Same here. 1st recording and mix on new equipment

Ah yes... the YOUNG man that thinks he's OLD...

On the first line, the low notes are flat... high notes are sharp. Very crawdad-esque, otherwise :) "Tell this city to kiss my bee-hind"... Nice :)

The natural ambience on the toms samples is too much on some of the fills... it's a problem with using sampled drums.... is it possible to gate the toms on some of those fills? Otherwise, the "ambience" adds up and takes up a bunch of space.

A nice country song... had some problems with skipping during streaming...


Chad
 
the drums don't sound good at all.........there isn't much of a stereo field taken advantage of......try panning some of the stuff off to the side.........the guitar playing is nice...........it's something to work with, i'd try adding in another guitar and experiment with the panning a little more..............
 
I think the problem with the toms is that I have too much reverb on them. I was trying to push them to the back of the sound field instead of that "in your face" sound.

I think I'll back off of the reverb a bit. I don't have a gate.

Yeah, the singing is rough. It was early in the AM. I'm probably going to do that track over. And stop smoking so damn much.

I'm having difficulty recording a stereo mix into ProTools Free. I can't get two separate left and right channels to record and don't know why. I hate that program.

The separation is much better in person.

The guitar is recorded in mono. No chance of a second guitar without bouncing tracks and I'd rather not. I could maybe throw something in on the mixdown to cassette, but it's a pain in the ass to try that while playing and mixing at the same time to ProTools Free.

What you heard was right off the Tascam 38-8 through the mixer.

Guy's, I appreciate the listen. Every suggestion helps. Especially because it's hard to be objective sitting behind both sides of the glass at the same time.

Anyone else??
 
Are you Jimmy Buffets Brother?:DSounds a lot like Buffet.

Not a bad recording........you might try to get a little more creative with the drum machine(does it have pads that allow you to play drums by hand?).Not really my kind of thing, but not a bad tune at all.Im sure some qualified people will help you out with the technical side of things.

Nice effort.
 
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Thanks for the listen. Actually those drums are played of the keys of a Casio CTK1000 and I'm no drummer. Believe me.

I did drums on this for a couple of hours and really wasn't happy with anything I came up with. I just decided to keep this because I don't think I'm going to be able to play them any better.

Oh, no relation to Buffet, but I have sipped a few Margarita's in his restaurant in Key West.
 
cool song in a Jimmy Buffet kinda way..

the drums sound pretty cheesy.. I would lower them or raise the guitar and bass volume.. I think the vocals come out of tune in the beginning, but once it gets going, it is of much higher quality than the drums.. the keyboard sounds a bit cheesy as well..

I think your voice deserves better drum sounds and keyboards..
 
Thanks for listening. I've already remixed the drums. They sound much better without as much reverb. I had to bring them up a bit in the mix because I'm using post fader, but they are still quieter than they were. Tomorrow I'm going to try a little more compression and see if I can tighten them up a bit.

I'm not up to doing another vocal tonight, but maybe over the weekend.

I'm keeping the keys. YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!:D I wanted a kind of marimba sound with a Carribean feel to it. It's actually digital electric piano off my Kurz. No EQ or reverb and just a bit of compression.

I hope this number is translating well over the internet. It sounded like crappola when I played it from NWR. Not anything like here in my room. Even the mix in the computer sounds better than it does over the internet, but it still doesn't sound as good as it does in the studio.

I have noticed all of the comments that you have all provided and I appreciate that. I really do. The mix has already improved somewhat thanks to your comments anf suggestions.
 
Hey Senn,

I gave Back to the City a listen. First time I've acquainted myself with your music. It's kind of funny because I've been reading your comments for a few weeks and assumed from all your analog/synth comments that your music would be a devo-ish new wave thing. Big surprise to me!!

As far as Back to the City goes, here's my take.
- the acoustic guitar sounds fine. doesn't stand out as good or bad. The outtro is cool. liked that.
- the snare has a really annoying reverb. Drums sound tense. I know you said you fixed it but I'm not digging the decay on the snare especially as I hear it now.
- the keys, which are obviously the key hook part of the song, sound great. fits the genre to a tee. don't know what these guys are saying.
- the lyric is great but the vox feel kind of stilted; like you're trying really hard to make it fit the time and rhythm of the music. If you are going for a buffet thing here, I would suggest trying to cop some of the attitude that the lyric already has. What makes the Parrot King so great to me is the swagger he brings to his vocals. I don't hear that comfortability here. (I realize that's more performance than mix advice. Sorry if that's not what you're looking for. Actually, the mix of the vocals is pretty darn good.)

now that I thought about it, I just listened to all of them and you're right about these sounding like crap cakes over the internet. I can't seem to download so I'm streaming and feel like that be responsible. It's for that reason that I couldn't add a ton of critique about the mix here.

Anyway, thanks for contributing. Hope I helped.

miles
 
Thanks Miles. I was just visiting the site. You really DID listen didn't ya. Ha!

- the snare has a really annoying reverb. Drums sound tense. I know you said you fixed it but I'm not digging the decay on the snare especially as I hear it now.
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That's something I'm going to have to take a closer listen too myself. I didn't catch that. There is a slight amount of reverb on the kit as a whole without the drum overdubs that comes from the Casio itself. It's too late to fix the drum track now. But I'm going to go back and put an ear to it. It was the overdubs that I fixed.

- the keys, which are obviously the key hook part of the song, sound great. fits the genre to a tee. don't know what these guys are saying.
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I don't know either. That was almost my favorite part. I thought it fit really well and sounded good. That's the only criticism I've disagreed with so far. I ain't changin' it.

- the lyric is great but the vox feel kind of stilted; like you're trying really hard to make it fit the time and rhythm of the music. If you are going for a buffet thing here, I would suggest trying to cop some of the attitude that the lyric already has. What makes the Parrot King so great to me is the swagger he brings to his vocals. I don't hear that comfortability here.
Click to expand...

I had a scratch vocal on one of the tracks before the keys were tracked. After that, the keyboard line started to screw up my timing in certain spots. Particularly the very last line of the song.
The rythmn becomes syncopated against the drums with the addition of the piano and it screws with my vocal timing.

I DO appreciate the critique on the vocal. Really. I guess I've been a Parrothead too long because now it shows in my writing and playing. I really am relaxed pretty much singing. I didn't think there was a problem with meter except for what I mentioned about the keys messing with my timing. It's probably pretty noticable though, huh?

I think when I redo the vocal I'm gonna pull the fader on the keys and see how it sounds after that.

Thanks for the great critique. ;)
 
The new rig sounds pretty clean. I'd agree with the general consensus. Those drums are killing your stuff. Some recorded real percussion would help liven them up a bit. Do you have a bass track? Good bass playing can help cover canned drums also. If you can get a good groove going it would really help the songs.
 
Ha, ha, ha. :D Yeah Tex, the bass track is in there. If it was any louder though it would sound overpowering. In the first couple of mixes it was rattling the shelves.

Damn, I guess I'm gonna have to get on a kit again. I haven't played drums since high school. I ain't sayin' how long ago that was.

Would it help if I bought maybe just a really good snare and a high-hat? I could play the kick off the keyboard and follow along on the snare and hat.

Can you recommend a decent drum machine that won't cost me my first borne? I've heard that the Alesis SR-16 is pretty fair.

It seems that the majority here think that the Casio drums are killing the mix. That means I either need a new drum machine or I need to figure out how to make these sound good. I don't know if I can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear though.

Any suggestions other than rolling the reverb off and lowering them a bit. I've worked on it a bit already tonight, but I'm not going to upload a new mix until I fix what has already been mentioned.

It does sound clean doesn't it. I can't hear any hiss on it at all in the studio. It sounds so big and larger than life. I'm glad I bought the stuff. It really does sound good right off the mixer. Now I just need a CD burner.

And I fixed that nasty ground loop problem. I know it's not recommended, but I lifted every ground on the computer system. Monitor, CPU, speakers, printer, everything. After I lifted each ground the hum got softer untill the CPU was lifted and it quit altogether.

Thanks for taking a listen.
 
Production quality in general is very good,...

with no hiss, and a clear, punchy, & strong overall sound. The dbx really quashes the tape hiss, that's for sure. 1/2"-8-track w/dbx is a pretty fine sounding format.

I agree with the 'Jimmy Buffet-sound' reference, and also that the drum track is probably the weakest link of what's otherwise a pretty strong track.

To my ears, "Back in the City" is 'Jimmy Buffet-ish', bordering on neo-country music. It's not a bad song, and it's a fairly good sounding mix. IMO, replacing the drum machine tracks with a live-recorded drummer would yield the most bang for your buck, as production value goes, however, if all you have is a drum machine, your use of the machine is competent, and yields acceptable results. Live drums on a track almost always sounds better than drum machine tracks, and I don't think there's a lot of debate on that, but we use what's at hand.
 
Hey thanks man! I love the way this machine sounds. I can't believe the difference!

I have done a little work on the drum fills. About three hours worth his morning in fact. I compressed the piss out out of them at about 7:1 and that tightened them up quite a bit. I also took all of the reverb off of them except for what was on the Casio program. There's no fixing that it's already on tape. I also lowered the level a little and up'ed the bass just a bit.

When I mix down I'm going to manually pan the toms left to right as you are facing them. I also increased the reverb/delay post-send for the guitar on the intro and outro. That sounds much better. I'm kind of surprised no one noticed how weak that sounded before.

Thanks for the good review. I guess I'm just stuck with the drums for awhile longer. I'll have to make do. I don't expect Atlantic Records to come-a-knockin' just yet.

Take a look over in the Analog Forum. Guy over there is having trouble with a TSR-8.
 
Very nice guitar playing at the beginning. To me the drums seemed like they kind of stood out a little bit too much. Maybe pushing them back a bit in the mix and bringing up the guitars a bit -- just my opinion (I guess this is a subjective thing) --

Good lyrics. Some humor in there. Nice job! :)

Also, I guess I just noticed, I didn't really pick up the bass line, but it may just be on my machine. :confused:

I like your singing style. It suits this type of music very well.

Nice job!
 
Thanks for listening.

I went back to the console and started mixing again after A Reel Person's reply.

I got the drums and the bass fixed. YES! Damn I swear if I hadn't been drinking I never would have even tried this.

I rolled up the bass +6dB at 100Hz and at about 450Hz I rolled it up about +8dB. I rolled the high all the way off. It wasn't making a difference anyway except to keep noise off the tape. Then I backed off the fader a bit to balance it. It sounds awesome now.

The drums are now working with the bass instead of overpowering it. I did back off of the drums and roll all of the reverb off like I said before. But this sounds like a totally different mix now.

It sounds fresh and more alive.

I'm gonna wait 'til tomorrow to decide if I'm gonna redo the vocal. I may not. If I don't do it tomorrow I will upload the fixed mix.

You guys hafta tell me if it's actually improved. I really want to know! Just like on the first mix!
 
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Ha! Fooled you. I haven't uploaded the new mix yet.

Thanks though. If the toms didn't sound so damn hollow and resonant I think it might have been ok without the changes except to push them a little further back in the mix.

I won't upload until tomorrow. That's if I can get out of bed.
 
Liar!:mad:The drums in your first post didnt have Near the ass they do now.You've definetly done something since the very first post of this mix.

They still sound like a Casio Keyboard but better.;)
 
If you were in this analog studio and knew what a pain in the ass it was to upload a mix into my computer using PTF you wouldn't be saying that.

I have NOT uploaded the new mix yet. I will NOT upload the new mix until tomorrow.

I hate using this fucking computer for music.
 
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