Recordings with my Fostex Fd-4

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob A. Vader
  • Start date Start date
erichenryus said:

now please post a picture of yourself so we can all put face to that goofy name.

your friend,
erichenryus.

here ya go

icon.JPG



damn it....you have to copy it and paste it into your browser thingy
 
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just a quick question

has any one ever posted something that sounded worse than mine?

and then took the criticism worse than i did?



i am working on a new tune....no acoustic guitar this time...i will post it here and hope you folks can give it a listen...i will take the review like a man this time

http://www.geocities.com/mrbobvader/


i also would like to know what drum machines/ drum machine programs most of you are using..they almost sound like real drums...thanks...i think that will help with my drum timing
 
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Demo # 2



again..you have to right click on it and hit save target as..


some things...i am calling it a demo until i rerecorded in such a way that it sounds good

the fostex has a click track feature..but i thought it was so low that i would not be able to hear it while playing the drums..so i recorded the guitar and bass first

on closer inspection,,i realized i did not play the music exactly in time with the click..so when i recorded the drums i played along with the music and click(the non-perfectionist that i am)

so that explains the time fluctuation here and there

wanted to put a tamborine in the chorus..could not find mine..so i put in a fake one




i should have not put the background vocals at the end there

i have learned that i can hear the click while playing...so next time i will make sure i have a nice solid drum part before i record the rest

i know the song is too bassy? right?

i dont know if i can do anything with my voice

does it sound like i am heading in the right direction?


i can take the reviews this time...:)

if no one reads this...either i need to make a whole new thread..or they are ignoring this one

i would appreciate anyone who takes the time to download...i know it sucks...but if you do..thanks
 
looks like i have friends...*sigh*...i guess that was expected...





man...i burned it on CD..i put way too much bass on it...or the bass drum is way too loud..something


the thing is...i cant hear it that well through headphones when i am recording it to the PC...need to turn it down a bit...

not too mention the crappy speakers on my PC..

i need to get some studio monitors or something...figure some other way to do the final mix


ok tomorrow i will add it to my nowhere radio account so you can stream it and wont have to download it

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=2393/singles

if you want to..you can listen to a littel instrumental i did before i got the fostex...i meant to add some percussion to it...but... i got lazy
 
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Hey Bob: Thanks for checking out my tune. I saw at the end of this thread that you'd posted another demo, and I downloaded it. Yeah, the best way to get feedback on a new tune (or even a totally revamped old one) is to start a new thread usually. There's so much new music in here daily these days that it's hard to keep up.

Anyway, I totally suck at production comments, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. You talked about the bass in this mix being too heavy. I'm hearing a lot of low end, but it's more from the guitars and the kick drum than from an actual bass to my ears. Actually, I was having some trouble making out the bass itself. I'm just gonna' convey what people have told me that I found helpful. A mix is more like a puzzle than it is anything else. It's how much sound can you squeeze into as small a space as possible, and still hear a lot of it. To do that, people talk about giving instruments their own "space," which sounded like bullshit to me until somebody mentioned that one way to do that is through trial and error with EQ. Take the guitar, for example. On your second demo, it's okay level wise, I think, but it's taking up a lot of the space because of all the low end in the guitars. A guitar all by itself needs all those frequencies, but it doesn't in a mix. EQ a bunch of the lows off of the guitar, and you'll suddenly start to hear the bass guitar better, but you'll still hear the guitar fine too. In my opinion, if you can get the bass and drums to sound good together, with no other instruments playing, you're 80% of your way to having a decent mix. Then, add one element at a time (guitar here) and jack with the EQ and the level of it until you can hear it, AND the BASS, AND the drums all seperately.

This is how I got the first mix that didn't make me leave dents in my dashboard when I heard it. As you do this through several songs, you'll get to where you can start to hear what the guitar is supposed to sound like before you even record it, and you'll start recording a better sound right off the bat to fit into the mix...which is ideal, but nobody starts there...so my "advice" would be to start jacking around with the EQ's of the following things, in the following order, making sure that each time you add an instrument, it doesn't kill the sounds that you liked on the stuff you've already worked on.

1. Kick
2. Snare
3. Bass guitar
4. guitars
5. Background vox

Hopefully, when you put the lead vocal on top, you won't need to EQ it at all. And when I say "on top," I mean it...your vocal was pretty buried in places on this recording.

Now, there's all kinds of shit that you'll want to do in terms of compression, effects, etc., but it'd be silly for me to act like I know what I'm talking about there, b/c I don't, and you probably need to work on the EQ and the "puzzle" with a few mixes first.

I wish I could tell you, "cut everything below 50Hz on the kick drum, boost the snare at 2K, etc.," but I can't because it's a hands on deal that you really have to experiment with, and it's different every time I do it.

My best advice is to keep posting tunes, and start new threads. I'll try to listen to everything you post if you're sincerely trying, and I think you are.

Lastly, this HAS to be fun for you in some way, and I'm getting a strong vibe from you that you're not having any fun. I was a total jerk when you posted your first tune, and I feel like shit about that; but don't let whatever some dick on a BBS says have too much effect on you. You seem very different from your first couple of posts in this thread, so just chalk it up to internet impersonality. I personally hate the shit out of recording...I really do. Well, I don't mind the actual RECORDING so much as all the shit you have to do to make it sound passable. I get my from writing tunes and singing them, and then having a finished product of that process. The stuff I have to go through to get that finished product is sheer misery for me...LOL.

And this whole post may seem like totally abstract bullshit, but it's the way that I think about tracking and mixing, and it's what helped me the most. If it doesn't make sense, it's not you, it's the "advice." We'll just approach it from a different angle.
 
hey thanks chris....thats a lot of help there


actually the process is fun for me...i just wish i was better at it...i think i am getting better...i hope any way


i have learned a lot during this recording...

as you know i have a four track...with two additional virtual tracks..

i thought if i recorded the drums bass guitar and vocals...on each of their own tracks..then i could bounce them to the additional tracks...then exchange those tracks back to two real tracks..leaving me with two extra tracks one for back-up vocals and or percussion and the other for a solo(which i did not do)

anyway..to make a short story longer...that was a major mistake

you can guess that it limited my ability to adjust any kind of EQ or volume...

the bass and vocals where on one track the drums and guitar on another

next time i will just do the old tried and true method...jsut record on three tracks...get a good mixdown onto one...and then go from there...and record the vocals almost last
 
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