Newbie advice needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Runci
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Runci

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HI

I am new to recording, I only retired recently so I decided to get a laptop and some software and have a go at some tunes that had been running around in my head.

I have 3 almost completed but I am at a loss when it comes to mixing down. Not sure if I have the ear for it and I have no idea about where to sit things in the mix etc. I have tried to read as much as possible but there is no substiture for advice from someone with a bit of experience.

I have uploaded a rough mix of my first finished track to my space and was wondering whether anyone with an Idea of what they are acually doing would give it a listen and give me some pointers

http://www.myspace.com/ianrunciman

Thats the link to the tune, its called "The Last Day". I recorded it using Cakewalk Sonar 8
I used session drummer 3 for the drums, Organized trio for the hammond parts
Edirol Orchestral for the strings, and true piano for the piano parts

I used a strat for the quiet guitar parts and a peavey EXP signature for the heavier guitars, all going through Line 6 gear box

Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated

Ian
 
Hello Runci:
Welcome to the forum. Had a listen and have no advice to give. The mix is excellent and will only get better with practise and time.

All I can say are the standard repies. Listen to commercial stuff that you like and compare yours to it. Keep noodling with it until you are satisfied. Keep trying new plugins, settings etc and keep reading and listening.

One suggestion is get a site other than myspace. They have very poor audio quality (look up some other posts). There are lots of free music sites to upload to. Lots of us use www.soundclick.com, but there are numerous ones to choose from. Also if you are looking for collaboration, have a look at www.kompoz.com.

Any way, gonna give The Last Day another listen. Nice song!
 
thanks for the advice for hosting the tunes. To be honest, I am still not all that comfortable with all this net stuff yet, I am 50 and I am picking up information at a snails pace but I am determined and I will get there in the end.

I know what you mean about listening to stuff and trying to get close to it, my ears have taken a bashing from gigging for the last 30 odd years, I am not sure they are sensitive enough to be a good judge anymore.
 
Can't say alot about that recording other than it sounds fantastic, even for a myspace link!

Guitars seem to start off like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac meets Santo and Johnny or something from The Deer Hunter soundtrack, and then shoots into a blazing Dave Gilmore solo on top of a wall. Awesome work my friend! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it, several times.

For uploading files, try THE BOX - It doesn't mess with your files and will let us hear them at full bitrate/depth and get even more enjoyment out of your music. It's easy to register and share.

I for one look forward to hearing more of your work!

Cheers
 
I've signed up to Soundclick, but I haven't worked out how to use it properly yet. Also I need to make an MP3 at a higher bit rate, as that one was only 128. What bitrate would you recommend?
 
Personally I'd go for 192 or above. 192 sounds great but if you can handle the file sizes well enough, 320 will sound as close to a wav file as you're gonna get.
 
That was well done!

But I gotta say, if I hear one more tune with VI- / V / IV / III7 progression....I'm gonna ...just....

My nit is that the organ and piano were panned a little too extremely extreme right.

I like the sweep left growing right in the harm guits.

The feature guit gets panned off ctr , right, later. I didn't like that....but then the organ gets panned ctr. Getting dizzy...

The drummer is left-handed?

The piano pops up ctr late. I usually like creative panning...but the mental image I got was that no one's sitting still in one spot!

A real good recording!

30 years of guitar chops....nice to listen to. Taste.
 
jeffmaher said:
That was well done!

But I gotta say, if I hear one more tune with VI- / V / IV / III7 progression....I'm gonna ...just....

My nit is that the organ and piano were panned a little too extremely extreme right.

I like the sweep left growing right in the harm guits.

The feature guit gets panned off ctr , right, later. I didn't like that....but then the organ gets panned ctr. Getting dizzy...

The drummer is left-handed?

The piano pops up ctr late. I usually like creative panning...but the mental image I got was that no one's sitting still in one spot!
Click to expand...


Yeah thats my major problem not knowing where to sit the instruments in the mix to give them space, so they finish up getting panned all over the place.

The drummer, Im not too sure about, I used session drummer 3 but I must have panned the instruments the wrong way round, another instance of my inexperience at recording

I was trying to get the impression of space, because there was so much going on but I think it backfired on me heh heh.
 
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