Some of this is pretty good...

[Pinky]

I'm not altogether impressed with our latest creation (Know), think it's 'forced' and even 'contrived' in parts, but the production quality is there.

Could certainly use some suggestions. My last solo piece (Progesssion) I enjoyed recording, and the production quality was there. This one seems to be lacking and I can't quite put my finger on it... it could just be I'm ready to start moving into new directions musically.

Know

The rest of our stuff can be heard here.

 

[groucho]

Hmm. Sounds like the performance is real solid, and in general everything sounds balanced well - except that there seems to be kind of a blanket over the whole thing. Kind of muffled and indistinct. The guitars in particular sound very washed-out. What was the chain on this one?

Chris

 

[Pinky]

Hmm. Sounds like the performance is real solid, and in general everything sounds balanced well - except that there seems to be kind of a blanket over the whole thing. Kind of muffled and indistinct. The guitars in particular sound very washed-out. What was the chain on this one?

Chris

You nailed some of my concerns -- I was using a mic in on my sound card for the first time, I hadn't realized that it was crap, so I went back to using my card's line in and the problem was solved... unfortunately, I figured this out after we laid down all the tracks The guitar tracks are relatively clean, or maybe the marshall pedal masks the awefull buzzing found on the bass track... either way, it's sad and trying to get these re-recorded (took 2 weeks off/on just to get this much) is an impossibility now. Wish it was 60cycle hum, I could filter that out, but I'm afraid it's some sort of PC hum/noise. The line-in has none of it.

How do you mean 'chain'?

 

[groucho]

I dunno, I think there's still plenty you could do to improve this one, eq-wise. With all the sound going on, I don't even hear the hum you're talking about. Maybe with headphones I would, but I bet some eq work would go a long way towards clearing things up a bit.

Chain, as in: signal chain. As in: what was plugged into what.

Chris

 

[sonusman]

but the production quality is there.

This one seems to be lacking and I can't quite put my finger on it... it could just be I'm ready to start moving into new directions musically.

Know

The rest of our stuff can be heard here.

I can put a finger on it for you after listening to the first three seconds.

Get a tuner...............

The guitars sound like they were direct in from a pedal distortion.

What is with that "popping bass" thing?

Cymbals sound washy. Sounds like you did a spread apart micing on the overheads and didnt' get the phase quite right.

Triggered kick? Sounds totally out of place with other stuff.

The band isn't all that tight.

My fingers hurt...........

Ed

 

[B.SABBATH]

nice guitar solo!

yeah pinky, this thing is hammered.. it sounds like the guitars are out of tune and the timing is all over the place on the guitars and the bass.. that popping thing was not helping the song either.. I see what you were going for.. tuning and timing problems.. the song could be cool though.. the guitar solo was good!

The vocal was perfect for the song!

 

[Pinky]

Thanks for the honesty folks (would expect nothing less). Lew's the lead player, I'm the bassists/glorified rhythm guitarist and producer with a winning smile!

I think our next tune will start with drums for the base track. We've been playing to a metronome / click track when recording a rhythm guitar as our foundation. It doesn't seem to be working (anymore, as the songs get a little harder). Our playing comes out sounding amateurish, and we're both seasoned "live" musicians. Still working out the bugs of this living room gig thing!

It could definitely use some more mixing time. I got the bass sounding better in post production, but ignored the muddy guitars... obviously an oversight.

What "popping" are you referring to?

The signal chain (as I understand it now) was wrong, and that was corrected (nice job catching that one groucho). There were several factors, but seeing that I fixed them it's kinda moot now.

It's a little discouraging to get 2 years into Cakewalk/Acid production and your material starts to sound WORSE than it did a year ago. We're trying to push the envelope a bit, but frankly... I'm not sure what package it is we're trying to send anymore. Time for a huddle to rethink things. I think losing the passion for the music I'm making is starting to leak out into sloppy techniques and laziness.

 

[mbuster]

I think most of the timing issues will be solved when you start recording the drums first. If you have the capability it would be great to record at least one guitar or the bass along with it, because otherwise you'll never get that live groove you probably feel when you guys are jamming, and wonder why you can't record. I haven't met a drummer yet who can play to a pre-recorded peice without concentrating so hard he loses all his balls.

 

[wfaraoni]

Did you do that bass thing intentionally?

I agree with very muffled critique above, however,I could not begin to tell you where to start with correction other than start over and rerecord it. Im sure it will benefit from a second go at it
theres just too many issues to try to resurrect it.
I also listened to progression, thats a much better piece.
Peace
Bill

 

[Pinky]

Did you do that bass thing intentionally?

I agree with very muffled critique above, however,I could not begin to tell you where to start with correction other than start over and rerecord it. Im sure it will benefit from a second go at it
theres just too many issues to try to resurrect it.
I also listened to progression, thats a much better piece.
Peace
Bill

That's my thoughts as well.

FYI we only use loops/samples and manually trigger drums, there's no drummer in this project (drummers bring too many elements into recording and it becomes a hassle for the drummer as well as the producer).

Acid's been a nice program to layer drum hits/samples. Gone are the days of having to get everyone in the room together and on the same page. "Progression" was recorded solo in one 6 hour stint.