My first home recording (mp3)

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T-Bird

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I posted this on the "Newbie" page last week before realizing this page existed...

Original post from "Newbies" page:
I ran Norton on my G3 last night and optimized this hard disk. It was very fragmented, to the point that of the 2 GIG available, the largest single block was only about 100 MB. After optimizing, the entire 2 GIG was one continuous empty space on the disk. Pro Tools Free didn't give me any more problems once the disk was optimized.

I was able to go straight into the G3 from my DG Stomp preamp with a 1/4" to 1/8" converter. I had to turn up the preamp's output much higher than if I was just listening through the headphones. THe computer was then able to hear the signal. I recorded two tracks, bounced it and saved it as an MP3.

I've posted it on my home page server space. The tracks weren't tweaked in any way. I haven't learned anything more than "record" and "bounce" so far in Pro Tools (I've never recorded anything before, to tape or digital, so it's all new to me).

 
Good job -- very mellow and easy to listen to. Nice guitar playing!
 
Very nice work. The lead guitar tone was real nice, but could've been a little fatter...well, that's nitpicky.

The backing guitar(s) could've come up just a tad. Over all very enjoyable to listen to though!

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks

Thanks for the feedback.

And I don't mind anyone being "nitpicky." Granted I it's a quick recording/mix, and I've never done either before. Any comments are welcome, as they can only help me as I start getting more into home recording. Seeing that the Pro Tools manual itself is over 400 pages, I've got a lot of research to do!

By fatter lead tone, how do you mean? Thicker? More bite or OD?

The lead guitar is my MIM 60s Classic strat (with Fender Fat 50s pickups) played on the neck pickup with the tone pretty much all the way up. Tried to get a Deluxe Reverb type of tone out of the Yamaha DG Stomp.

The rhythm guitar (same guitar, noth neck/mid pickup position) was played the the Stomp with a setting trying to get a Twin Reverb tone. Used a little compression, too.

Both tracks had a bit of the spring reverb effect.

thanks again,
Jim
 
one idea

I confess, I'm not familiar with your audio software, but one thing you might try to "fatten" the rhythm guitar is to compress it some -- you'll lose some dynamics, but you can pump up the overall volume of the rhythm guitar which would have a "fattening" effect.

If you can compress based on frequency range you can bring out more of the low and high ends of the rhythm guitar, and then put the lead more into the mid-range so they share space better, which again, will allow you to bring up some of your volume levels without making the overall sound muddy. This in-turn will help you get rid of some of the background noise.

Finally, if your audio software has a normalize function you may want to run you tracks through that filter before (and after?) your final mix-down.

Overall though, it's a nice sounding recording of some very nice guitar playing. Thanks for sharing!

-Shaz
 
thanks

Shazukura,
thanks for the constructive comments. IT's all new to me, so comments like yours can only help.
Jim
 
Thanks Jett. This little tune has kind of inspired me to try doing more...


Shazukura, I tried replying to your emails but got them bounced back to me. I got your remix mp3. I really appreciate you sending it to me. I need to poke around in Pro Tools now to start learning how to do some of those tweaks myself. Thanks agin!
Jim
 
In my opinion the rhythm guitar needs a bit more high end.


fim
 
help!

I'm totally new to all this, so please excuse any really basic questions.

My original recording is a bit quiet. I didn't record with the levels really high enough. Using Pro Tools Free, how can I simply increase the overall level of the tune?

Also, I tried runnign the "Normalize" function on the lead channel. Now there are certain points in which the individual tracks sound clean when played back alone, but played back together, I get some points of distortion...

Also, how can I get more high end in the rhythm track? Again, I'm totally new to Pro Tools (new to recording/mixing in general), so I don't fully understan many of the controls yet.

thanks,
Jim

Oh, Shazukura, I took your remixed version of my tune, converted it to .aif format, and burned a CD. When playing it back on my stereo, I found that the rhythm guitar got a little distorted on the low end at certain points (farting out?). Otherwise, I'd just use your remix as the final version.
 
Finally, if your audio software has a normalize function you may want to run you tracks through that filter before (and after?) your final mix-down.
Click to expand...

Hey Shakazura...I've been wondering what the hell the 'normalize' thingy did? What does it do? When would you apply it? And why?
 
normalize, mshea, brings the loudest level of a track to a specified setting.

Say, for example, that the loudest peak on a track was at -12 dbs, you could do a normalize and bring that up to -0.1 dbs. THat would increase the loudness of the whole track.
 
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