Township - My son's band

R

rickb

reelin' thru the years
Recorded with Tascam MS-16, M-35 & mixed to Tascam 22-2. All straight takes, no overdubs, no NR, no compression. DI on guitars & keyboard, mics on vocals & drums. Added a bit of EQ & reverb/delay on mixdown. Recorded in our bedroom studio upstairs. The guys are 15 & 16 years old. Wrote & arranged all songs.

Brooks Brown – Elec. Guitar, Vocals on “The Flight” & “Goodbye”
Noah Spencer - Elec. Guitar, Vocals on “BackSeat” & “Catch Me in the Corner”
Bryan Bailey – Bass, Keyboard on “The Flight”
Chaney Butner – Drums

This is their first recording session…Pretty DARN proud of their efforts!

Hope you enjoy…rickb
 

Attachments

  • Goodbye.mp3
    5.2 MB · Views: 49
  • Catch Me in the Corner.mp3
    7.8 MB · Views: 13
  • BackSeat.mp3
    7.6 MB · Views: 10
  • The Flight.mp3
    5.1 MB · Views: 9
Well I'd definitely like to encourage them...I enjoyed the music, and there is definitely some talent there particularly for their ages; thought the writing and arranging was fresh and individual, and I like the instrumental harmonies/chords. The more they play and record together it will refine their results, but I'd say they've got a real foothold on their sound and that's pretty exciting. Again, I enjoyed it.

Nice to hear something that hasn't been processed to death. ;)

There is a lack of clarity in the final mix I didn't expect considering the signal chain. The vocals in particular sound muffled and a bit fuzzy. I can't tell if it is related to the tracking or mixing stage, but there is some of that quality in all the tracks. I don't say this to be overly critical, just shooting straight from the hip because I wanted to hear them better and want to at least present my personal impression in hopes that, assuming it isn't just my ears, some work could be done around that issue to try and mitigate it for the next session.

What mics were used?

Does the M-35 have 35EX channel expander, and if not what was it like trying to mix 16 tracks on an 8 x 4 mixer??
 
Also did you post this to the "Post Your Analog Recordings Here" sticky thread at the top of the forum? If you didn't you might do so to try and elicit some more feedback.
 
Appreciate you taking a listen SB...& for taking the time to reply. Used Shure SM-58B on the vocals. When tracking, likely got the vocal levels too hot, even with padding the inputs, distorted the board pre-amps is my guess. Yes, we used the Tascam M-35 & EX.

I've goofed around with R2R for quite a while, but only doing acoustic stuff with SDC's and laying one track down & overdubbing the rest. So this was a first time effort for the guys, & me, in doing a whole band. In the past I worked with a Teac 3340S & Tascam 22-4. About 8 years ago found a Tascam 38 & the M-35 & EX. Last spring, found the MS-16 locally & we all decided to give recording the band a go. Had some speed control issues with the MS-16 with we believe to be a bad pinch roller? Since tracking, Terry Witt has helped to refurb the pinch but we haven't tried it out yet. Used +6 tape, and have no idea if the deck is calibrated or not cause I have no idea how to check, or do it.

The guys had messed around with a digital multi-tracking some, but were really into doing an analog 4-song demo. I was very happy to oblige. They wanted the recording to be straight-up with very basic processing so it didn't become over-produced and was faithful to the way they sound live. For the most part, the only "effects" were their pedals & amps. We did some basic EQ, a little reverb (spring & digital), and used a bit of flanging on Noah's vocal from an old Delta Lab Effectron II that I had picked up for next to nothing.

Hope to do another 4-songs this fall sometime & I’ll post in the “sticky” up top sometime.

Thanks again for the listen & input...hope if others want to chime in they will feel free to do so. It is all good & much appreciated!
 
Shouldn't have to pad the input on the M-35 for a 58. Something isn't right there.

Also, what kind if tape were you using for tracking and mastering?

I have a hunch the bias is way off on the MS-16.
 
RMGI SM-911 on the MS-16...+6 I believe...??
Maxell UD-35 on the 22-2...Has always worked good for me.
Vocal input from the Beta-58's without any pad lit up the overload lamps on the M-35 with the faders up about 1/3...it has -20 & -40 pads and we ran it -20, with the fader at 7, just below the grey-scale area on the faders.
FWIW the MS-15 is 30ips... I don't think it tape saturation/distortion, but really don't know.
 
Ah that's right...the M-35 doesn't have rotary mic trim controls. I don't think of the trim switches as pads. That's why I got confused when you said "pad".

I'm not saying you are saturating the tape, but the bias could be way off. That's what it sounds like to me. A full alignment would be good but at the very least it should be biased.
 
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rickb said:
M-35 does have a rotary "trim" in the input...perhaps too hot there??
Click to expand...

Could well be.

Also, its very tricky to get a good vocal level if you're simply telling the vocalist to speak into the mic when you're setting your levels, or if you've set them when they're a few inches off the mic and then eating it and singing with more gusto while actually tracking. Good engineering requires paying careful attention to getting real life levels set during a practice take and giving instruction to to the singer to back off the mic or come closer to it when they're singing more quietly. And this takes experience and patience, especially if you're not using any compression going in.

I only listened to the first track and did hear the same things that Sweetbeats mentioned. Distorted/overloaded vocals.

Cheers! :)
 
My thoughts are not bad. My sugestions before getting into the machine would be.
1 if the mic is a hard used live mic that the boys have been yelling and screaming and spitting in. I would take the ball off the mic and use a pop filter to record the vocal using a pop screen. If you dont have one make one using some old pantie hose and stretch part of a leg over a coat hanger and tape it to a mic stand in front of the mic, It works great.
also dont use any of the busses on the 35 go direct if you didnt. for the level start with the trim all the way down and put the fader in the shaded area 3/4 up and if you need more level then bring the trim up.
With that board, even a cheap condenser will make a huge differance in vocal quality.
 
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Thanks for the input & comments...all much appreciated. We will continue working to make the next session better. Herm, I like using the pop filter idea, it will at lest keep them from trying to eat the mic, which is their tendency. And yes, we did do direct out of the M-35 when tracking. Definitely will experiment more with different mics & techniques for all instruments, including the vocals.

In the bigger picture, I want them to learn to appreciate the "basic understandings/parameters" of recording...I'm still trying to learn them as well! They will likely go down the Digital path...seems to be that these days. I'm just trying to expose them to fundamentals. Without those, I believe they won't have a foundation/appreciation for "how it works". Analogy here is much akin to the visual realm...35mm negatives vs. digital...film vs. digital, etc. Making great works of audio, or visual, really requires a comprehension of the analog master works, and applying these essential foundations to the digital realm.

I hope they can teach me great thing about both analog audio & digital audio someday, and hopefully not in the too distant future.

Our kids are our future!
 
drums are way too loud .... they overshadow everything ..... vox needs to be more upfront ..... distortion issues already mentioned .... like the songwriting
 
Nothing much to add in the way of the recording, but I just wanted to say that they've got talent for sure and show real promise in all aspects (performance, writing, etc.). Nice job!
 
Sounds like a good demo!

If they take some time to do overdubs, I'm sure it could sound even better.

-MD
 
Appreciate all for taking a listen. We are taking it all in & will definitely experiment to try & get better. The guys really appreciate that you all generally see promise in their songwriting & enjoy their efforts. Please continue to add any thoughts you might have,
 
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