My first attempts at recording...

I listened to Another School Shooting - a few comments - hopefully helpful:

  • On my limited PC setup, it sounds as if everything is panned dead center - hard to tell. If this is the case, you might consider "spreading" the mix out a bit - this should be easy to do with the vocals and bass, but if you are only using one mic to record the drums, this will be more difficult to spread out the kit.
  • Guitar is overpowering - drowns out the drums completely
  • Vocals are flat - perhaps a bit of plate reverb during the verses or something to warm them up and bring them to the front of the mix
  • Whats up with all the guitar overdubs during the lead? Sounds like either some scratch stuff left in the mix - maybe it was meant to be that way ... if it was meant to be that way, see my first point about spreading out the mix ...
  • Great vocal bridge into the lead, and great ending with the vocal delay!

Cheers.
Scott
 
spread the mix, every instrument and the vocals is competing with each other. try panning guitar hard right and left, backing off on volume on guitars so you can hear the drums.... it sounds like a mono recording gone dangerously wrong.
 
I agree that you need to spread out the mix. Everything is panned dead center and eating space from one another. All recorded things (guits, vox) sound a bit muddy. And one thing that especially bothers me (as a guitar player) is the guitar tone, you can clearly hear it's played directly to the board.
And the fx on the vox kind of leaves me puzzled. What is it excactly you wanted to accomplish with that?

Sorry about the negative comments, but sugarcoating them would be even worse imo :)

Keijo
 
Yep, everything is crammed into the center. There's not much separation or clarity, but I think this is potentially good stuff.

I'm no expert, but here's what I hear:

Fight Me - a lot of low end rumble and some kind of (acoustic?) time delay...or there are some timing problems with the vox and among the instruments. Guitars could come down a few clicks.

Another School Shooting - mainly stereo problems. More separation would bring out the drums and vox, and probably clear up the bass.

Reality of Nightmares - guitar overpowers everything...loud peaks on vocal track are a bit painful at times - try a compressor maybe.

I'd say a little work on your stereo image and some time working on the EQ of the drums and bass would help tremendously. Also, balancing the guitar volume with the rest of the mix would let the other instruments shine through.

Keep in mind I'm still learning myself, so this opinion is basically from a listener with just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

kbn
 
You should take a CD of a band which production you like and listen to what's different compared to your stuff. Then experiment with your mix to get it to sound more like the commercial CD.

Keijo
 
How?

How do I spread out the mix? every track is done in stereo... explain?... and thanx for your comments.

plummet
 
Here is a great page with a boatload of articles on mixing (among other subjects):

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles12.htm

The best analogy I've heard is the comparison of mixing to creating a landscape painting. I believe this analogy was made (in detail) in an article on the page listed above.

Essentially, close your eyes and listen. The goal is is to "spread the frequencies" around - while maintaining some semblance of aesthetic order - in a nutshell. You don't want all of your highs, lows, and mids all blaring away straight down the middle. Here are some of the things I try to do:

  • If you can separate the drum tracks, do it. Arrange them as if you were sitting behind the kit. Pan the kick down the middle, snare as well (or perhaps slightly off center to the left). Pan the highhats off to the left - maybe even hard left - rides off to the right - cymbals where appropriate. If you can't separate the drum tracks (i.e. you just have 1 or 2 tracks), you'll have to experiment with panning to get the best possible sound.
  • Pan the bass guitar dead center - it along with the kick drum will provided a consistent groove
  • Play around with panning guitars left and right - you definitely don't want these blaring right down the middle - it will compete against your main rhythym elements. Perhaps pan the ryhtym guitar to the left, say the 9 or 10 o'clock position. Pan the lead guitar opposite to the left, say the 2 or 3 o'clock position.
  • Some people prefer vocals panned dead center, some don't. I say it depends on the song and what effect you are trying to obtain.

It is also important to point out that there is no "magic rule". Every project will be different, because every project sounds different. You may find yourself adjusting certain tracks, applying EQ or reverb, for example. This may have some effect on how you "spread" the mix around. After applying EQ, for example, you may find that you like the overall sound, but you need more "separation" in a certain frequency range (mud, as its called).

Coincidentally, "mud" is also a painting term (I'm a closet artist). You can end up with "mud" on your canvas if you mix too many colors together - you end up with a dull, lifeless blob of paint. Same thing with mixing - too much stuff in one place and you end up with a dull, lifeless sound.

Hope this helps. :)

Cheers.
Scott
 
ok i took a listen

Those aren't real drums are they? You would need more then 1 SM58 to get that.

Just some general idea which you may have not known. You said somethign about everythign being recorded stereo, and i think this is where the confusion starts. Usually tracks are recorded mono. That is its like you can take each mono track and pan it somwhere within the spectrum. Usually with tracks recorded in stereo it really is only 2 mono tracks, each hard panned L and R while using 2 microphones. One representing the R and one the L. You have the chance to record mono or stereo tracks with your SB Live.

Record drums first in stereo. I'll assume you are using a drum machine which it sounds like. you can just use the line out. If you can get a hold of 4 mics, then run 4 mics into your 424 and use the stereo out from that into your SB Live's line in. Then you will have a stereo track of drums. Since the line in is realistically 2 mono tracks, but one will be L one will be R. You can't really mix the balance of these anymore since they aren't seperate, make sure its a good balance going in.

Then ontop of all of those in mono tracks, record the bass, then guitar, then vocals. This will let you first balance the levels of each instrument individually, and then the panning.

It seems like you didn't understand the process of recording to start with, just telling you incase.
 
i listened to fight me and for your first attempt at recording it's pretty good. the areas of improvement that stood out for me were:

* guitar tone -- sounds like it's right into the board. if you're mikinig, I have little experience with this, but I'd suggest you play around with the placement. if you're recording direct (which is what I do) the Line 6 POD is a life-saver. if you're interested, you can here it on our stuff (link below).

* drums -- need to be waaaaaay louder. barely heard them on this tune. all i could hear consistently was what sounded like a tamborine. definitely get the kick and snare up in the mix.

* bass -- didn't hear much of this either. bring the bass up and try to match the bass and guitar tones so they compliment each other. a lot of people try to get the biggest, fattest sound out of each and it turns out to be too much.

* vocals -- recorded clearly and placed well in the mix. maybe find a more subtle verb or delay that fits the song. listen for something that thickens your sound without drawing too much attention.

overall, i've heard a lot worse from people who have much more experience than you so keep tightening it up -- you're on the right track.

j
thirty seconds of shame
http://www.30SoS.com

P.S. everyone is on the money with panning. i made the same mistake with one of my first posts to the board and i heard about it as well... ;)
 
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