Mixing my first multitrack recording... please listen and tear apart

  • Thread starter Thread starter sprynmr
  • Start date Start date
sprynmr said:
Wow... I guess I didn't remember asking for straight out unconstructive insults.

The instrumental talent in this band is very very good. Our combined musical experience totals over 45 years. We are very very good when playing all together. We've never done this recording with headphones to a reference track thing before Mr. Nice Guy. That would be the only reason the intrumental talent might sound off.

Where we lose rhthym a little bit? We hit that perfect every time as a full band.

Go harass someone else. I don't like you.
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get over it. i think you could sell this song. and if you did you would be put in the rolodex of someone who is really not nice. you would would then deal with a lot of not nice attorney types. music is about business. the $ in the wallet of the consumer is king. your feelings don't matter. your talent may be able to fish some of the money out of the consumer's hands. that is how it works. 25 years ago things were less harsh. today things are berzerker.
 
More generalities, with no practical comments about the mix.

Your comments are a waste of space, supercritic.
 
a_super_critic said:
music is about business.
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sc, i think this is the crucial difference between your perspective and 90% of everyone who is on this board. personally, i think it's nice having a fresh voice here so please stick around, however, i don't think many people here are actually thinking of making money. we're just trying to make music.

so why are you so afraid of posting something of your own? couldn't you just whip up something with no vocal trax to demonstrate your abilities?

oh, and one more question. why are you here?
 
dobro said:
More generalities, with no practical comments about the mix...
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the current mix is trash. doomed. start over.

track each instrument seperately... meaning: mic up the drums with every mic you've got. make sure and put at least 2 mics 5' or more over the kit and one or two mics in adjacent corners of the room. if it is a small room cut a hole in the bottom of a bucket and put a mic approx. 6' to the front left area of the kit and about 4' in the air.

have the guitarist and bassist play along with the drummer but don't record them... just the drummer. make sure the drummer plays to a click track. make sure the drums are tuned. new heads, etc. tape the heads to eliminate ping. don't muffle them, just enough tape to keep the conch shell howl to a minimum. check the cymbals, too. a good crash fade is easy to hear, if it clips, then clean the cymbals and change the bushings.

if you track the guitar and bass clean (use 2 mics for each - a condenser mic for the bass, btw) then you can easily fix the levels in the mix. get at least 3 takes from both so you can double the guitars and pan the bass where necessary.

track the vocals last. condenser of course. have the singer get as close to the pop screen as possible. easy on compression. you can add that later. get at least 4 takes. when the singer needs to increase the volume or decrease the volume of their voice move closer and farther from the mic, respectively. the more takes you can get the better. cut-paste-copy-paste, etc.

the bottom line is to get as clean and dry of a recording from each instrument as possible. make sure you use at least 2 mics for each. one mic placed at the 4 o' clock position on the amp speaker (and about 1" from the outer ring of the cone and 1" perpendicular to it), and one mic place about 4 or so feet back from the amp and off to the right or left by about 20 degrees. add a 3rd mic in the corner of the room and about 4' in the air. once the mix is done you can add these peripheral mics into the mix to 'enlarge the room'. fill instruments (sax, p'ching guitare, etc.) can be added later. get the meat mix down first.

is that detailed enough?
 
a_super_critic said:
get over it. i think you could sell this song. and if you did you would be put in the rolodex of someone who is really not nice. you would would then deal with a lot of not nice attorney types. music is about business. the $ in the wallet of the consumer is king. your feelings don't matter. your talent may be able to fish some of the money out of the consumer's hands. that is how it works. 25 years ago things were less harsh. today things are berzerker.
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You are wasting my time.

We aren't selling the song, we wrote the song for us to play. We are selling the band. I know there is a ton of jerks in the business. The difference here is... I don't have to deal with you. So I won't.

However I would really like people to help me out with the rest of my questions if you can.

~Robert
 
SC was just starting to post some really constructive comments until he fell off the wagon with the studio musician crack, which was insensitive at best. SC, you do seem to assume that everyone here wants to sell songs or wants a record deal. This is quite obviously untrue. At the end of the day, musicians make music because they need to. If someone else hears it, great. If they are willing to pay for it, even better. But few here seem to have the illusion that this is the springboard to the big time. If they do, they are readily brought down to earth if need be.

Your perspective puzzles me since you claim to be someone we all know and therefore you'd be aware of what people are trying to do. At the same time you don't sound purely vindictive, as some of your posts are level headed and insightful. On the other hand, why pick a pseudonym unless you knew you were going to be a dick. Bizarre. Unless we've got it all wrong and you are not someone from the forum yet someone who would be familiar in any case. In which case, I don't know what to think.
 
"is that detailed enough?"

It's a detailed description about how to go about tracking, when what the poster asked for was comments about the mix. It's like you don't know how to read or something. I think the something is that you wanna dump on people's stuff because of your personality. That much anger and bitterness and judgemental-ism is really embarrassing to reveal in a place like this. It's like you'r pretending to talk about what people here are recording and mixing, but actually what you're doing is showing this little world at homerecording.com/bbs mp3 mixing clinic what an unhappy person you are and how you're determined to make other people unhappy because of it.

I also think you're desperate for attention.

Is that detailed enough?
 
ashulman said:
... SC, you do seem to assume that everyone here wants to sell songs or wants a record deal. This is quite obviously untrue...
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people may say that they post their songs here in order to get feedback from their peers, but really they want kudos. and if you say that the people who post their songs here wouldn't want a record deal and the chance to make money and record in world class studios with incredible producers and engineers, then i would have to say that they are full of crap. and if it is kudos that they desire... then with the right team of people working with them and on their songs (in collaberation) then they would reach a level of kudo-nirvana that they never dreamt of...
 
dobro said:
"is that detailed enough?"

It's a detailed description about how to go about tracking...
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which is exactly where he needs to start.
 
Bullshit. The tracking's fine by the standards of this board, except for the drumming, which has been talked about. You'd send him back to re-record the whole thing, right? Waste of time.

"people may say that they post their songs here in order to get feedback from their peers, but really they want kudos"

Most people here hope for kudos AND measured helpful criticism - stuff they can handle without feeling crushed.

"if you say that the people who post their songs here wouldn't want a record deal and the chance to make money and record in world class studios with incredible producers and engineers, then i would have to say that they are full of crap"

So what? I didn't see anybody here say they didn't want a contract. What an unrelenting doober you are.

"and if it is kudos that they desire... then with the right team of people working with them and on their songs (in collaberation) then they would reach a level of kudo-nirvana that they never dreamt of..."

There you go again, talking stuff that everybody knows and which will help no one here achieve what they're trying to do, which is improve their mixes.

Get a life.
 
Would I like I record contract? Yes. Do I live in a fairy world with colored rainbows and chocolate streets? No. Do I like to hear people say nice things about me? Yes. Is that why I'm here? No. Maybe the teenagers on the forum are looking for a stroke but I'm 35 years old and have developed a big enough ego that I don't need it validated by folks on the forum. I think enough people are here for purely artistic reasons and to help improve something they love to do. You are really being cynical about the motives here. I'm not naive, everyone craves acceptance and kudos. I don't think thats why most of us are here. Which begs the question, why are YOU here?

As for the mix in question, I'm sorry Dobro but I have to agree with SC; tracking is a major problem here and a good mix won't fix it.
 
WOW!!!! SUPER CRITIC READS A LOT!!!!! , as do most of us here. well, big guy, lets hear your shit if you are gonna talk like the shit! come on, dont be afraid, or is it that you are an untalented piece of shit that likes to rip on everyone else who actually have the balls to create music and record. sit in your little chair and keep typing away you piece of shit.
 
a_super_critic said:
which is exactly where he needs to start.
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Which is the first thing you said that was remotely helpful and didn't come in until you had made several just useless comments that you were hounded for. Look. You aren't as smart as you try to come off. If you were, you'd be rolling in music money, and be way too busy to spend your time here bothering people. Get a girlfriend or a day job or something.

I wasn't looking for kudos, I was looking for help because I know its not a tight mix yet. I don't have the money or the knowhow to do real real great recording. Hell I just started multitrack recording a week ago and learned how to mix this week on the fly. I actually wanted people to let me know what I was doing wrong.

~Robert
 
Just this week? Great start, Robert. (Gee, is that kudos, encouragement, or just the truth? So many questions, so little time...).

"Look. You aren't as smart as you try to come off. If you were, you'd be rolling in music money, and be way too busy to spend your time here bothering people. Get a girlfriend or a day job or something."

Yeah, true enough. A failed recordist comes round to make people feel bad. Tsk. Hey - I suggested he get a life. It was a really global comment. Maybe your more detailed suggestion (gf/day job) will be more useful.
 
Yea well... I just graduated college as a media arts major, so luckily I already knew computer stuff like the back of my hand. I build websites and edit video and do 3d stuff etc. In fact I did our website @ www.5thstreetband.com. But this shit is hard to pick up quick.

Ok here is the latest mix with a bunch of fixes... Its not as loud as the last one because it seemed like I was starting to get some distortion from compressing the final mix too much since some of the other elements (drums, sax, vocal) were already compressed. I might be just losing it though.

here it is

http://www.5thstreetband.com/internaldl.html

Its mix 2... obviously.

I think I'm going to have to figure out how to give the drummer a click to listen to with pro tools.

And keep in mind.. I'm not aiming to be a mainstream producer.... just to stave off the cost of hitting a studio until we can afford it. So I'm learning and trying to direct my band mates what to do at the same time.

Let me know what you think of the latest.

~Robert
 
oh yea... and if you would like to hear a bunch of our other songs... not multitracked... but not TERRIBLE quality...

http://www.5thstreetband.com/5thStreetBand.zip

The zipped file has 6 songs I think in it. They all have been changed up and fixed a bunch since then. These were made like 2 months ago or so. They just took the output straight out of the mixer.

~Robert
 
sprynmr said:
... You aren't as smart as you try to come off. If you were, you'd be rolling in music money, and be way too busy to spend your time here bothering people. Get a girlfriend or a day job or something...
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well robert, i have taken your very insightful advice and decided to roll around in my music money with several beautiful women and continue on with my job (which as you may have guessed is in the music business [wink for effect]).

i'm outta here as I have to join the rest of my asshole counterparts and tour the country playing our music in large venues filled with homerecording tards that dream of doing what i do and have done for some time.

oh, and tell your mom that i'm sincerely sorry for that last bukkake, but she did beg for it. she was also particularly excited about the size of my fist... what do you make of that?

good luck to IanW in particular. I have no doubt that the world will be hearing more from you.

best of luck in your ass-kissing endeavors you bunch of fucktards.
 
I think thats a damn good first with the gear. I echo Track Rat though with "it needs more pulse", bass needs some level and the drum kit. More discreet capture of the drums and the sax will allow you to manipulate them like you want, without getting any room sound in the mics. The guitar is very clean, and I like the vocals.
 
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