Please critique my band/recording.

G

Gregwor

New member
OK. This is a recording I did awhile back. I am recording new songs of my band now, and am just wondering what I should do differently this time around.

I am approaching things differently this time (attempting computer mixing, etc), but for these songs here, this was my setup:
Some crappy kick mic (some flat one--can't remember---but I couldn't get any nice low end out of it without causing humming), SM 57 on snare, AKG 440's on first and second rack toms, and AKG 550 on floor tom. That's it for drums. Note: This was recorded in our shitty jam space with 3 bands jamming around us at the time of drum/guitar tracking...one guy using electronic drums...soooo loud. Guitars -- SM 57. Bass, Balanced line out of head. Vocals, Audix OM 6 with the almighty pantyhose pop filter. All of this going into my Yamaha MD8 minidisk 8 track. I used a Behringer Composer Pro compressor/noise gate on the guitars, vocals, and snare and kick to help get rid of the extensive noise from the bands jamming around us. I used a super old piece of shit noisey Boss reverb unit.....something 1000 I think is the model.....regardless, it's crap. From there, I put the stereo mix into my computer (ah yes, integrated sound cards = crap)....into Cool Edit Pro....then used Steinberg Cubase Direct X plugin to master. This is what I got:

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/510/the_hollywood_ending.html

I know the bass is too quiet...but I had a hard time getting any good tones. And I know the kick lacks in the nice 'round low end', but as I said, the mic sucked....and lastly, this wasn't supposed to be more than a scratch pad until it started to sound 'demo worthy', so I originally I didn't take the time to place mics....I pretty much just threw them on the drums. Feel free to critique my band, and obviously my mix/recording abilities. Thanks for any insight. Greg.
 
Not sure what you're looking for in comments, you know the recording needs work so obviously I won't comment on that. The song I listened to (Easy Street) had some good musicianship, especially the drumming. But otherwise not sure about groove of the song. Kind of "rapid" in overall delivery. The dynamics of the song stay really high and the tempos/timing seem to be going from 4/4 to 3/4(7/8?) alternating, kind of makes it difficult to get into. But and I mean this, you guys have some talent. I would like to hear something more straight forward to go with the Green Day style vocals. Cool stuff....I just couldn't dance to it. :) LOL
 
Thanks. I do know that the recording needs some work, but regardless, I'd still like to hear some thoughts on it....just so I can get better because I'm still a newbie, and yeah.

As for the song, sadly enough, I am happy to hear that it is 'hard to get into' and that it has 'Greenday vocals'. In my mind, those are 2 essential elements of good music. The odd time signatures (moreso in the second song) make the music fun to play, and I think it is funner to listen to from a musicians point of view. Secondly, Greenday's vocals are 'radio friendly' vocals, therefore the music may be appreciated at a 'radio-listener' level.

I appreciate these comments and yeah, the above paragraph is what I deceifered from them. Please critique this further. I would like to hear something about the recording as well. Thanks again.
 
I thought the song was decent although I personally don't care for the signature changes. Some good playing on both drums and guitar. I liked the doubled guitars and some of the back-and-forth going on with the two tracks.

I didn't care too much for the tones on the guitars. Very abrasive. Maybe work on some better amp sounds, micing positions, and EQ settings to help there.

The vocals are a bit back in the mix. I'd recommend cutting some guitar sounds to help.

Some clipping going on when harmony vocals are present. Some clipping with the drums too.

The kickin at 1:33 was a bit too dramatic. I almost peed my pants.

Lots of energy that I liked. Trip...

P.S., Green Day vocals are essential to good music? :D
 
"The odd time signatures (moreso in the second song) make the music fun to play, and I think it is funner to listen to from a musicians point of view."

I've said this before but, there is a fine line between impressing yourself and impressing the listener. Do both at the same time and you end up with something special.
 
headphones..

easy street...
man it sounds HOT ....level wise...KICK ASS vocals tho...love that..
tight band ...man this sounds like fun to play ...thats a pretty damn good drummer you have there.
ok the big lull is too long ....if it was half that long it would have the same effect to me....i like the idea of the full stop but its just a tad too long...IMO..it was mostly the intro that sounded hot i guess the rest isnt .2:51 love the drum fill.!!!!..
i will say it keeps my interest with all the changes ...some im not a fan of but the change itself keeps it freah all the way though...is this you singing?..again great vocals on here man!

AT 3:57..ROCKS ...

jamal
 
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