Feb 22, 2004 01:44 am its very cool guys, like it. the musics not the sort of thing id normally listen to, but its very good. im not a fan of the doubled up vocals trick personally, but they fit the music fine, so leave em.
good work
New Music, Constructive critisism needed
Posted on Feb 22, 2004 01:04 am
Kdinello81
Member Since: Feb 08, 2004
Hay all,
I am a long time obsever of the board and now that My Band and I just finished our demo I figured who better to have sample it than others that share my same interest in self recording.
To save money we decided to record ourselves (us being starving college students and all) Just looking for some pointers and tips on the mix, effects and pretty much what you all think of the songs in general.
www.crisenmusic.com
The links for the four song demo are on the bottom of the page.
Thanks in advance for the help.
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Feb 22, 2004 01:44 am its very cool guys, like it. the musics not the sort of thing id normally listen to, but its very good. im not a fan of the doubled up vocals trick personally, but they fit the music fine, so leave em.
good work
Feb 22, 2004 10:06 am Sounds good.Only thing is the vocal harmonies in some spots arent right.Need to be tightened up a little,but overall good stuff.What did you use to record this?
Feb 22, 2004 11:27 am sorry man, couldnt resist...
Feb 22, 2004 12:40 pm lol....microphones....*takes deep breath*
We used Sonar 3 and a roland control surface and preamp. We just baought the stuff pretty recently so it is all a learning experience.
Thanks for the opinions, Keep em coming
Feb 22, 2004 02:41 pm Well for your first shot in Sonar I would say you have done a great job. I cant really find anything to pick at as far as the sound goes. The only place I heard anything vocal wise was in the track Like a Photograph. There were just a couple of spots were the backing vox seem to be a smidgen out of sync with each other, but not hugely noticable. Otherwise ver well done tunes. I think the sound is a bit like the Cure and STP melded together in some parts, very interesting.
And good choice on using Sonar. That has been my weapon of choice since their very first program and I have been using it ever since.
Feb 22, 2004 08:18 pm Great sounding songs. You know, one would be hard pressed to pick out anything in your recordings which tips off a listener that your band didn't get a commercial recording studio to record this stuff. The only thing I can think of to say about the recording is that the guitar could be a little thicker, meatier. But that's just my own preference here, it all stands up well under scrutiny.
I like your songs and the 2 vocalists' approach to harmony. You have a very professional sound without sounding too formulaic. I do however agree with Noize2U's comment re: Like a Photograph vocals.
Anyhow, great job, man. A good, solid offering of music. If I was scanning tapes at a record company I'd toss yours in the "callback" bin. :)
Feb 22, 2004 11:39 pm Sounds very "off the shelf" to me. Listened to Girl with Smile. I would expect a mix and master of this quality if I where to buy the album. I did notice the struggle in the vocals that are mentioned above however. Almost seems like a function of "affect" in the harmony. Timing seems ok, intonation also good for the most part. There just seems to be some speach phrasing that struggles from time to time.
Feb 23, 2004 01:13 am you guys are helping me alot.
I can't just give a demo to my friends and expect quality critisism. They are all pretty much like... yer band sounds good. :( not what I was looking for.
Thank you.
Feb 23, 2004 02:35 am hmmm, I'd give this a more thorough listening to, but Real Player keeps messing with me (buffering, rebuffering, blah blah blah).
Feb 23, 2004 02:53 am Not much to add, I pretty much echo TCB's and Noize's observations. Sounds top notch to me.
The only parts that say this might not be a pro studio job to me are the few spots on the vocals that are just that little bit off/struggling, such as the very end of "Better". And by no means do I mean they remotely sound bad, just thats where I would concentrate any further efforts to improve. :)
Dan
Feb 23, 2004 04:30 am Well, coolo, there is a pretty good reason for that. RealPlayer blows! :-D
Feb 23, 2004 03:22 pm Hello everyone, Im new to the site as well and I just want to take a second to thank everyone for their time, so thanks guys. Anyways, I am actually the guitar player in the band whose music you've just heard. Thanks a lot for the feedback so far, but I have a question dealing with one of the replies. In TheTincanbugs, post he mentioned that the guitar could stand to be a little thicker. Well, I totally agree. Problem is, we have the means to proplerly mike everything, but I dont really have an amp thats worthy of working with in a recording environment, so I recorded everything line in to the computer with no real miking. I have a descent pedalboard that I used with plenty of amp sims(boss GT 6) but I still cant get that full bodied sound that I want. Even if I dial in a real powerful, driving effect that crunches like crazy over the loudspeakers, everything comes out too crisp and clean once I send it straight to the computer. Any tips? Even with serious overdubbing of the guitar tracks(which was done when I recorded them, I played each one at least twice) they still dont push like I want them too. It would be nice if there was a descent plug in that I could get my hands on that would help out. Anyways, am I asking too much from a digital line in, or can you guys help me pull it off without having to start miking everything. Thanks for any help.
Feb 23, 2004 03:28 pm Nah, no need to overdub, often what I do is just duplicate the track on a second track so you have to tracks of the exact same part, spread them out via the pan a little bit and EQ them slightly different and it thickens it up quite nicely.
Oh, and Welcome to HRC.
Feb 23, 2004 03:35 pm My sentiment exactly. :) I'd do the same on my stuff, but the amount of horrible noise and hiss would double. I'll probably look for a gear recommendation to upgrade from my noisy SansAmp G2 pedal around May.
Glad I could draw you in... now you're caught in the HRC web. Welcome!
Feb 23, 2004 03:38 pm OK, make sure you remove any noize and THEN duplicate the track ;-)
Feb 23, 2004 03:51 pm Good point! (he said, whilst chucking said SansAmp G2 out the 2nd story window)
Feb 23, 2004 04:11 pm Quote:
Well, coolo, there is a pretty good reason for that. RealPlayer blows! :-D
My sentiment exactly! (he said whilst chucking said RealPlayer out the window).
Feb 23, 2004 05:22 pm There are also some amp sim pluggins and I believe Sonar 3 comes with one. If not just do a google search and there will be some that come up. They work fairly well. As dB stated, if I get a track that is not beffy enough I will dup it and play with the EQ and possibly use a pluggin like Magneto or Vintage Warmer to add some saturation to the audio.
Feb 24, 2004 12:40 am I have heard good things about both magneto but am not to familiar with vintage warmer. Are either one a better choice than the other or what, cuz we have a case of the line in sound blues.
Feb 24, 2004 12:50 am Thanks for the help so far. I think Im gonna have to experiment with EQ and my pedal settings a bit more. Up til now I have been doubling up identical tracks and panning them to get the stereo field where it needs to be, and then I go on to record over it with a second track(usually playing the same thing or something very similar that compliments whats already happening), but the sound is adjusted a bit to either complement whats already going on, or add some frequency thats lacking, and then I follow up by panning those as well. So basically, some of the chorus track that I really wanted to be big have 4 tracks(two sets of two tracks). Ive got a nice full sound, but the drive is whats been missing so far. Ive tried some plug ins to that are supposed to add some power, but some tend to get a little blurbly(if thats a word), and some just do some weird stuff to my sound that I dont like. This weekend Im gonna spend some serious time just working with as many different settings that my pedal and plug ins have to offer and see how they work in with the mix. Ill probably try some different approaches to the mix too(as far as dubbing and panning goes) once Im comfortable with the sound , cause we are getting ready to record the material for the full length disk so I wanna try and tie up all the loose ends. Thanks again guys.
Feb 24, 2004 04:28 am Kdinello81, Magneto is beautiful in it's simplicity and does a VERY good job of saturation. PSP Vintage Warmer is a lot more complex and does a great job as well. I have a hard time saying if one is better than the other. Sometimes I like the simplicity, sometimes I like the control. I generally use Vintage Warmer on individual tracks to warm them up, but save magneto for the mastering stage.
Feb 24, 2004 05:56 am turn it up to 11 and kick in the dubbly
Feb 24, 2004 07:49 pm Yep, agreeing with dB on the Magneto/Vintage Warmer thing. I do like the added features of vintage as in my case (sound design) it is a lot more usefull. But that said, Magneto was the first app I used for saturation effect and I do still use it. Like dB said, it is a very simple app and easy to use. It will go from simple warmth to a pretty healthy level of overdrive. But again the Vintage Warmer gives you the control to tune the tone as it were of the overdrive and crunch were as Magneto is just straight out saturation.
Feb 27, 2004 09:20 am Listening to "Girl With a Smile". Wow, this mix is really lively! The guitars have lots of life but don't take over. I'm listening on cheapie headphones, so I probably shouldn't make any suggestions as far as frequency adjustments.
The songwriting is solid and performances are tight. I'll definitely be giving this more listens!
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