My 1st recording...tear it apart

T

TaylorDuke

New member
Hello all,

JesusChrist by User 954630688 | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Here is my first recording. I am using a Zoom MRS 1608 portastudio. Guitars were Squier Tele and Strat played through a Fender Champion 100. All recorded (including vocals) with a Behringer XM8500. Keep in mind I am not singer!...just wanted to make a complete song so I sang as well. I am also a fairly novice/maybe intermediate guitar player. I used the drum pads on the Zoom to create the drums. A lot of work to do, but pretty proud of my first ever recording. Advice and feedback greatly appreciated!

Song: Jesus Christ by Brand New

Next project: About a Girl by Nirvana

Thanks!

Taylor
 
Yeah man, if I were you I'd go digital and use a DAW/interface. Your signals are all clustered with room sound and there is extremely noticeable noise from other tracks you didn't cut out. If you're using amps, then you could mic them properly and record into the DAW. But the main issue here is the excess room noise and unclear signals.
 
Overall music-wise this is good work but the recording is just not happening here. Way too much noise and mud to start deconstructing and giving feedback. So step one is to look at your recording setup and technique.

Can you describe how this is being recorded? I have the XM8500, it is a decent mic (not great compared to studio condensers but not noisy or muddy either). You should be able to get clean audio out of that little guy if the rest of the setup is set right.

Also, I agree 100% that if you can you want to bring this into a DAW as separate tracks. I have nothing against the Zoom as a recorder (if you can get it to record decent clean audio), but there's no way that the processing capabilities of that thing are going to match what you can do even with free tools on a computer. Not just the quality of the sound (which the computer might be superior) but the ease of use working on a plugin with a rich interface vs trying to fiddle with that tiny LCD screen.

Free DAW:
T6 DAW | Free digital audio workstation band editing software - Tracktion

Free Plugins:
REAPER | ReaPlugs

That's enough to get you off to a great start.
 
jochicago said:
That's enough to get you off to a great start.
Click to expand...

...assuming he has a decent enough computer/laptop. You'll need prob an 8gb and decent processor. I use a Lenovo Ideapad 510 with a 1TB added-on drive, for extra storage.

For guitar, you can either mic your amps into the interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 | Sweetwater)
or plug directly into it with a raw signal. If those guitars of yours in the track above were mic'd, then I'd skip the mic option and plug right in - there's way too much noise in whatever room/setup you have going on.

Many of us here use drum software, which nowadays, just like the good amp sims (with proper techniques), come extremely close to the real deal. Bass too - plugged into the interface and run through an amp sim/cab.

This way, by plugging right in and working within the software (DAW), you'll have full mixing capabilities to your greatest extent. Of course, getting a clean/good sound is the first hump. And that's what we're trying to help you with. After that, mixing it all is a whole different area of research/practice.
 
Thanks for the responses all.

For the time being, this will be the only equipment I have. With 2 kids and now another on the way, I have to work with what I have for awhile.

My 'studio' is in my unfinished basement. Looking back, the main reason I had all this extra noise was because I had the other tracks playing over my monitors (a LG bookshelf system, ha) while I was recording the other parts. Sounds like I will need to get some headphones to reduce that. Plugging directly into my Zoom would probably help as well but I wanted to utilize my amps.
 
Do you have a computer with good speakers (or even decent headphones, but speakers are preferable)?

If so, you can install DAW software and keep using the Zoom as your capture interface but get the mixing capabilities of a modern DAW.

So the order I always recommend is:
Fix it in the song
...before you fix it in the arrangement
...before you fix it in the playing
...before you fix it in the instrument
...before you fix it in the tracking
...before you fix it in the mix
...before you fix it in the master.

Since you're working with covers, the first two steps are are handled. Which means the next 4 are the ones you'll want to focus on.
Playing: make sure you have the parts down and can play them. If your voice isn't strong, you may want to bring in guest vocalists if you want your best results.
Instrument: Dial in your tones. Get your instruments sounding as good as they can.
Tracking: The big things I noticed in this is that there is a lot of extra noise (from you moving around, etc.) that you want to make sure to cut out.
Mixing: that's where installing a DAW would come in handy.

Getting good results is a long journey, but I hope you'll stick with it, and we'll hear some really quality recordings from you!
 
Headphones number one priority so everything you record is totally separate. It's difficult to know if the mic was in the right place, or across the other side of the room - because everything sound a long way away. Work on separation and clarity. I'm guessing, but when you pull the faders down, the sound doesn't disappear completely - this is what makes it sound hollow and 'churchy'.
 
Thanks again for replies.

Vomit - I see what you're saying about a pc and DAW being better to mix in. I am not a pretty limited laptop right now, could potentially still run it. For what I am interested in now (learning to build songs track by track) I will probably still use just my Zoom for time being. I understand how this will limit the quality of my recordings. Please do not take this as me not listening to your advice. I just know for now I am going to have to use what I have.

Rob - headphones will be my next step. I already have a decent pair (Beats..ehh) just need to get the adapter to plug into the Zoom. I've been placing the Behringer right up against my amp. I will now focus on cutting out the background noise. I will admit I rushed the last recording as I was just excited to get something done.

My next project I will take more time on and see how clean I can get it. I will post the results and look forward to more feedback.

Nirvana - About a Girl coming soon... The drums will surely be a lot more difficult than my last track!
 
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