Newbie contributing...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jags
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Jags

New member
Hi, this is my first time here, but I think I might make it a regular visit...

Anyway, I've recorded one of my songs over the last few days on my PC using very basic stuff (ibanez gio, john deacon electro acoustic, zoom player 2100, and worst of all a £10 karaoke microphone (about £20) all straight into the mic socket on the soundcard). I used Cubase for the first time and have found that it gives a lot more flexibility than some of the other software I've tried, so that's helped a bit.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to get the levels right (having no prior knowledge of anything to do with sound engineering) and I think it's not bad considering, but I'm not really sure how it could be improved, other than with better equipment etc. I haven't compressed the vocals (something I only found out about while browsing the forum yesterday) on the mp3 on the net, but I tried using a plugin to do it today and didn't notice much difference.

Enough of the chit chat, the link is:

(8Mb)

You'll probably notice the radiohead influence although I don't think I've ripped them off at all.

The song's called coorporation (very provisional), entirely performed, mixed and produced(?!) by myself (with some input from my younger brother, who contributed the echoey and entirely unscripted backing vocals/noises and the (I think) genius bubble effect). The lead vocal was recorded in a one-er, with no pop-filter (another term I learned yesterday) hence the pops and occasional vocal insecurities.

Enjoy

Sorry this is so long!

ps criticism/advice greatly appreciated!
 
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Sorry - can't check it out. I got a "Not found" message when I clicked on the page you listed.

Why not make a mp3 out of half the song and re- upload it so it's not so long? ( I hate long downloads) :(

mutt
 
I liked the song. Very cool drum beat. I liked the vocals. The level of the song was really low, but considering your equipment, I think this turned out pretty well. This is my prefrence, but I would like to hear alot of keyboards in this song and less guitar. I think you have a really cool song here that would be fantastic with different instruments.
 
Thanks for listening/trying guys.

mutt - I might try and put up a real audio version tonight if that would be of any use. I guess I could cut the song in half but it would probably have to be the 2nd half to get the full effect. I'll look into it.

ametth - I knew that the level was way too low when compared to professional songs but I couldn't find a way to increase it other than to try and have the master volume as high as possible when I converted it to wav. Is there a more effective way to do it?

I used cubase's inhouse drum machine thing for the beat, and again I'd never tried anything like that before so I was pleased with the end result, probably beginners luck. I think I just got away with the bad microphone by putting it through the fx pedal to give it the echo.

Thanks for the compliments! I'm in a band with a keyboardist at the moment so when I show them the song we can play about with it a bit.

Any further advice appreciated!

Cheers
 
Pretty cool, the sound turned out good considering your equipment. The verses (?) seems out of time or something. Once you hit that chorus it's cool though. I'm assuming the sound in the verses was intended. I think it would sound a lot better in the verses if you just killed that guitar/bass thing. Leave it the keyboards and strumming guitar. Otherwise I like it a lot. Very cool. Love the backing vocals. Cool textures.

Jake
 
Woa.. If you ripped Radiohead, you managed to rip just the parts that I like best with them.. I smell talent..

About the rest, I'll just second ammethh...

Now go lock up your li'l bro.
 
No no!!!! Guitars, Guitars!!!! More guitars! More distortion!!!! And live drums!!!
You're probably scaring people away with that massive download.

The tweaky noises were cool.
 
Thanks everyone, I'll try and reply properly tonight. I think I might cut it by a couple of minutes to make the download less frightening! It can be done without ruining the song I think.

Cheers

Jags
 
I've cut it down to just over 7Mb if that's any better.



Cheers

Jags
 
That's a great job with the equipment used. Great feel. I like the guitar and vocals, very loose feel but still structured.

The download may be long but it was served out fast. I streamed the whole thing with 3/4 of the song to go.
 
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