new guy hoping for learned critique

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeffmaher
  • Start date Start date
jeffmaher

jeffmaher

New member
[?]


[Search soundclick....."Jeff Maher"

The forum won't allow me to put a URL in until I've made five posts. Sorry for the inconvenience. I really don't have much to say...and don't know what to ask. I'm in shuddap n' listen mode.]

Started recording just recently. Got a 'studio' set up. Learning by jumping in without the instruction manuals. I don't understand 'em anyway.

The top four tunes on the SoundClick music page are what I'd be hoping to get opinions on...my ears are not so good, and I have trouble mixing...like the top tune. The shaker was in my ear with no HF hearing.......accidently switched sides on the phones after I uploaded a few hours ago, and realized it was way up. Gotta get in the habit of switching before committing to a mix. I'm learnin'.

What I'd like to know is what grave errors I'm making. The worst first...as many as you can detect. I can't gig for too much longer...and I gotta learn this stuff to make a living...I don't want to work a regular job, ever again. I'm trying to get some quality in the product, such that I can start submitting commercial 'floors' to sound library publishers. And I don't want to have to pay others to polish my tune-pitch recordings. Or any CD I might want to hawk at work.

Any help appreciated. I've been active is a couple guitar-related forums; but, overall, the interest in the recording end of things isn't there.

I figure I'll be burning up the old posts here for a few weeks...learn what I can. TX in advance,
Jeff

[Man! You get a LOT of traffic on this site.]
 
Providing a link REALLY helps.
Bach Burner:
Nice piece - is there a bass guitar? If yes it needs some serious definition (a BIG peak at 3khz) to make it obvious.
I'm not a fan of the distortion used on the main guitar - sounds like every other guitar distortion - you need to tweak things to get your own sound.
the classical insert was good - only one squeak too - that's life with acoustics though.
Keep going - work on the bass.
 
I listened to about 5 songs each about halfway through. Things aren't too bad, but on each song there seems to be a lot of low-mid frequencies stacking up and making it "middy". Look at each track and see how they're EQ'd. Adjust accordingly to keep things from stacking up. That and the unrealistic drums seem to be the worst offenders to my ears. Pretty good tunes though, and the recordings are pretty good for someone just getting started.
 
holy crap!

I downloaded "Tocatta". Reference. Great recording. And I had to laugh....as you can tell, I'm a sucker for cross-dressed classical.

Your comments inspire a dozen questions. But you've answered them a dozen times already, no doubt. I'll just keep reading the old posts and focus on the low mid stacking. Yeah...there's a lot things in good recordings that mine lack...sparkle, space, stuff like that. The electronic kit or the synth just can't make drum sounds like you got. But mebbe I can figure out how to tweak 'em closer....that's why I grabbed "Tocatta" ...along with the fact I really dig the whole piece. AND WHO THE HELL IS THAT DRUMMER? You? Yikes. Chops. I spend half my time micro-scootching beats cuz I'm a lousy drummer. Applause at you.

Thanks for the music and the advice.
 
jeffmaher said:
I downloaded "Tocatta". Reference. Great recording. And I had to laugh....as you can tell, I'm a sucker for cross-dressed classical.
Click to expand...


Wanna step outside???


Toy dolls were no cross dressers!!!!





I don't know about Greg thou:D
 
jeffmaher said:
I downloaded "Tocatta". Reference. Great recording. And I had to laugh....as you can tell, I'm a sucker for cross-dressed classical.

Your comments inspire a dozen questions. But you've answered them a dozen times already, no doubt. I'll just keep reading the old posts and focus on the low mid stacking. Yeah...there's a lot things in good recordings that mine lack...sparkle, space, stuff like that. The electronic kit or the synth just can't make drum sounds like you got. But mebbe I can figure out how to tweak 'em closer....that's why I grabbed "Tocatta" ...along with the fact I really dig the whole piece. AND WHO THE HELL IS THAT DRUMMER? You? Yikes. Chops. I spend half my time micro-scootching beats cuz I'm a lousy drummer. Applause at you.

Thanks for the music and the advice.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I play all my own stuff. It may not sound perfect all the time, but it's real instruments really played by me dammit! :D

Polska_77 said:
Wanna step outside???


Toy dolls were no cross dressers!!!!

I don't know about Greg thou:D
Click to expand...
Toy Dolls and cross-dressers rule! :D
 
I listened to bach breaker, and the playin si good. But mix wise its a bit muddy. Drums could use some 'humanising' . They sound mucho robotic. I (like Ray) can't hear any bass.


Cheers!
 
Polska_77 said:
I listened to bach breaker, and the playin si good. But mix wise its a bit muddy. Drums could use some 'humanising' . They sound mucho robotic. I (like Ray) can't hear any bass.


Cheers!
Click to expand...

You need to listen while wearing women's clothes. :D
 
Well ,I'm impressed by the sound, first off; and then the second and most important element you got, Greg, is time: you're a freakin' human sequencer. I kept listening for the 2/4 8th's on the HH to drift...what's that. like 240bpm?
It isn't as obvious in the rest of your cuts...a genre thing; but the time you have is ....well...whew! And the rhythm parts left and right synch perfectly. 6000rpm...all cylindars firing.


Funny.....when I mixed Bach Breaker, I swear there was bass on it! Now, yeah....a couple weeks of objectivity creeping back...I can not hear what you're not hearing.
 
jeffmaher said:
Well ,I'm impressed by the sound, first off; and then the second and most important element you got, Greg, is time: you're a freakin' human sequencer. I kept listening for the 2/4 8th's on the HH to drift...what's that. like 240bpm?
It isn't as obvious in the rest of your cuts...a genre thing; but the time you have is ....well...whew! And the rhythm parts left and right synch perfectly. 6000rpm...all cylindars firing.


Funny.....when I mixed Bach Breaker, I swear there was bass on it! Now, yeah....a couple weeks of objectivity creeping back...I can not hear what you're not hearing.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. I don't remember the tempo of that song, but I guess its sorta fast. Maybe around 195? I don't know. The version I copied is about that fast too. I'm not real technical or good, so I really work on keeping perfect time and consistency. The hi-hat stuff is just from playing along to Ramones records. I can downstrum power-chords and play the hi-hat really fast without losing it. Around 220 bpm is where I start getting sloppy. :o

Your Bach Breaker song is really cool. The parts are well played. The problems are just in the mix. Go into the tracks - mainly the guitars and bass - and if you have a parametric EQ - put a high/narrow Q on one of the points and boost it about 8 db. Then sweep it across the frequency spectrum and note where it sounds like ass. Anywhere that sounds assish, you know to cut in that general area. Things typically sound better when you cut EQ instead of boost. I usually only boost to bring out certain things like stick attack with my toms or beater attack on the kick. Get rid of all that mid-mud and your song will shine. You'll see. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top