Recording my bands disc, need critiques please

[monkeymanx]

Hey there HR BBS friends. I am re recording my band Three After's first album. We released it last year and everything about it just didn't come out good, plus we have all progressed as musicians.

Here is the first track of the album, let me know what you think of the mix: All Alone Again(mp3)

The main thing I was unhappy with on the original album were my vocals which have improved alot over the past year and a half. Plus now we have live drums since I have the ability to record at my place. Anyway, please let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

[Erockrazor]

During my first listen I'm gonna tell you what I hear. I think the drums are really up front in the mix. Your high hats came out really bright and up front. The snare drum seems very tight to me. Really mechanic sounding kind of. The instrumentation sounds well done , the performances are very good. The tones of the instruments sound good but I think you need to play around with the drums a bit more to get the mix. My main gripe is the high hat, it distracts me. Really tight playing though. Keep it up.

 

[Supercreep]

Good stuff. Perhaps the drums are a hair loud, and the bass too quiet. Not by much...


IMHO, YMMV etc...

Using different pres/mics and reverb settings on different vocal parts can help give them a little depth and a discrete place in the "soundstage". Call/response type vocals particularly so, so they don't feel "crowded".


I think all the musicians including the vocalist are very talented.......I have to say though, if I hear another pinch harmonic squeal I think I'm going to have to bludgeon somebody.

 

[monkeymanx]

Your high hats came out really bright and up front

Any good ideas on how to push them back a bit. It's rough because the hats are just loud. Maybe there is a frequency I can pull down a tad on the overheads and room mic. Those are the mics that seem to pick up the hi hats more than any others.

Perhaps the drums are a hair loud, and the bass too quiet. Not by much...

You are right. The bass isn't loud enough and the drums are a tad too loud. I really need to tame those hi hats. I think they are so prevelant on a certain frequency with the overheads and room mics.

Using different pres/mics and reverb settings on different vocal parts can help give them a little depth and a discrete place in the "soundstage". Call/response type vocals particularly so, so they don't feel "crowded".

I just have my Firepod and Toneport to chose from for mic pres. I have a couple different mics that could be suited well for vox but the AT4040 I have seems to give the best results so I use that.

I will try out different reverb settings and such. The various vocal parts I layed did actually use different settings and such though. I also use panning and such. During the pre chorus I have 6 vocal tracks, a 3 part panned harmony. I did the harmony myself too, no machines involved. The falseto style voice sounds kind of funny alone, but when mixed in with the other 2 sounds very cool to me.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming. I'm going to try to a bit more work tomorrow.

 

[Track Rat]

In my ever so humble opinion, for the genre, the drums are probably spot on level wise. The guitars sound pretty good but they could use some "meat". Bass should come up a bit. Sounds good as is but a few tweaks wouldn't hurt it.

 

[monkeymanx]

I think I need to do some more work in the EQ area on the mix more so that volume. Especially balancing the high and low end.

 

[monkeymanx]

Alrighty... Did a bit of remixing. Same link above applies. I made the bass more prevalent in the mix and did some work on the drums. Also added a tad of pressance on the guitars. Let me know what you think.