Toe in the water

G

GoldFalcon

New member
After much agonizing, soul searching and debate I broke down and decided to try to record a tune with something close to "good production value". This is my first stab at recording so be gentle :) It's a tune of mine called My Pretty Ones
 
Dude, this is an excellent recording and a lovely song! :)

There's a slight bit of white noise that increases with the number of tracks playing (natural...) - i think if it was the same level of noise from start to finish, it wouldn't bother me at all. Ideally, if you could get rid of it... you might as well try make it perfectperfect cuz the song deserves it.

You should be really proud of this one!...




...
 
Hi

That's a very nice song; Good guitars, vocals and lyrics. I would reduce the volume of the right guitar a little.

Nice work.

/Jack Real.
 
I'm listening as I type...

Intro is maybe too long... the tone of the lead guitar could be better... it's too brittle could be warmer...

Vocals are good... nice and clear... in tune... good singer...

Backing vocals are helping build the song...

It's good music.... if you played this in my living room I'd be bowled over!

Keep it coming we need more stuff like this in the clinic.
 
Thanks for the replies and the kind words. I updated it a bit based on the suggestions here. I brought down the level of the lead guitar and panned it a little left so it wasn't overpowering the right side. I also tried to fatten it up and warm it up a little so it wasn't so "tinny" and brittle. I was also able to get rid of a lot of the white noise and hiss introduced by my Peavey PV1 and Audigy 2 Platinum :eek: on the vocal track.

My Pretty Ones (Updated)
 
This is a very beautiful song. Nice job, sir. I don't really have any suggestions on the mix, but I like the arrangement and you delivered the vocals well. - More!!!

-Casey
 
if you're just using it to get gigs, it should be fine

watch when the vox come in, it needs a fade

about the hiss, find the track it's on and make a shelf cut starting hi, like 16K or so (mess around with this to see what does the best)
of course-it's a compromise, the more hiss you pull out, the less hi's you'll have
but it will be a worth while trade off to a point. and frankly, you can afford to lose a small amount of the hi's any way.

a well written song.
 
What equipment used on your song?

Goldfalcon............tell me what kind of equipment are you using on your recording. Also what software......is a computer used?

Yes I like the sound............

Choctaw
 
Right now it's just my Peavey PVi mic jacked into the front panel of my Audigy 2 Platinum:
audigy2_front.jpg

The front panel has some sort of built in preamp I suppose because I get acceptable levels out of it whereas the rear inputs are utter crap even by my low standards.

The software is Kristal.

I've only been at this a few days now and already I've found that everybody in the Mastering/Mixing thread was right. In comparing my recordings with even marginal pro-am demo's of other singer songwriters this ain't gonna cut the mustard.

Since my ability to actually earn a living at playing live is tied to how good my demo's sound I'm looking at the m-box and converting a spare bedroom into an actual home studio instead of the place I sit down with my guitar and sing into a mic.

I'll use the m-box to cut demo CD's and use actual studio guys who actually give a crap about twistingthe little knobs in the future to cut CD's for commercial sale.
 
Thanks for your input.......I use Cubase SX3-Tascam 428 controler. It is quite a streatch to make things work well in the digital world ......I have been learning for a long time...still have miles to go. But it's just a hobby with me and I enjoy trying to record sounds.....but there is so much to it. Made a little recording the other day for a friend at http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=4680/singles
Just working on getting the mix of signals to fit with eachother.

Good luck with your effort...........guess with the M Box you will be heading into the world of Pro Tools and their Software. One thing about Pro Tools there are many places to get info and answers to your questions.

Choctaw
 
nice tune man. i think the first mix sounded better, noise and all. hell look at what you recorded it with. nice job. i'd use a slower, wider vibrato on the lead guitar. just my preference though.
 
The overall sound of this gives it a timeless quality like it could just as well be a song from the Civil War. You've got to be a soldier to have written this. ? Having grown up in a military family I can hear the song from both the adult's and child's perspective.

Excellent vocal work. The guitar is very well played. Rhythm's tight.

During the intro it sounds like there's reverb on the lead ac gtr but not the other. I'd suggest either using rev on both (and subtly) or on neither, as it has an artificial sound used on just the one.

The lead gtr during the intro at :19 is flat on it's high note... only mentioning it because the high point of a solo always stands out so much in the mind of a listener.

What are the lyrics of the very first line? Sounds like maybe a slight edit pop at its start.

I prefer version 1. The upper roll-off in the 2nd makes it a bit veiled IMO.

Tim
 
Your song brought me to tears. It is a beautiful, moving song. It should be on the radio for all to hear.

Your soul searching served you well.
 
Thanks so much for all of the comments and compliments. I spent nearly eight years in the Army, most of that with the 82nd Airborne Division. I was a songwriter before I became a soldier, did some other stuff, now I'm back to being a songwriter again.

You're right about the lead being flat in the intro at the high note, it bugs me too, but I was gonna try some different guitars on the lead before I retracked it. Right now it's just my Takamine D/I'd into the Audigy with a bit of reverb (as you guessed). My Takamine isn't really strung or set-up for lead work so I'm gonna try a bottleneck slide, a Dobro, and a Les Paul there to see which I like better (though I've got this old 1937 Gretsch archtop acoustic that I thought might sound sorta David Rawlings-y if I build up the lead part a bit --if I could play like him, which I can't :D ).

The first line lyrics are:
"He slides out of the driveway
points his headlights toward the highway
still tryin hard not to make that sound"

Again thanks for all of the feedback, it has proved invaluable.

*Edit*
True, thanks so much for your kind words. I'm glad you have connected with it. There is a bit of a story behind the lyrics for those that are interested:
Click Me
If you care to hear some of my really rough stuff (one mic, one track, one take) you could Click Here. These are, for the most part, just the personal recordings I made so I don't forget how the songs go, but a lot of people asked for more of my stuff so I posted 'em. That led to complaints about production quality, which led me here ;)
 
Nice stuff Gold. Now just imagine what it could sound like with bg strings, a small choir, and some synth work ala David Foster.....


(kidding) :D
 
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