My band's demo

[Dr Hoss]

Scope it out with your noble ears, gentlemen, and tell me what you think about the mix. I did all this through Cakewalk Sonar 2 and 3 (got 3 midway through the mixing process) on a Layla-20 sound card with one input broken (so 7 inputs) with SM57s on snare and toms, kick drum mic on kick (obviously), and 2 Cobalt mics for overheads (can't remember the model number for them), and a Blue 8-Ball for a room mic. Used the Blue and SM57 on guitar (our singer/guitarist plays through an old-school badass '66 Mustang through my Peavey 5150 amp/cab) and did the bass with a direct out from his amp (can't remember what kind it is). Vocals were done on the Blue. All was done in a 12' x 12' bedroom, because we be po folk.

We have a strong influence from Nirvana and early Foo Fighters...good ol' 90's style grunge. Our singer does a mean Kurt Cobain, so we always get the Nirvana comparison...dangerously so at times. Let me know what you think!

Thanks in advance fellas.

 

[BJW]

Wow, you weren't kidding about the Cobain thing - if this came on the radio I'd just think it was something Nirvana hadn't released that recently came to the surface or something.

I'm listening to an mp3 on my crappy computer speakers, but the mix sounds really good from here. Very impressive with the gear you used.

Very nicely done.

 

[borntoplease]

not to frighten you, but you could be sued for infringement... that isnt someone who sounds like kurt... that is someone who is using his "sound" so to speak. people with distinct voices have taken others to court and won for imitating their sound. recent cases involving bette midler and tom waits have led to substancial judgment againt people who deliberately imitated their voices. now your singer might not be deliberately imitating kurt, but he had plenty of "access" to his records and is even listed as one of your influences. infringement doesnt even have to be deliberate. there was a case involving george harrison where he subconscously took from a 1962 chiffon's song and was sued. the chiffon's won the case. i dont know exactly how this works with imitating a performer, but i can tell you that you are walking on thin ice. kurt had a very distinct voice. because access could be easily established and because the average listener would have trouble telling the difference between kurt and your singer, you probably would have a hard time defending yourself in court. but... i dont think you have anything to worry about. not until you start selling a lot of CDs or getting a lot of airplay. i can tell you though that you might have a hard time getting picked up by a label because no one would want to take a risk with the legal issues that could come about.
not trying to frighten you. the song was cool. i liked it. but everything down to the breathy squeaks that kurt does your singer did. it was kinda creepy. like he was back from the dead or something. rock on man.

 

[applejax]

Hey man nice song a pretty good mix the vocals should come out a little more in the chorus part. And dont worry no1 can sue for having a voice the same i mean if u look at it...the reason HANSON were so popular was because of the long blond hair because of WHO? Kurt Cobain! and same with bands like silverchair...its all in the marketing....but you DO want to find you OWN sound...not be like some one else u know? but its a pretty kick ass song man! nice mix.. too!

 

[PDXROX]

There's tons of imperfections in this recording, but shit, isn't that how it's supposed to be? Nice balance between lo-fi and modern sound, the big problem for me is the kind of weak snare. I needs a lot more attack and crack, and it sounds kinda boxy. The kick also could use more attack. And the hats seem a little low in mix. A snappier snare eq might take care of that, depending on how you recorded.

Bass seems kind of boomy, I'd take out some of the low lows, while keeping the warmth.

Guitars are great, just right for the song.

Vox are good and trashy, but maybe a little much? It gets a bit too sharp at times.

That's all I've got - sounds pretty good so far.

 

[Rokket]

Well, coming from a guy who hated Nirvana when they were big(I know, I know), and has grown to appreciate their impact on music, I have to say this is really spooky...


I can't really comment on the mix, except that I agree that it's Nirvana's sound through and through. The bass is a bit boomy, but it seems to fit.

Maybe you should strive to distance yourself a bit from Nirvana though?

 

[Dr Hoss]

All this is great feedback guys, I really appreciate it. The Nirvana comparison is obvious, and our singer has had these songs with him for quite some time, so they are a bit dated (not the recording but the songs themselves). Our newer stuff is straying a bit from that particular sound and into a more unique area.

I had to record this stuff when I had been a drummer for about 2 months, so I had no idea how to tune drums....hell, I still really don't, but I've got more of a handle on the particular sound I want. So PDXROX when you mention the snare not being snappy enough, a big part of it was my ignorance. But I'll mess around with it some when I get time and see if I can get more smack out of it for ya

The bass is a bit boomy...one of those things I realized too late and a lot of people (well, relatively speaking) already had the cd...so I had to just say, "Yeah, I meant for it be big... " Couldn't be an engineering mistake because I'm the engineer...and I don't make mistakes. Vox being a bit trashy was intentional but the extra "sharpness" in it was another one of those engineer not-mistakes. Any tips on how to get rid of that?

If you have any more details you can lay on me, please do. We're going to try and record some more stuff soon, so any detailed pointers you could give would be greatly appreciated.

 

[borntoplease]

Hey man nice song a pretty good mix the vocals should come out a little more in the chorus part. And dont worry no1 can sue for having a voice the same i mean if u look at it...the reason HANSON were so popular was because of the long blond hair because of WHO? Kurt Cobain! and same with bands like silverchair...its all in the marketing....but you DO want to find you OWN sound...not be like some one else u know? but its a pretty kick ass song man! nice mix.. too!

dont be an idiot man, tons of people had blond hair long before kurt... and YES you can be sued for sounding like someone. this is what i do... i've taken plenty of music law classes and im on my way to law school... let me assure you... you can be sued for infringement like this... no doubt about it. one of my teachers, who was an attorney with A&M records, has handled cases just like this... dont go blabbing about something you know nothing about.

and the songs are good... i would like to hear something that wanders from the nirvana sound though.

 

[Dr Hoss]

I'm not scared of lawsuits at this stage...I'm scared of having a crappy-sounding demo, though I appreciate the attention to our legal matters

 

[borntoplease]

I'm not scared of lawsuits at this stage...I'm scared of having a crappy-sounding demo, though I appreciate the attention to our legal matters

the demo sounded cool man, i'll give you that... had a cool underground/lo-fi sound to it. i would expect to hear something like this on a 7inch or something... i dont know. good luck.

 

[PDXROX]

For snare snap, I usually mic both sides with 57's, or sometimes beta 57's, and flip one side out of phase. Then you get the attack and the sizzle of the snares.

Also, tuning drums and using fresh heads (top AND bottom) will make all the difference in your recordings. Take some time to check out your room, and just play around with different tunings to see what you like. Check out "The Drummer's Studio Survival Guide" - it's an almost dated book, but a pretty nice reference to make sure you haven't forgetten anything important.

Here's a good link for general eq concerns - it's EQ by octave!!
http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0400/OctaveEQ.htm

And then there's raspy vocals - hmmm... Sounds like that's what you recorded, so the best you can do is carefully pick at it with a parametric eq, or maybe wash it with a nice reverb. Neither will really fix the problem, but they might make it less apparent.

Careful of over-doing either verb or eq, though. Try to go for the best tone overall, rather than screwing up a decent sound just to fix the ugly parts. Or you can process or automate eq's in just the offending areas, but then getting them to sit well with the other parts can get tricky.

Well that's it for now, gotta go teach foreigners how to read!

Peace in the Middle East...

 

[BentRabbit]

Wow... he certainly does have the Cobain spirit nailed..

I had a singer kind of like that ask me to help him record a quick demo last summer... He couldn't sing it and play guitar on it at the same time, so we laid down a quick guitar / drum track and then he was ready for the vocals...
Once he started singing I had to revisit all my Matchbox 20 CD's and make sure we didn't just record an obscure cover from them... The guy had all the Rob Thomas nuances DOWN...

I suggested that perhaps he might want to try and sound a little less like Mr. Thomas when he sings and his response was: "It's the only way I know how..."

So.. When Vegas is ready for the 1st Matchbox 20 Tribute Band... I've got the singer for 'em...

 

[Dr Hoss]

Cool, thanks a ton for the advice PDX. I don't think I'll be able to put 2 mics on the snare due to input limitations on my sound card, but if I can find a way to do that, I will. As for the vocals, I'm not really that concerned with it for now, but in the future, I'll definitely pay more attention to the nuances such as this. Any tips on how I could fix that during the recording process rather than at the engineering stage? Thanks again, guys.