the "kicked-in" sections had just a bit too much contrast for me. I could barely hear the quiet sections, and the louder sections blasted me.

I thought the acoustic guitar sounded like an "inexpensive" model. Or maybe not miked well. It was a bit crispy.

I heard what sounded like a drum goof at 1:33. Not sure what the guitar was doing at 2:53 - sounded like a minor mistake.

Keep posting. And rip apart someone else's song :)
 
hey i just ran across this...how did i miss it?..lol
drums:back in a bit...
vocals :..definately bring these up i can tell the singer has a great voice .this is KEY..use it alot ..lol
i would like to be able to decipher the lyrics..but they are too far back in the mix...
you have great dynamics in here as well....

pleas re-post this and trade the vocals and the drums in the mix..

c-mon you know you want to....
hurry up...lol

jamal
 
Other than the above comments,I thought your voice was real good.
The production and writing are good also,if you tighten uop the mix.IMHO

Good start.

Best to you,
Pete
 
Nik D said:
Well this isn't the final mix, and I only recorded the drums. This was an online collaboration, and I don't have more than an stereo mix of the guitars and vox. I want feedback on the drums! Seriously I want you to rip me apart, I totally want to master the art of recording drums (among other things). There are a couple of errors that I need to fix, but nothing major. ....
Click to expand...

I tend to disagree....there is some major timing problems, and for drums that is a MAJOR no-no. Also, the kick is half the volume of the entire set, and is boomy and thumpy sounding....very unrealistic...like a drum with a blanket thrown over it. And the sporadic 'thumping' it provides, it becomes a major distraction when listening to the tune.. kinda like when you are at a stoplight, and some meathead pulls up with is stereo full blast and the subwoofer is a crankin'...the EQ is all screwy...and all you hear is um, um , um, um, um...........from two lanes over, mind you. The drums are not providing the backbone this song seems to need, but sounds like you struggled adding drums on "after the fact", when we all "know" adding later is a major chore to do...and keep time too! Believe me..I've been there more than once too...so I know about adding drums to guitar parts....;)
 
Nik D...

hopefully your thread will finally bump that (ahem) one particular non-music thread off page one :) ...

BTW you'd be wise to absorb & use what mixmkr says... he's our resident guru :)

Yeah, gotta agree with the timing issues... drums, bass guitar, and such are not locked up. And the kick drum is way loud...

The music sounds cool, kinda like the stuff GE Smith plays on Saturday Night Live... whoa, yeah... this timing thing is a huge issue dude. Your individual tracks sound nice, however. Not much to do eq-wise, but level wise, and timing wise... it's gonna be either a lot of wave-editing, or back to the drawing board :(

You sound like a good musician.


Chad
 
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