E
Erich Arndt
New member
hi everyone, i'm a musician (primarily guitarist) with a half-ass setup in my attic for recording. i do everything myself (with the help of my drum machine) and my music is sort of hard rock with a pop-punk edge. not quite blink 182 but not quite new metallica... (i've always loved music with wide contrasts in style)
to get to the point, i recorded an album over the last couple of years of mostly original material.. ended up with 16 tracks (two are covers). the album is called "Much - by Erich Arndt" and a lot of it was recorded when i was a lot greener on the production scene and also not as used to singing as i am now. i got a lot of very good reviews from people and even got some local bar-owners to stick it in their jukeboxes... and a couple of DJ's play a song or two here and there on the weekends. (not radio DJ's.. bar DJ's) though i did get on a local-bands show twice with the CD at the radio station too.
the only bad reviews i ever got was that my bass rumbled too much (overall bass, not bass guitar or drums) and the overall level of the music was too loud. to the point where people had to quickly turn down their stereo when my music came on.. and then had to readjust EQ... and besides that.. after listening to my own album several billion times.. i started to pick up bits and pieces here and there... things that just bothered me a lot.. a bad note here, a ridiculously unrealistic drum-fill there... i'm sure you know what i mean.. so, having written a few more songs since the album was finished, i decided to re-do the whole thing from scratch, make it a double CD and do it RIGHT this time. so... what i was hoping is that maybe someone out there in the "home-recording" world might be able to give it a listen and tell me some of the things i've done wrong and how i can improve it the second time around. here is a run-down of the equipment that i used in recording:
COOL EDIT PRO (i have version 2 now, but all of these songs were recorded with version 1) WAVELAB (i only (over)used this for volume maximizing, which cool edit takes care of for me now)
i have a DOD tech 8 effects processor which i use for vocals, guitar, and bass... although i use cool edit's effects for the major stuff. i run my sampson (?) microphone into a four-track recorder, which is basically just a mixer in this setup, and from there into the "auxiliary 2" jacks on the external part of my soundblaster audigy card. when i record vocals, i run the mic through the effects processor before the mixer, but when i record guitar i run the mic straight into the mixer, and use the effects between guitar and amp. i rarely use effects on the bass, except for maybe a little distortion here and there. drum machine is alesis, but i forget the model...
i lay down the drum track first, then a couple of guitar tracks (i think i have songs with up to 8 guitar tracks) then the bass,
then a couple more guitar traks... lead... then the vocals... and harmonies... and after i have all the raw tracks... i start playing with them... and herein, i believe, lie many of my problems.
basically my biggest complaint is that next to other music.. my music often sounds empty somehow.. it's something i can't put my finger on and i was hoping for a little constructive criticism...
well you know what i've got to work with and my goals are simply... good radio quality music with the same audio dynamics as any other song you might here on the radio.. and i don't think i've acheived that... so i'm gonna try again hopefully with some new tips and tricks from you guys....
you'll find the majority of my music here: www.mp3.com/erich
listen to that, and if you want more, i have another original or two that aren't there... plus my two cover songs that aren't allowed on mp3.com
thanks in advance, erich arndt
to get to the point, i recorded an album over the last couple of years of mostly original material.. ended up with 16 tracks (two are covers). the album is called "Much - by Erich Arndt" and a lot of it was recorded when i was a lot greener on the production scene and also not as used to singing as i am now. i got a lot of very good reviews from people and even got some local bar-owners to stick it in their jukeboxes... and a couple of DJ's play a song or two here and there on the weekends. (not radio DJ's.. bar DJ's) though i did get on a local-bands show twice with the CD at the radio station too.
the only bad reviews i ever got was that my bass rumbled too much (overall bass, not bass guitar or drums) and the overall level of the music was too loud. to the point where people had to quickly turn down their stereo when my music came on.. and then had to readjust EQ... and besides that.. after listening to my own album several billion times.. i started to pick up bits and pieces here and there... things that just bothered me a lot.. a bad note here, a ridiculously unrealistic drum-fill there... i'm sure you know what i mean.. so, having written a few more songs since the album was finished, i decided to re-do the whole thing from scratch, make it a double CD and do it RIGHT this time. so... what i was hoping is that maybe someone out there in the "home-recording" world might be able to give it a listen and tell me some of the things i've done wrong and how i can improve it the second time around. here is a run-down of the equipment that i used in recording:
COOL EDIT PRO (i have version 2 now, but all of these songs were recorded with version 1) WAVELAB (i only (over)used this for volume maximizing, which cool edit takes care of for me now)
i have a DOD tech 8 effects processor which i use for vocals, guitar, and bass... although i use cool edit's effects for the major stuff. i run my sampson (?) microphone into a four-track recorder, which is basically just a mixer in this setup, and from there into the "auxiliary 2" jacks on the external part of my soundblaster audigy card. when i record vocals, i run the mic through the effects processor before the mixer, but when i record guitar i run the mic straight into the mixer, and use the effects between guitar and amp. i rarely use effects on the bass, except for maybe a little distortion here and there. drum machine is alesis, but i forget the model...
i lay down the drum track first, then a couple of guitar tracks (i think i have songs with up to 8 guitar tracks) then the bass,
then a couple more guitar traks... lead... then the vocals... and harmonies... and after i have all the raw tracks... i start playing with them... and herein, i believe, lie many of my problems.
basically my biggest complaint is that next to other music.. my music often sounds empty somehow.. it's something i can't put my finger on and i was hoping for a little constructive criticism...
well you know what i've got to work with and my goals are simply... good radio quality music with the same audio dynamics as any other song you might here on the radio.. and i don't think i've acheived that... so i'm gonna try again hopefully with some new tips and tricks from you guys....
you'll find the majority of my music here: www.mp3.com/erich
listen to that, and if you want more, i have another original or two that aren't there... plus my two cover songs that aren't allowed on mp3.com
thanks in advance, erich arndt
I'm going to have to give this theory a serious test. I'll let you know how it goes.
