My album of sorts

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Danny66

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Hello!

Over the last year or so I've been writing and recording a little project with my brother, after getting onto itunes and receiving very modest (:cool:) royalties we're looking at recording some more over the summer. Because of this I'd like some constructive criticism/guidance as to what I should maybe do/look out for when getting the new tracks down.

Please bear in mind many of the songs on it were written when I was 16 and recorded when 17 (I'm 18 now) and on a shockingly limited budget with one of the worst drum kits you can imagine... For the new recordings I'll record all the drums at my (now old) school's studio, they have a pretty decent setup with control room/live room/vocal booth...

Here's the myspace, there's only three up as we don't really use it but I felt it wrong to ask you to buy it if I'm asking for feedback :D

http://www.myspace.com/spiesmusicuk
 
I'm listening to the first song now. Things I would work on if I were mixing this song would be
1) Even out the bass track. The lower notes seem to have way more energy and are subjectively louder than the others. High pass filter, possibly EQ, possibly compression to even it out.
2) The vocals have a nice tone, but both the lead and back up vocals are pitchy. I'd wouldn't use autotune, but I'd sure use a graph program and nudge a few notes in the right direction here and there.
3) The electric guitars sound fine but a bit roomy. How did you record them? Sounds like the mic is about 6 feet from the cab, or maybe there's just a lot of reverb on them. Maybe also recorded in a room that's not treated and you're getting lots of reflections. Maybe all of the above???? For this type of intimate music, methinks the electric guitar cab should be a little more up front sounding.
4) The drums actually don't sound that bad. A couple of timing problems, but mostly right on.

My two shillings worth.

Good luck with your project.
 
Hi, thanks for the feedback!

I actually meant to mention that I've listened to that track on other systems and found that with the bass, when mixing through my monitors it sounded fine... I guess I best check mixes a bit more rigorously on other systems before finalising them!

Regarding the vocals, one of the things I'll be hoping to do on the new tracks is not rush them. I was a bit sloppy with amount of takes and listening back to them etc.
 
Watching the sunrise:
This is a very cosy song. Kind of feels like summer has begun indeed. The rhythm of the drums fits the song really well, but they're really asking to be more pronounced. It might not be the best drumkit around but you're still not doing it justice.

Go together:
yeah, this had my head bopping. But it could bop more! 1:59-2:22, I can really sense what you're trying to do but the mix doesn't support your intentions. I'm not really sure what's wrong. I think you should go more towards a walking bass than the long notes you have now, that might help. The song also loses its energy quite quickly after that. I had expected my head to bop again towards the end, but it didn't...

Always for you:
Some extraneous sounds in the background (not only at the end). This happened in the other songs as well. This song reminds me of Spain (the band). I tend to lose interest fast in these types of songs, but that's just me. I'm still hungry after the song finishes, I don't feel it delivers.

Drums, focus. They're very shy. Time well spent, keep it up.
 
Thanks a lot, I'm hoping the focus on the kit will not only be improved by the kit, but also in my playing... I'm primarily a guitarist really but over the last year or so have played kit a lot more in live bands so I'd like to think I've become somewhat better!

Some more effective closed back headphones will no doubt be a priority also ;)
 
Pretty good stuff.

I really like the lyric on "Always for You". There's a mash of chords a couple places in the tune. Could use a little thinning there.

I think one of the things that you might do is calm down the drums into a more consistant pocket....throughout your work. The snare anticipations and fancy stuff are a bit much for the feels...and often tend to halt the flow. The fundamental pulse needs to be followed more closely, most of the time....otherwise it distracts from the song, I think

A couple phrases in the other two tunes are awkward or trite. A minor tweak.

The guitar playing needs a scoche more attention...I hear notes being muted, and little flubs. Gotta be locked on cuz it's the feature, I think.

But these are some decent tunes. Keep going, in a couple years, you'll be zooming...I can hear a lot of potential.
 
Thanks a lot for all the feedback! I think I'll prioritise non-sloppiness! ;)
 
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