Very First Effort

A

airdvl

New member
Hello folks. I used to play out in the 60`s and seventies. Too tired for that now. Ive been buying a lot of guitars and stuff lately that I always wanted and lacking the drive to play out I decided home recording may be the answer. I use a Zoom 1044mrsCD. Ive had it for a couple of years and never got thru it till recently. Like the most complicated digital watch I ever tried to mess with...lol. Everything here is first take because I havent had time to really get back to it yet. Was just throwing stuff down so I could see how the dang thing worked. I used a hook a friend of mine wrote and fleshed out the rest of the lyrics. Did it all on a condo kitchen table on the beach in north mertle. I was stuck there for two weeks so the wife could recoopereate from an illness and I took a j-200 and a 52 reissue tele with me. Used an AKG c3000 on the vocals and acoustic guitar. Pretty simple really but after I effected it up and mastered it a bit I was thrilled that it was as good as what it is. I know its a long way from anythig great but it sure is fun and now I beleive I`m hooked. Ta heck with trying to keep a band together and lugging equiptment around!..lol.

Thank for listenin` and any constructive critique would be much appreciated.

~airdvl~

hmm. not sure how to do this. heres the acid planet place thingy where I posted it.http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?songs=303123&T=4700
 
It is a fine first attempt!

The quality of the sound works well, particularly the guitars.
The drums are a little cheesy but it is hard to get a drum machine to sound real.
My main observation is the dynamics of the vocals is a little too much. They go from too soft to a little loud all within a few seconds. I dont know if your rig has a compressor on it but the vocals need it badly to sit in the mix better.

I think I would pan the guitars out a little to make room in the middle for the vocals also.

Keep at it!

Tom
 
I think tmix covered the mix stuff. I'll just add that my first recording sounded like absolute dogshit compared to this. Nice job. Cool song too.
 
thanx! Compressor...DOH!

Yea TMIX I threw in a few numbers of compression with the zoom but dont remember where...lol. Not really sure how to use that yet. I agree, the vocals are inconsistent. Not sure what I can do about drums yet. I never was much of a drummer. Keyboards too.

Chris, If your first one was that bad then theres hope for me cuz your stuff I listened to was just beautiful.

Which brings me to another question. If I were to go to a software computer studio setup, does ther exist convincing programmable drums and keyboards on software? I mean. I have an Alesis SR16 (never have used it) But is there a peice of sofware that has it all? That is easy enuff to program that you can add originality without the cheese? How were they cheesy anyway? The tone? simplicity? too straightforward so easily identified as a machine? More likely my non-drummer choices...hehe. Course it doesnt help that I`m partially deaf. I had my daughter and wife mix it for me too see what thet would do. Then I added just a bit more volume on drums than them. I think I need a partner with ears...lol

Come to think of it..I have you guys for that!..lol I still have the premaster on this. This will give me a chance to learn to use the compression. And I`ll pan the guitars out farther too and repost to see what ya think. Is it usually rythym guitar on one side and lead on the other. Anyway, I`ll experiment further! Actually need to redo the whole thing to do it right..ah well, thinkin out loud now.

Thank you much for the reviews!! Hope to post more soon. I`m learning a lot reading stuff here but I need to get back on that machine before I forget what I learned!

~airdvl~
 
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airdvl said:
Which brings me to another question. If I were to go to a software computer studio setup, does ther exist convincing programmable drums and keyboards on software?
Click to expand...
I know a lot of people use a program called Fruity Loops to assemble drum tracks and synth stuff...I've heard some pretty convincing bass tracks done that way too. I've tried using it, and my attention span just wasn't long enough to stick with it, but like I said, I've heard some very convincing stuff by people who use that particular software.

Personally, I'm trying 2 things to get away from pure single hit samples. 1. Drum loops; and 2. Asking guys like tmix to record real drums for me, lol. With drum loops, you're getting tracks from a real drummer recorded in a real studio. With my particular editing software (cooledit/adobe audition), I just take the loop, which is usually 1 or 2 measures, and tell my software how fast to play it. It's kinda' time consuming, but the SOUND of the drums is better to me than anything coming out of a keyboard.
 
"Cheeze" (defined)
Most of the time it is a combination of smallish dinky sounding drum hits that are either way too busy (non drummer choices) or dont change at all.

It is hard to think like a drummer sometimes because we are weird anyway. But playing any instrument (horns, strings, guitar) via a keyboard or sound module is a task that few have the time or inclination to learn.

There is nothing wrong with having a simple rhythm thing going on as a place holder for your other work. As Chris said, I think drum loops are the best comprimise for really good sounding drums for non drummers. Heck! even for drummers! At least the timing will be good! Sometimes I'l create my own loops so I dont have to play the whole song over and over.

I am warning you though. This recording habit is going to drag you down a long road! Once you start into the computer end of it you are nabbed!

Tom
 
gulp, its happening...... .. ..

TMIX -"I am warning you though. This recording habit is going to drag you down a long road! Once you start into the computer end of it you are nabbed!"


You bastages!! :eek:


Luvin` it,

~airdvl~
 
"I am warning you though. This recording habit is going to drag you down a long road! Once you start into the computer end of it you are nabbed!"

I'll second that.... I plan to spend many thousands of dollars throughout the course of my life, eventually just to make things a tiny bit better.... the quest for improvement has no end, and neither does the bill for this quest. =) But it's a fun waste of a lot of money and time.
 
Hey, airdvl.

Great song, and not a shabby recording at all. The song in my signature line is my first, too.

Here's a good article on using compression.

The guitars were great. I think the song could use a little bit more punch, but I don't know what that means or how to make it happen.
 
Thank apl!

I can always use help! Thats a good clear article on compression and helps a bunch. Ive been reading and studying a lot lately and may move from the all in one box recorder to computer. Sure seems to add a lot of parameters of control on sounds available.

I listened to your stuff also. Great songs! I like the newer version with the cleaner guitars better. Your overall mix seems fairly full too. What do you use for your drums?

Tx again

~airdvl~
 
chrisharris said:
I think tmix covered the mix stuff. I'll just add that my first recording sounded like absolute dogshit compared to this. Nice job. Cool song too.
Click to expand...

mine too! and to be honest, most peoples do. but this sounds ok!! not really my type of music so ill hold back any style comments for others, but i found my self tapping my foot with a little smile :D
only think i will say, that im learning very quickly about thanks to feedback for my own chunes on here, is the drum sound a bit odd. but ive heard loads of these country type chunes at weddings and on holiday and stuff, and dont sound really bad, but with a little work....

keep it up man!
 
airdvl said:
.... Course it doesnt help that I`m partially deaf. I had my daughter and wife mix it for me too see what thet would do. Then I added just a bit more volume on drums than them. I think I need a partner with ears...lol

~airdvl~
Click to expand...

and THAT just makes it seem even better! nice job man. on the other hand tho, you did a good thing in letting others mix it for you. as a guitarist, i turn the guitars up. a drummer doing the mixing might turn the drums right up, and so on. i think someone detached from your song doing the mix or helping with the mix is definitely a good way to go. plus, its rare to find a mixing engineer that'll cook your dinner afterwards .... :D
 
Really good first effort! ;)

First off, I don't really like country music (except for Willy Nelson and Shania Twain, but that's only because he smokes pot and she's really hot :)), but I enjoy helping out fellow musicians because I always learn something when I'm trying to help out someone else, and that's a "good" thing! As a guitarist myself, I zeroed in on those and found them well-played and tasty, perfect for the genre. I cannot really address the tone in great detail, as I'm listening to the tune on a set of crappy headphones, but they sounded like they fit into the song well.

The vocals sounded a bit "out of the tune" to me, like they were floating above the music and not actually a part of it. I'm not talking about the melody lines themselves, but just that the tracks didn't engrain themselves into the music and just sort of sat on top of it. On my crappy system, the vocals also sounded like they were "pumping" due to some overcompression or improper compression settings. Again, my "gheto" mix headphones don't allow for me to hear exactly what's what.

Good job!

-mr moon
 
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