Rough Mixes of Acoustic Tracks

  • Thread starter Thread starter TexRoadkill
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TexRoadkill

TexRoadkill

Audio Bum
My background is mainly in electronic music but I've been wanting to do more acoustic stuff. I'm recording some pre-production tracks for Australian blues/country singer Doug Siggs aka Earle Douglas and he gave me permission to post some of the stuff here.

So here are my first real acoustic recordings.

http://www.nowhereradio.com/texroadkill/singles

These are very rough mixes of some of the basic guitar and vocal tracks. More overdubs will be added later. This is pretty much a "raise the faders" mix. I added a little bass cut and some compression to the tracks.

Let me know what you think about the general guitar/vocal tones.
 
"raise the faders"

holy Macaorni! That is brilliant, i am still listening to "by the way" and it is so good.

I love acousitic stuff and if this is just "raise the faders" then "raise the faders" will always rule in my book.

How did you record those guitars?

Regards

Cooper

the tones sound perfect through my headphones though...
 
hey Tex,

I listened to all three and they sounded pretty good, but 'Byron Bay' sounded maybe too compressed?? not sure, but there was something that didn't sound the same as the others IMOP. (I liked the slide guitar.) I don't know much about anything, and even less about acoustic music, but I have heard warmer acoustic sounds... Overall I think it sounds good..

later

B
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

I added some buss compression to all of the tunes just to make them MP3 friendly. That's probably what you are referring to BSabbath. We also used a different guitar on Byron Bay. It is an old style parlor and it sounds very vintage but it is a pig to record. I need to find a better mic combo for that one.

The other guitar tracks are a Larivee D03 which I think is 90% of the battle. I love that guitar. I have 2 MXL's for evaluation and the guitars were recorded with the V67 at the 12th fret and the 2003 above the bridge about 1 1/2 feet.

Everything was recorded on a Roland Studio Pack. The pre's and EQ were done in the Roland and any compression is the stock Logic comp.

Some new pre's and comps are first on my list but I was impressed with the Roland on these tunes.
 
Damn that's good Tex,
Smooth stuff, enjoyed jamming the mando with "by the way".
Great guitar picking.

dtb
 
Mr roadkill....
your screen name always makes me think your stuff will have that zz top kinda feel...and I was kinda supprised to hear this...although you say this isn't really your kinda stuff anyway.
Well...that was off topic!!

but...this does have a rough, push up the fadars kinda sound/feel to it, especially with the ambient noise being what it is.
The acoustics do sound good, but again have that 'push up the fadar' "playback" sound to them....just pure and raw tracks...no gloss, etc....but a great starting point for the mix. Same with the vocal sound. These songs sound like great ideas, and appear to be begging for a full production. The last song......sounded kinda mid-rangy to me.
 
Thanks Mix-

We're not really sure where to go with the tracks. He just wanted to put together some quick and dirty song demos to give his band back in Australia to start rehearsing. We were both pretty surprised with the quality so we might flesh them out more here. He will probably do the faster band stuff back home.

Any arrangement suggestions? I was thinking a country Brian Wilson type arrangement would work well. A lot of Vocal harmonies and some unusual instrument overdubs.
 
This is not my usual taste.....

That said, I lOVE these songs!:D
Thats saying a lot.

Nice stuff...I like to hear more if you guys flesh it out some!


Home reccers rule:cool:

heylow
 
Tex -

I'm listening to By The way, and loving every sec of it. I'll give the others a listen once this one is over. The aguitars sound awsome, but a little bit loud (or the vocals are a little bit soft. i dunno). I'm actually a fan of accoustic songs, and usually prefer them to big productions, but hey, it's just me. If it were up to me, I'd put a little reverb and be done with it. A fiddle would be in place here, though.

I really enjoyed this one!

Oren
 
Thanks guys.

I agree the guitars are too loud. I wasnt really worrying too much about it for this mix but I have been listening to some acoustic/vocal stuff lately and the guitar is usually a lot lower than I would have suspected.
 
Other than turning the guitar down, I was hearing a little too much of the room for my taste, but the performance is cool. I'd think you could add a number of different acoustic instruments for color if you wanted--harmonica, mandolin, accordian, fiddle or dobro. You could even add some kick drum and snare with brushes and a Fender bass if you wanted to take it up a notch. I've heard a lot of stuff like that and its pretty cool. With this kind of material, its still gonna be in the acoustic genre. Check out Guy Clark's "Boats To Build" CD if you get a chance.

I'll have to try your mic technique since I have the same MXL's!
 
Tex,

I listened to Byron Bay.
You guys definatly have that old timey sound goin on!

Really cool.
Sounds like an old Hank Williams recording.
Really nice slide work and singing.

How about adding a thumping bass line and mabey some harmonica or violin for backround and a lead melody break?

The less the better on this type of recording.

All you need to do is add a couple of scratches and it would sound like a old LP!

Very enjoyable

Best to you,
Pete
 
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