Live to 2 Track

TexRoadkill

TexRoadkill

Audio Bum
I've been working with this band for close to a year now. My goal was to get them good enough that we could track everything live in one take. We're getting damn close and I'm proud of these guys.

Here's a live to 2 track recording done in our rehearsal studio. It's not the best mix but I liked the vibe of the track so we had it mastered and put up on our myspace page.

I'm considering attempting to do the entire album this way, am I crazy? Let me know what you think.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/texroadkill/singles
 
Your recodring process sounds good enough.

It's a bit loud and unbalanced volume wise here and there in places, but good enough for now.

The band itself does not interest me enough to want to listen more than once.

They sound rather predictable and common to my ears.
 
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Maybe a bit too much sizzle on the hats... and highs in general, especially considering I've probably lost a decent amount of hearing up there to begin with.

Other than that it sound damn nice. Drums sound killer to kick it off, snare gets buried as the song goes on. I figure it'll all dial-in pretty nice. Love the sound and feel and it's a cool song to boot.

Don't see anything nuts about doing a whole CD that way. Done it with a live bed and just recutting vocs last year and these guys are obviously plenty good enough to get live keepers.
 
Man, that's pretty cool. It's really spread out, and I think I like it that way.

If you could get the whole CD to sound like this, then I'd say there's not a damned thing in the world wrong with tracking it live...bands used to do that, lol.

Did you have to do much editing?
 
Thanks for listening, guys.

EL34 - That's the most straightforward song out of the current batch. The band is usually too unpredictable so I was glad to have something that might actually get airplay, lol.

PG - I seem to like a bit too much high end. I might be loosing my hearing too.

Chris - I haven't done any editing or post mixing. It's all right off the Ghost to the Masterlink in one live take
and mastered by a studio in New Zealand.

It seems like playing together has become a lost art. I'd like to recapture that type of vibe from old zep and stones albums. I like the idea of just using live mixes because it seems like by the time I get everything processed to maintain a perfect level the track just ends up too wimpy. There's something magical about nice raw tracks that never seems to make it all the way to the end of the mix (at least when I am doing the mixing).
 
Nice drums....they are really crisp sounding. The whole song is pretty nice. This is some pretty good playing, and recording. Has a great, live vibe to it...things playing off each other. I'd like to sit in the room wiht this happening...I like the tune, and the sounds.

Nice one.... :cool:
 
You're heading in the right direction. A little more work on internal balance within the band volume wise & you'll have a nifty set up to record a true document.
INteresting vocal style - an amalgum of influences.
The extreme panning of the guitars might need to be tamed.
Very good work & congratulations on the approach.
 
Good performance. I like the whole approach of recording live and the band sounds tight.

Personally, I think the hard panning reduces the live feel if you're listening on headphones. A max of 9 and 3 o'clock would be more realistic sounding. The gtrs are pretty hot around 2-3 kHz.
 
Musical style is not my cup of tea, but solid performance. Great mix on this :)

- Ulli -
 
i'm truly impressed!!!

live recording to two track is a long forgotten art and you have seem to have mastered it beautifuly.

great band performance and vibe too.

as we say in belgium : 'chapeau!!!'

(lit. transl. : i take my hat off for you!)

btw what studio this was mastered in? i like the rawness of it.
 
Very nice....The band is tight and they did a great job for live. The only thing that struck me while listening was a tad more cymbal than I prefer (overheads?). Not a big thing though. Overall very nice. To get the whole album to feel the same, you could continue this process....it's been very successful so far.

:) :D :) :D
 
TexRoadkill said:
I'm considering attempting to do the entire album this way, am I crazy? Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
An entire live album is a great idea. I like what I'm hearing, with perhaps a different panning, but overall it's great.

What did you use for mics?
 
I think the vocals need to come up in the mix relative to the rest of the stuff.

The balance between the rest of the music itself seems right.
 
Ya know, I focused on the "live" part and didn't really pay attention to the "to 2 track" part. This is a killer recording for 2-track, but yeah, it might be crazy for a whole CD. I think you at least want seperate tracks to have some control. But this should be a clear indicator that mixing should be a piece of cake.
 
Dogdude- Thanks man. To get the full "you are there" experience just seal off your room from any fresh air or sunlight, burn up a few packs of cigs and an ounce of weed, shotgun a few warm beers and put on some headphones. :D

RayC- Thanks! Good points.

Timothy - Thanks and why are you guys so afraid of stereo :p

Ulli- Thanks for stopping by.

Faderbug - It was mastered by Andrew at someplace in New Zealand. I think he's a member here, I was referred by Pipeline Audio. I need to get his business name so I can pimp him proper.

Chris - Yes, yes you are.

ido - Thanks for the comments.

60's guy - I would expect a 60's guy to appreciate my disrespect for proper stereo panning.

Doc - Your fucking crazy, but I agree.

Pg- Thanks for checking it out. I still haven't committed to doing it all live. I would like to do it just for the challenge.

To Everyone-
Why all the panning hate? I didn't think it was that severe. Is everyone listening on headphones? I do think the guitars and keys are a bit too dry and it has a little too much of a close mic sound for my taste. I wonder if that coupled with the hard panning is a bit too much.

You guys are lucky I didn't pan all the drums to one side like I often want to :mad: :D
 
TexRoadkill said:
The drums are Josephson C42's as spaced OH's with an ATM25 on kick.
Guits are a SP C1 and MXL V93.
Vox - Beta 58
keys and bass are direct
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer! ;)
 
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