Siouxsie & the Banshees "Israel" cover version.

[Bubba po]

Hi, I recorded this song last year. I'm playing guitars, my wife Manda is on vocals, my friend Dale is on bass and my son Frank (aged 14 at the time) is on drums.

For fanboys, the guitar is a Yamaha SG 1500, played through a Marshall TSL 100 and using an MXR flanger.

Bass and drums were recorded "live" in the same small room, so a compromise had to be made on the eq-ing bearing in mind the limitations of tracking with a device that can only record four tracks at once!

 

[DM60]

I understand you have limitations, but can you reduce the kick? Lower the upper range on the vocals (or on the verb) and bring them up a bit? (Maybe after kick control the vocals may be OK).

Everything else sounded pretty decent on my system.


my 0.005 cents worth.

 

[dobro]

Yeah, bring the vocal up a bit or two, and reduce the space on it a taste or two. Bring it out more. Don't be shy.

 

[NotThatBright]

Sounds good, I agree the voice should be a little louder. I like the snare sound. That's an electronic kit, right?

 

[Bubba po]

Sounds good, I agree the voice should be a little louder. I like the snare sound. That's an electronic kit, right?

Thanks everybody. I've been remixing the song a little this morning, taking the vocal volume into account. I was conservative with the volume because the vocal needs compressing a bit and I don't have the facility to do it to one track with my little setup. I think I'm going to record the tracks into Audacity and remix it there, but I've never used a computer DAW program, yet.

Incidentally, the drums are real. It's a small room, Tama superstar hyperdrive kit (shallow toms), a Tama Super maple snare tuned fairly high and a Zildjian A / A Custom cymbal set. One mic on the kick drum, and a pair of condenser overheads. It's recorded in a very small, untreated bedroom. filled with PA speakers and whatnot. What was it about the sound that made you think it was electronic, by the way?

 

[NotThatBright]

It was the toms, actually. Listening to the snare, I figured 50-50 it was electronic... then upon hearing the toms, I figured 95% it was electronic. Also, your kid keeps the power of his hits/kicks pretty consistent, something I have trouble with.

I'm new enough to drumming that I'm probably not that tough a guy to fool, though.

 

[Greg_L]

The drum sound is not great, but it is what it is with what you had to work with. It's a good cover. I'm not too familiar with the original, but it sounds pretty accurate from what I can remember. Your son is a good, solid drummer. Guitar sound is real good, faithful to the original. Wifey did a good job too. Nice work.

 

[Bubba po]

The drum sound is not great, but it is what it is with what you had to work with. It's a good cover. I'm not too familiar with the original, but it sounds pretty accurate from what I can remember. Your son is a good, solid drummer. Guitar sound is real good, faithful to the original. Wifey did a good job too. Nice work.

Thanks very much Greg. I put the tracks into Audacity yesterday and I'm going to try to add all the rest of the production elements of the song, such as choirs, extra drum parts, etc. Should be fun with almost unlimited tracks.

 

[NotThatBright]

Did you use any compression on the drum track (or I guess the drum/bass track)?

 

[Bubba po]

Did you use any compression on the drum track (or I guess the drum/bass track)?

There's a plug-in on the BR-800 for recording a drum kit with four mikes. I assume there is a tiny bit of compression, eq-ing and enhancement involved with that, but I mostly just mixed and eq'd it, then finished off with a basic mastering plug-in for the whole track.

I've been playing with the track in Audacity, but the more tracks I've added, the worse it sounds. Harshness has crept in and some detectable distortion. All the levels are kept down. I assume my computer soundcard isn't up to the job.

 

[NotThatBright]

Just from trying to compress the vocal, or are you doing something else to the song?

---------- Update ----------

Oh that's right, you wanted to add the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, et al

 

[Bubba po]

Just from trying to compress the vocal, or are you doing something else to the song?

---------- Update ----------

Oh that's right, you wanted to add the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, et al

Ha ha, yes! I'm dismayed to realise my PC's woefully inadequate for this kind of multitracking. I need a decent soundcard and I think I only have about 2Gb RAM.

 

[Greg_L]

Ha ha, yes! I'm dismayed to realise my PC's woefully inadequate for this kind of multitracking. I need a decent soundcard and I think I only have about 2Gb RAM.

That's all my 10 yr old recording PC has. You need to get clever with how you do your processing. I can do bunches of tracks at once, but I need to use groups and burn effects onto tracks sometimes when mixing.

 

[Bubba po]

That's all my 10 yr old recording PC has. You need to get clever with how you do your processing. I can do bunches of tracks at once, but I need to use groups and burn effects onto tracks sometimes when mixing.

I think it's mainly the Soundcard, then. The guy I told you about who did the Aladdin Sane album uses a $400 soundcard and still very occasionally gets MIDI clipping on a heavy mix. I really haven't done many extra tracks in the DAW, the card must be absolute pants.

 

[Greg_L]

I think it's mainly the Soundcard, then. The guy I told you about who did the Aladdin Sane album uses a $400 soundcard and still very occasionally gets MIDI clipping on a heavy mix. I really haven't done many extra tracks in the DAW, the card must be absolute pants.

Yeah i don't know anything about that stuff. My interface has become my "soundcard" so I guess I got that going for me.