Please Critique...
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Posted on Jan 03, 2011 10:45 am
andrewdouv
Member Since: Jan 03, 2011
a couple disclaimers:
I left my bass guitar at the university... gotta wait til mid january to track bass.
also, there is a vocal part at the very end of the song which has not been recorded yet
and also.. I am aware of the autotune 'hiccup' during the singing part; it will be fixed next time I meet with the vocalist!
Despite all of that; please give me as much advice as you've got! I just started this whole 'recording' thing and would love to get some experienced ears tellin me what to do as far as mastering this
http://soundcloud.com/andrewdouv/12-21 (EDIT: MORE RECENT VERSION BELOW)
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Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jan 03, 2011 09:05 pm OH's are loud, kick and snare could be louder in the beginning (automate it because they get plenty loud later in the song). Singing vocals are loud. Screaming vocals could come up. Comp the vocal takes if you have to (www.ehow.com/how_2289489_comp-lead-vocal.html), but I would probably want to avoid autotune. Maybe if you need a tuned vocal mix it behind a dry vocal that is a little off pitch. Layer the two to sound less robotic. If it were me and I absolutely had to autotune a vocal for pitch, I would keep the vocal track without autotune dry, but then send a tuned vocal to the reverb instead of the one that's a little off. That way you might get an impression from the reverb that the dry track is on pitch, even if it's not quite there.
Jan 03, 2011 10:47 pm Good advice, I needed an extra set of ears! I can hear the errors you pointed out now.. and your approach to disgusing the autotune hiccups sounds logical, and I'm going to give it a try in the morning.
Any other tips are greatly appreciated!
Jan 04, 2011 11:19 pm Okay, so I've made the suggested changes, and I think it already sounds better. Heres the more recent version..
http://soundcloud.com/andrewdouv/1-4
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jan 05, 2011 01:46 pm Definitely an impressive improvement! I like where you have the screaming vocals sitting in the mix, the singing vox are in a good place too in my opinion. Still a little auto-tuney, but your audience probably expects to hear this and might even prefer it.
The only thing I'd still change about it is the kick drum sound. It's a bit too woofy. That is to say that there's too much low frequency information and not enough mid freq information. If you mic'd the kick drum independently from the rest of the kit, on that particular kick drum track, I would cut frequencies roughly between 100 and 200 Hz anywhere from 3-5 dB. I would also sweep a boost in eq from 2kHz to 5kHz, you'll find the "click" from the beater somewhere in that range, boost that puppy until it really cuts through the mix. I know we tend to think of low ffreq information as being the meat behind the kick drum, but in my experience the mid range stuff is much more critical.
Other than that, most of your choices were in good form, in my opinion. Assuming you use an amp with pre-amp gain and power tube gain; I might have turned the pre-amp gain down and turned up the power tube gain (master volume). However, your guitar tone is pretty similar to a lot of tones people chose in the 80's for metal. Not a bad choice, just a little more brittle than what I would choose. If you think you want to change your guitar tones, check out the stuff by the HRC user Dematrix. That's pretty much the guitar tone I prefer for the genre, so I'm biased. The mix is good! How long have you been at this recording stuff? I'm impressed by how many good choices you made on this second mix in context of the first mix.
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jan 05, 2011 01:47 pm Deleted By Quincysan
Jan 05, 2011 11:08 pm Thanks for all your tips and support! I just saved the chart... pretty handy tool to have in your pocket
I've only started dabbling with this stuff in the past year or so. Right before my last real band broke up, we were trying to self record.. man, we did everything wrong at first! but I think that's how you learn best. We went to the local guitar shop, paid way too much to rent a set of drum mics.. the OH's we got needed batteries, and we didn't know it.. So we paid for em and never even really used them! We did the whole 'mattresses on the walls' in a little room in my unfinished basement to record drums and guitars and stuff. It was a lotta fun, but needless to say... much was learned, little was accomplished. We were all about playing shows, but recording was always a learning process for us..
Over the past year (since the band broke up), I haven't found a group of guys to get serious with in starting a band, so I started writing and recording myself.. all kinds of different styles depending on what kinda music I'm 'feeling' at the moment. Was always a tonal junky, and on a budget, so I've learned how to get the sounds I want out of freebies and cheap gear. I'm currently between my house and a dorm, so although I have a great guitar amp and a couple decent mics, I tend to keep my rig fairly mobile.. all on-board, programmed drums and direct in guitar and bass.
I do love recording a real drumset though, and hope to put together another band this year. Recording is a lotta fun, but so is playing gigs!
Probably the hardest thing for me right now is listening to the mix with 'fresh ears'.. after working with it awhile, it's tough to pick out the things that are probably quite noticeable to you or other people who take recording seriously. It helps sometimes to listen to some more mainstream songs and compare.
Jan 05, 2011 11:36 pm I listened to Dematrix's recording and I must say I like his guitar tone a lot! I could work on a more 6150* kinda tone, I presume he mic'd a cab; I could mess around with my onboard amps and such to try to simulate such a sound! I'm avoiding mic'ing my cab because I will not be able to record with the same tone when I'm at my dorm, and I'm working on keeping a consistency among my recordings
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jan 06, 2011 03:17 pm He actually used a POD on the recording in his profile, but I know he has all kinds of delay/panning tricks to get the sound you hear there. I think he's explained some details in previous threads, might see if you can search around and find them if you're interested.
Keep us up to date on your recordings!
Jan 06, 2011 03:52 pm I actually just managed to get a similar sound using the Amplitude 3 VST.. I also have Guitar rig, but don't like it as much.
I think I know what your talking about as far as delay/panning tricks.. I have these stereoshapers that add a slight delay to add a 'fullness' to the sound, and then allows you to pan em every which way. I'll post more as I produce.
I probably won't rerecord my other songs using this other guitar tone.. but idk yet.. I'll see !
NinjamanNinjamanMember
Since: Jan 02, 2011
Jan 06, 2011 05:11 pm Sorry to jump the thread
Thanks for posting the chart Quincysan....
Ninjamansan
Jan 06, 2011 09:51 pm Deleted By andrewdouv
