Outside Perspective

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stuckatwork

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Hey Everybody,
I just finished up my bands 3 song demo and these songs are going to eventually migrate on to our CD. I'm the guitar player/ singer/ studio bass player/ primary sound engineer/ mixer/master... blah blah blah you get the idea. Anyways, I've heard these songs more times then I'd care to admit and I just wanted to get some outside perspective on these tunes. Recording and performance wise, what do you think could be improved for the final CD? Go ahead and bash away:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/thevacants_music.htm
 
I'm listening to "Plastic Smile". Really well done alternative rock song. Pretty commercial. Great sound on the guitar and drums. I like the vocal too but it is a bit buried in the mix at times.
 
Plastic Smile

sounds great! nice all around.. the vocals were a little low at times, but not all the time..

this is a pretty damn good recording and song..

no suggestions..
 
Plastic Smile

Killer mix all the way around.Everything is sitting just about like you would find on a commercial CD.

Same for "When It Rains".Excellent songs with good hooks man.You definetly have some skills in the recording/mixing dept.

Some people might say the songs need a little bit of high end added to give them a little gloss this sounds pretty close to a mastered mix of this genre of music.

Good job all the way around man.
 
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Thanks everyone. I thought I'd get a lot more criticism. Could anyone be a little more specific on the vox on Plastic Smile. That one turned out the worst out of the three, I'm going to re-sing the vox for the final CD. Kramer, we recorded the demo in my drummer's basement with about $4000 worth of equiptment. We really had to get creative to get what we have now. That glossy top end escapes me. I've eq'ed until blood trickled from my ears. I think we just need more money. If anyone has any tips I'd appreciate the suggestion.
 
Geez... you came here looking for advice?

you should be giving it.. not asking for it.. :p

Listened to all three of em.. all great mixes... and the songs are pretty good to boot...

WATYF
 
This is why I listen to music on this BBS. Every once in awhile, something really cool comes down the pipe...out of the blue...From somebody I've never heard of before.

I listened to your worst tune (Plastic Smile), mostly b/c I have a song by the same name. For grins, I opened it up in the editor and enhanced the highs a bit, but honestly, it's so good that I don't think tinkering with it adds much.

Wish I could help you from a mix perspective, but you're beyond me. Don't spend any more money on gear right now. Spend it on marketing. Record 6 more and get this out the door.

Oh yeah...I love the kick and snare on "When It Rains." Big flipping snare. Nice.
 
OK, I'm on Plastic Smile

Wow, this bad boy THUNDERS.

You do have some mix issues to address, though they are minor:

LEAD VOX:
They are wel-sung, but not as fat as the backing track. They need some bottom and lower mid, and I'd nudge them up about 1.5dB in the mix.

DRUMS:
Just the teeniest bit high in the mix; maybe as little as 0.5dB. They have a different master EQ curve than the guitars too; there's a minor hump in the upper mids, sounds like 1.5KHz. The net effect of that is a slightly "wooden" sound sneaks through, when the guitars are all slick.

Dude other than that nit-picking, this SMOKES. And I mostly hate rock, too. :)

Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor
www.llarion.com
-Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons;
for you are crunchy, and go well with ketchup.
 
Hey, just wanted to say you did a really good job of capturing the "live" -type energy with these. They don't reek of overproduction like a lot of this kind of rock & I dig that. It sounds like you're listening to a band just rocking away live, rather than a carefully-layered studio creation.

Ditto with the raised vocals, but otherwise, good job!

Chris
 
Thank you so much everyone! It's cool to hear good things. I've been lurking around here for about a year now and this forum is really a cool thing.
Chrisharris: I had to make some compromises on the high end, I was really walking a fine line between gloss and harsh. We've got 8 more tunes already recorded and are just waiting on vocals. We've been shopping for management and it's looking pretty good right now that I might be able to quit my job and tour nationaly soon. I'm kinda freaked about it. :eek:
Llarion: Thanks for the suggestion. I'll keep them in mind for the final mix. The vox and the drums are by far the hardest to get sounding right. I used a few tricks on the vox to get them to sound clear, I might have went to far. Thanks though!
groucho: Thanks man! Ha ha! This truley is a studio creation in all it's true form. I'm running 32 tracks on all songs and I'm maxed out 2 times over on plugins. I have to render 3 times, once for music, once for vocals and once for the master and I'm using a 1.4 gig athlon! That's a cool thing for you to say bacause I really thought we sacrificed a lot of live eneregy for a good cheap recording. I tried very hard not to sound overproduced(even though it is!). thanks!
 
I agree that the highs could be brought out more, but it's also worthwhile to think ahead to production. Are you getting a bunch pressed? If you are, you can have them add the sheen at final mastering time. Plastic Smile was great, I echo the rest, need more treble and louder vox.

Pete
 
hey rock star

this sounds great. sorry really can't help you out but thanks for posting this before it hits the store shelves!

got a very commercial sound there. nice songs. nice singing.

the only thing i would say is the vocals could come out a bit better. give them some more presence in the mix somehow. don't ask me how, they just seem a little buried sometimes.

i echo the comments on the highs not being there but that could also be mp3 playing tricks on us.

good luck to you. thanks for posting this.
 
Re: hey rock star

erichenryus said:


i echo the comments on the highs not being there but that could also be mp3 playing tricks on us.
Click to expand...

very good point.

Pete
 
Thanks, for the comments. you've all been extreamly helpful. I really did some listening and I don't think the vox are too quiet on the waves I've got. I listened on 5 different stereos and they were all pretty close. I'm going to boost the vox a db or two anyways just to be on the safe side. For the vox I actually split it into two tracks and on one track I compressed and did a mjor boost on the eq at about 8000 and mixed it in with the normal uncompressed vox. Not a double track but two identical tracks. The original track was dull and unintelligible compared to the combined track but I still don't think it may be enough. I might have to come up with a better solution.
Battleminnow: I am going to get these pressed but my budget is low and I really feel uncomfortable letting others play with my tracks at the $$$ amount I have to offer. I'm going to go back in to the mix and give it one last try getting more sheen out of everthing. My whole philosophy from the start on this was we were going to do everything as good as possible from the get go and minimal fixing later. That said, I am really interested to know what a pro matsering engineer can do. Have you had any experience with this?
 
sounds great man, very thick mix...sounds like you (and the others) have a lot of talent.

you looking at touring as an opener for a decent sized act in the near future, or what?

always fun to hear about people here who are making headway in the biz, rock on.

-wes
 
really nice, thump- you- in- the- chest, sound and mixing. Very well done. I'd bring up the vocal volume a tad, but DON"T touch those guitars. They're great.

shit...I guess I need to sell a bunch of stuff until I only have $4,000 worth of stuff, so I can sound this good.

on the the 2nd song...the rain one.....I might add a little "room" reverb...real short and inconspicous to the lead vocals...other than that...no suggestions. gotta luv those gtrs!!
 
well....you got me to listen to all three songs..... that's what ya want...eh?;) ....purfect!!

However, I am not sure if I wanted to listen because the mix was so good, and the gtr sound so well recorded........oooor... because I liked the songs, etc. I kinda think because it was recorded so kick ass. Around here I get so burnt listening to stuff that I can see why it is NOT a hit song... the reasoning seems so obvious sometimes. But, I am drawing a blank on this one. I wouldn't buy it, BUT I definately wouldn't change the station on the radio either. I think if your song writing becomes steller, you'd be a hard item to not sell. I don't know who you might compare to, but with the 'heavy' acts that have made it, there seems to be a reason why they did so well...other than just a fine recording. The ld vocals, imaginative solos, great lyrics...you know...all the GOOD song stuff.

now...keep it in mind, you get a much more critical eye with your stuff, rather than some Joe Blow with only $4000 of equipment, in someones basement!!!! ha!:D :D
 
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