My band's demos

[supposeda3]

I play in a Christian rock band, we are just getting started, and have been recording some demos at home. We are young and inexperienced, so your input is important to us. These demos were tracked with Mixcraft, a Shure sm57, and Shure PGDMK4 drum mic kit. I'm not very good at mixing yet, feel free to give me some input on these tracks.

facebook.com/sineceraband

 

[guitarplayr82]

I listened to a few of your most recent songs, and they're pretty good!

I think the next step to make your tracks sound "bigger" is to work with getting a wider stereo spread. Have you experimented with double tracked guitars or a stereo drum micing setup? Try looking into these techniques, and also see if you can push the bass and drums up in your mixes. The guitar and vocals seem to be overpowering sometimes, but overall I have to say you're off to a great start!

 

[supposeda3]

I listened to a few of your most recent songs, and they're pretty good!

I think the next step to make your tracks sound "bigger" is to work with getting a wider stereo spread. Have you experimented with double tracked guitars or a stereo drum micing setup? Try looking into these techniques, and also see if you can push the bass and drums up in your mixes. The guitar and vocals seem to be overpowering sometimes, but overall I have to say you're off to a great start!

Its nice to hear some constructive criticism. I had a guy attack me a week or two ago about how poor my mixes were. Rather than explain what I can do better, he basically told me I suck and need to get a professional. I know I'm not very good yet, but c'mon man! So I really appreciate your advice! Thanks lot!

 

[wiguan88]

I'm listening to "Bury Me".

From commoners point of view, regarding the mix.
I'm listening with Audio Technica earbud with 50% volume.
I'm sorry if we human tend to find the flaws more easily.

#1. I cannot hear kick drum. I can hear then during the chorus but the rest of the song, it's very "not loud".
#2. Cymbals sound "dirty".
#3. Vocal is clean and crisp. Loud enough to enjoy the vocalist voice. While my band recording have problems with vocal.
#4. The bass guitar did not satisfied me somehow. Perhaps the lows from the electric guitar masking it?

But the song is energetic and very nice!

Listening to "Burn".

That song is up good overall.
I can hear everything nicely, even have dynamics.

 

[supposeda3]

When I recorded those songs, I was recording the drums onto a mixer, then sending the mix to my laptop through an Alesis 1/4" to usb interface cable. So I had a lot of problems getting everything balanced right. In most of my songs, the bass drum ended up really quiet. I just bought a Tascam US1800 interface, so I'm looking forward to recording drums with it, being able to edit each track seperately.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the cymbals sounding "dirty"? I use my Shure 57 as an overhead mic, but I dont have another mic to have stereo overheads. One of theses days I'll get one.

For vocals, we use a MXL 990, I forgot to mention that in my original post.

I also forgot to mention that there is no bass guitar on most of our tracks. We dont have a bass player right now, so I just tried to bring out the bass in the guitar parts to compensate.

"Burn" was the first song we recorded, before I had drum mics. I wrote out the drum part in Finale Songwriter, and used the audio file from that. Thats why it sounds better. (Except for the singer being out of tune most of the song, lol)

Thanks!

 

[wiguan88]

When I recorded those songs, I was recording the drums onto a mixer, then sending the mix to my laptop through an Alesis 1/4" to usb interface cable. So I had a lot of problems getting everything balanced right. In most of my songs, the bass drum ended up really quiet. I just bought a Tascam US1800 interface, so I'm looking forward to recording drums with it, being able to edit each track seperately.

Which mean the drums sound is only on 1 track for the whole drum sound. I can't comment on how to improve because I don't record the drums my self.

For drum part, I programmed it using Ultrabeat (Logic Pro 9) with my real drummers "session recording" as reference. So it sound perfect while sound as close as human it can.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the cymbals sounding "dirty"? I use my Shure 57 as an overhead mic, but I dont have another mic to have stereo overheads. One of theses days I'll get one.

Last several years I've been the worship leader my self and that word "dirty" I use to communicate with my drummers to play more softer. There's no other word describe it the best. Being playing clean is how we can hear the cymbals stroke clearly. We know where's the hit hat, crash and ride.

Because your cymbals stroke sound out of dynamic like it's been compressed onto 64Kb MP3.

Like I say, I programmed my drums so I am truly sorry that I cannot help in how to make it sound better.

I also forgot to mention that there is no bass guitar on most of our tracks. We dont have a bass player right now, so I just tried to bring out the bass in the guitar parts to compensate.

Ah, no wonder. That's mean the bass sound come from the guitar lows.

You can program the bassline, or use the electric guitar and use eq and bass amp to record the bass. Especially humbucker, it'll make a good unique bass sounding. I did this.

"Burn" was the first song we recorded, before I had drum mics. I wrote out the drum part in Finale Songwriter, and used the audio file from that. Thats why it sounds better. (Except for the singer being out of tune most of the song, lol)

Thanks!

Perhaps you should go back in this route? Of course the drummers may be pissed off somehow.
But perhaps for certain weak point like the kicks only.

 

[guitarplayr82]

Its nice to hear some constructive criticism. I had a guy attack me a week or two ago about how poor my mixes were. Rather than explain what I can do better, he basically told me I suck and need to get a professional. I know I'm not very good yet, but c'mon man! So I really appreciate your advice! Thanks lot!

You're welcome. I think the drums in your mixes will improve greatly now that you have the US-1800.

You know, it might be worth trying out the 990 in a spaced pair setup with the SM57. You'll have to mess around with EQ to get the two overheads to sound similar, but I'd at least give it a try and see how it works out.