Pick your poison!

N

NotThatBright

New member
I've had much of the week off and not much to do, so I cranked out a few songs. Having a lot of time on my hands doesn't equal me magically acquiring an attention span, though, so I was not any more meticulous than usual. I'm getting better, though.

Don't listen to both, I don't want to take up too much of anyone's time. Even if your time is worthless. Here are the options (both covers):

Zeke- Road Ahead: Real rock and roll with balls. Don't let your wife hear this or she will instantly become pregnant with my child. And I don't pay child support!

https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/road-ahead/s-GxICF

Bracket- the songs on this album don't have real names. It's track 15 on the Requiem album. I did this because I wanted to see what I sounded like if I didn't intentionally strain my voice when singing, and I knew this song has soft singing. I remembered after the fact that this song is also loaded with background vocals and choruses, which I wasn't too keen on doing. I used 4 tracks for vocals total (they probably have 20 going in the original), listened carefully to try to copy the harmonies, was not successful, sang them, and didn't really mix them- just put each lever all the way up. Still doesn't sound bad- I got lucky and fell into some harmonies without realizing I would get them. Maybe I'll go back and fuck with them sometime.

https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/bracket/s-W9Fhi


Comments would be appreciated. I just went with a recorderman overhead setup, and the first one I did with that was the best-sounding song I'd ever done. These are the second and third so far with recorderman. Thanks!
 
Listened to the first one. (Fortunately, it did not somehow get me pregnant)

My headphones are crap, so I can't hear too well, but things seem less muddy than these cans usually render HR stuff. The vocals cut through nicely.

Not a huge fan of the lead guitar tone, at least in so-prominent a voice.
 
Your guitar tone on "Road Ahead" is pretty damn harsh.
There is a lot of low end mud from the bass. It's very undefined.

Your drum playing sounds good! Are you using that metronome again? :thumbs up:
Really showed a lot of improvement here.


I think that your drumming on the ballad was a bit rushed, like the whole drum track was coming in 5ms too early. But it was consistant within itself.
Your "normal" voice is neato.
You could turn the vocals up more when the distorted guitar joins the fray around the chorus initially.
Your bass tone here was undefined as well.
 
Track 15 sounded fine once the intro guitar was over & done with.
Does need some work though.
Zeke would be quite cool with a better lead tone.
 
Damn, "Road Ahead" is a good rocker.
As Schwarzenyaeger mentioned, a bit muddy down low, but I do like the aggressive bass guitar. And if that's really only two mics on the drums, freaking kudos.

The biggest thing that jumped out to me was it seemed very mono-y throughout. Don't be afraid of those side channels!

Overall, kick ass song...the feel is there, I think it's all small stuff from here.
 
I missed this when you first posted it! The Bracket song I like much more than the Zeke song, but I suppose that's because I don't like balls-out rock and roll. :D Now that you've submitted a song that doesn't have everything going hell-for-leather for once, it's possible to hear what's going on with the recorded sounds. The drums are starting to sound pretty good, but there is a lot of harshness still in the overheads. Do you do any EQ-ing on them? If not, I think your room needs some work - either some hanging carpet, acoustic tile... anything to absorb or break up the hard first reflections. The ride cymbal sounds brassy and cheap. I'm assuming that's because it's brassy and cheap, so there won't be a plugin to fix that. :D I liked the vocals very much 'cause your tuning is pretty good. The harmonies work well.

Regarding the stereo image of the kit - are you left-handed? If not, then it's quite disturbing to me to hear the hi-hat in my left lug-hole. I think the overhead tracks need to be panned opposite to where you have them at the moment. This has happened to me before when recording Frank's kit when I've got the left and right mics switched, and it's always sounded 100% better once I've sorted the panning out. If your overheads are picking up the toms in their stereo positions (which they do quite well with Recorderman), then the panning of your close-mic'ed drums needs to be the same - at the moment they're switched and it's jumbling everything up. I wouldn't have the overheads hard-panned like you have them, either. I think I would bring them in a touch, say at quarter to and quarter past twelve.

It's improved a lot. :)
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Listened to the first one. (Fortunately, it did not somehow get me pregnant)
Click to expand...

Well, thank God for that! Every guy has a story about driving a girl he doesn't love to Planned Parenthood. It would have been even worse if I had to drive a guy.
steve said:
My headphones are crap, so I can't hear too well, but things seem less muddy than these cans usually render HR stuff. The vocals cut through nicely.

Not a huge fan of the lead guitar tone, at least in so-prominent a voice.
Click to expand...

I need to buy a legitimate guitar amp (I've been using a Peavey Vypyr 2, which apparently is more of an emulator of real amps than an amp in its own right). I might actually do so tomorrow. If you or anyone else has a suggestion for something I could get a good heavy rock guitar tone out of for $400 or under, I'd appreciate it. It need not be stronger than 40 watts.

dog in door said:
Your guitar tone on "Road Ahead" is pretty damn harsh.
There is a lot of low end mud from the bass. It's very undefined.

Your drum playing sounds good! Are you using that metronome again?
Really showed a lot of improvement here.


I think that your drumming on the ballad was a bit rushed, like the whole drum track was coming in 5ms too early. But it was consistant within itself.
Your "normal" voice is neato.
You could turn the vocals up more when the distorted guitar joins the fray around the chorus initially.
Your bass tone here was undefined as well.
Click to expand...

The guitar tone is not harsh enough, brother! You gotta come off that Mr. Big stuff! :)

I used the metronome again, yes. I did get a little rushed toward the end of the Bracket song. A naturally impatient person like me probably shouldn't be holding drumsticks, but I have too much fun playing them. I'll learn to calm down. In the first verse of the Bracket song, my drumming was terrible toward the end of each line, as I got impatient and couldn't stomach just keeping the beat. I still have a problem being what I've seen being called online as a "pocket" drummer... and I also don't have "chops", so I'd better at least learn to do the pocket thing.

Thanks for the "neato normal voice" comment. I don't care for it, myself, but it's what I got, and I'm getting used to it. I don't even think it's bad anymore. Just not good!

ray said:
Track 15 sounded fine once the intro guitar was over & done with.
Does need some work though.
Zeke would be quite cool with a better lead tone.
Click to expand...

I assumed I would be able to nail that intro lead guitar in one take, as it sounded pretty goddamned simple. It took me much more than that. A person who never picked up a guitar could probably play it better than me.

jeffromixesyou said:
Damn, "Road Ahead" is a good rocker.
As Schwarzenyaeger mentioned, a bit muddy down low, but I do like the aggressive bass guitar. And if that's really only two mics on the drums, freaking kudos.

The biggest thing that jumped out to me was it seemed very mono-y throughout. Don't be afraid of those side channels!

Overall, kick ass song...the feel is there, I think it's all small stuff from here.
Click to expand...

Zeke kicks ass. I always described them as Motorhead if they started in the early '90s. I did what I could, but I still butchered the song.

I'm still trying to figure out stereo overhead positions... I am currently doing RECORDERMAN, but I'm not sure I have the angles right on the mic that's supposed to be pointing at the snare over my right shoulder. I'm trying to move it more behind me, but so that it can still point over my shoulder (instead of at it) and still be 40" from the snare. Right now I think it's still too much to my right and not enough behind me. I do pan them all the way L and R (respectively). Two mics on the drums? I got 8, my man! I'm a mic machine. Someday I'll get them set up in an optimal fashion. :)

bubba said:
I missed this when you first posted it! The Bracket song I like much more than the Zeke song, but I suppose that's because I don't like balls-out rock and roll. Now that you've submitted a song that doesn't have everything going hell-for-leather for once, it's possible to hear what's going on with the recorded sounds. The drums are starting to sound pretty good, but there is a lot of harshness still in the overheads. Do you do any EQ-ing on them? If not, I think your room needs some work - either some hanging carpet, acoustic tile... anything to absorb or break up the hard first reflections. The ride cymbal sounds brassy and cheap. I'm assuming that's because it's brassy and cheap, so there won't be a plugin to fix that. I liked the vocals very much 'cause your tuning is pretty good. The harmonies work well.

Regarding the stereo image of the kit - are you left-handed? If not, then it's quite disturbing to me to hear the hi-hat in my left lug-hole. I think the overhead tracks need to be panned opposite to where you have them at the moment. This has happened to me before when recording Frank's kit when I've got the left and right mics switched, and it's always sounded 100% better once I've sorted the panning out. If your overheads are picking up the toms in their stereo positions (which they do quite well with Recorderman), then the panning of your close-mic'ed drums needs to be the same - at the moment they're switched and it's jumbling everything up. I wouldn't have the overheads hard-panned like you have them, either. I think I would bring them in a touch, say at quarter to and quarter past twelve.

It's improved a lot.
Click to expand...

Thanks, buddy. I am a righty (lefties are tools of the devil- we learned that in Catholic school). I did EQ the overheads- I did a +1 at 6khz, a -1 at 500 hz, and -2 at 200hz. I also compressed them very slightly... Compression works a little differently with the DP-24 from what I have read constitutes compression on software DAWs, so describing exactly how probably wouldn't make sense to you. I was looking at that cubicle-type partition that Greg has in front of his kit when he posted pictures last week... I could probably use something like that. Right now my drums are in a rather large cellar, and the wall to the right is far closer than the wall to the left (with boxes, a desk, washing machine, etc. interspersed throughout). It wouldn't be practical (as far as living everyday life- not as far as drum sound) for me to move the kit closer to the middle of the room.

My ride is probably my best-sounding cymbal (though I don't discount you saying it sounds brassy and cheap)! I might get a new set when I get a new guitar amp, as it is a $280 set of Meinls and they all need to sound better. I start hitting a 12" splash over and over toward the end of the Bracket song... maybe that's the one you meant? I KNOW that one sounds like shit! :)

I need to keep experimenting with the panning of individual tom mics. Right now, with a maximum value of 63 to both left and right, I have the 12" at about a 34L, the 13" at about a 12R, and the 16" at about a 30R. With the monitoring equipment I have I can't tell that they're not matched up with the overhead (though I'm sure they aren't). I might lean on you in the future to let me know if I'm close.

FoulPhil- Thanks. Wait til I get a new guitar amp. You and I will be fighting over who has a more headache-inducing tone!

Guys, I appreciate you all taking the time to comment.
 
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