My band covers The Weight

  • Thread starter Thread starter HeyHeyMyMy
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HeyHeyMyMy

HeyHeyMyMy

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Hi folks,

I haven't submitted anything to the MP3 clinic before; hopefully a WMA file is acceptable.

My band recorded this back before Christmas. It was my first attempt at recording a full band, so I expect (and welcome) much criticism. The drums were recorded through a little Mackie 8-channel mixer into my 2-channel M-Audio 2496 soundcard, so I unfortunately won't be able to change much with regard to the individual parts of the kit now. Other than that, I would love to hear any comments or suggestions that you folks might be able to offer. Thanks in advance!

Here's the file: http://www.trentsevern.com/the_weight.wma
 
Hey! very nice job for your first time! Nice work. The only thing that really bugs me is the lead vocals. I dont know if it is there a bit thin or a phase problem. They sound a little funky. Not the performance ,just the sound. I also would like to hear the lead a little more intimate, in your face. They sound a little distant. Drums, yes I think they need a little change but as you said nothing we can do now. But... if we could, bring kick up, snare down a bit and lower high tom. I thought the drummer had a very nice groove on it also. Just my 2 cents! :)
 
Thanks very much for the comments! I agree with you completely on the drum levels and wish that there was something that I could do to fix them.

I think I know what you mean with regard to the vocals. Any thoughts on how I might be able to fix that, other than re-tracking in order to fix a phase issue?

Also, how would I go about making the lead a little more intimate? Would it be an EQ thing, or maybe panning? I'm at school now, so I can't verify this, but I believe I may have had the guitar panned a little to the right. Maybe bringing it back to the centre would help.

As you can see, I'm pretty new to this. Thanks again for the comments, I really appreciate it.
 
Sounds good to me.

Nice and clean sounding recording, good preformance of a great tune :cool:
 
Nice man....I have no advice on recordings like this, as I do everything myself, for the most part. I like it. It sounds pretty well mixed, and the performances are good. Good tune, and nice job with it. Your band would be a cool act to see, and hear.
 
HeyHeyMyMy said:
I think I know what you mean with regard to the vocals. Any thoughts on how I might be able to fix that, other than re-tracking in order to fix a phase issue?
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If I was to try and nit this, the main vocal is a bit dry....the guy sang it well, and it seems well recorded, so maybe, try a bit of verb, or chorus on it. It's also pretty thick...meaning it could be thinned with some EQ to give it a sound more like a classic song. Reduce the lower end of the vocal, and see how it sounds. He has a good voice, and it seems pretty even, so reducing teh lows may not hurt at all.

But I like it as is....Nice job.
 
Dogman, where you hearing fat vocals? Im listening to the tune through my studio setup, KRK'S and NS10's and the vocals are REAL thin already not to mention that phase like thing going on.
 
jmorris said:
Dogman, where you hearing fat vocals? Im listening to the tune through my studio setup, KRK'S and NS10's and the vocals are REAL thin already not to mention that phase like thing going on.
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To me, they just have alot of depth in the frequencies....they sound like just one vocal, but have depth across the spectrum. I actually like it, but to give it a more vintage sound, maybe they need some lows cut. Then they could use some work to make them sound fatter, in just a smaller range of frequencies. For some reason they don't hide within the song....maybe the phase issue you speak of. They sound pretty "live", if that makes sense. Less processed.....

Maybe some compression and eq would help them to meld better... :confused:

Oh, and I don't have a real nice system...just some desktop monitors, so they may not pick up some of the more intricate things.... :o
 
Wow. Captured a really nice classic rock sound here. The piano, drums and bass sound great together. If this was 1970 this would def be a chart topper for sure.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks for the comments, folks. I'm writing all of the suggestions down so that we can try to fix up a few of the problem spots.
 
I think the lead would gain if you'd compress it quite a bit... And if that doesn't work out, then I would say record it again... Shame on such a perfect round tho.... But I cind'a like that thin lead.. because it is thin, but at the same time it is penetraiting in a good "elder" style...

By the way, I love this song! The backupsinging is perfect... Spot on!

Try re-recording the lead, and place the singer close to the mic.. 5cm or so!

Otherwise, great work! In the end this recording will be loved by some, not so loved by some... As with everything else in life!

/Chip
 
Really nice job all around. I think the guitar is a little dry in my opinion; it kind of sticks out in the beginning when it's by itself and has kind of a direct sound because of that to me.


The lead singer has one of the most interesting styles I've heard. It's good, so I don't mean "interesting," as a euphemism or anything. It's just ... I can't quite describe it. It's kind of slow, deliberate, and delicate or something. I don't know. It's just very interesting.

Anyway, great job by the whole band, and yes the background vox are stellar.
 
Same as others said, the vocals sound a bit distant..

Is it just me, the song seems to be dragging just a bit.
I'll have to check it out on some other speakers.
 
HeyHeyMyMy said:
I agree with you completely on the drum levels and wish that there was something that I could do to fix them.
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You can still do a LOT to a stereo drum mix. Somewhere on this bbs there is a thread where they took a mono mixdown (and a pretty bad one at that), and totally changed into a great sounding stereo drum track. It is a bit time consuming, but it CAN be done.
 
Am I the only one who LOVES the drums?? I think they're awesome, Levon Helm was a great drummer, and just because they're didn't get the Phil Collins treatment, they still suit the song to me.
 
Nice work on a great tune.

Personally, I thought the vocals were great. The harmony singing was perfect too.

Guitar intro was damn good.

The piano is too repetitve for my liking - the left hand vamping just gets to me. Then again, it does sound like Richard Manuel's original, so the problem I have is probably his fault, not yours. :)

Okay, now for the drums. I like them. I'd leave them. I can certainly see what others are saying, but as a point of comparison, I think it's worth checking out the original version of this. It has that same feel - I don't want to say 'lo-fi', but you know what I mean: the drums are not crystal clear, but they serve the song.

Anyway, nice work. Now do the 'Shape I'm In.' Now that's a song.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. Hopefully the band can get together soon and try out some of your suggestions. I think I'll upload a couple of other songs for your consideration, too.
 
If I were the producer........

If I were the producer I'd say...Lets do another take!
This time I want to try something different with the drums. Try to hear a Sixteenth note triplet in the back of your head while playing. This will giv the part the "swing" that the original had.
Singer...be more up-front with your presentation, it sounds kinda tentative, like you aren't sure about something.


chazba
 
Nice job. You could change a bunch of stuff and it might make it better, or worse...or just different, but i thought the overall product was really nice.
 
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