Looking for Unmixed Rock Recording
Home > Home Recording Forum > Recording Techniques > Looking for Unmixed Rock Recording
Posted on Aug 10, 2004 12:26 am
Ender3000GT
Member Since: Aug 10, 2004
Hi,
I know this is probably asking a lot, but do any of you guys with semi-pro sounding recordings would be able to send me an unmixed copy. I would like to listen to the seperate tracks and see how each one sounds alone and what effects were used. The stuff I am recording is alternative rock, but anything with thick electric guitars and clear vocals will do.
I am also willing to pay a small bit for this, especially if you would be willing to mail it to me on a cd, but I also have an ftp server you can upload to if thats easier. I have Adobe Audition and Cubase, but any format will do as I have access to most of the other major software titles at my school.
I've been trying to get my tracks to sound good by ear, they are improving but I'm still not satisfied with how they sound yet.
Thanks a ton guys!
Chris
[ Back to Top ]
Aug 10, 2004 07:47 am Wow, maybe it's just me, but that DOES seem to be asking a lot. There's only about a handful of members on here that I'd personally give access to individual tracks of an enitre song. Maybe it's just me. But if you'd really like help, why dontcha post a link to the songs you got, and Im sure you'll get lots of help on ways to improve them. That'd prolly be more informative than simply listening to the standalone tracks anyway. Just because one person does it a certain way doesnt mean that is the way for YOU to do it, y'know? And when you post a recording that you want help with, the posts that follow might help out someone else with similar problems. Thats the reason why this site is as good as it is. You not only get helpful info about your OWN recordings, but you get insight from OTHER peoples recordings as well.
Aug 10, 2004 07:53 am I'm with guitarlord on that. HRC is here to help, but your best route for getting it is letting us hear what you have done and giving some feedback.
MinkusMazBane of All ExistenceMember
Since: Mar 27, 2003
Aug 10, 2004 09:43 am hey i've got one from february that i will send to you. i'll hit you up on AIM.
Aug 10, 2004 01:10 pm sounds like a fantastic idea to me, i wish i'd have thought of it earlier. i've always said i'm never gonna learn recording until i can hear the standalone tracks. it seems a necessary step.
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
Aug 10, 2004 01:24 pm i think itd be useful too, personally. id love to hear something like jueses for example in component form...
Aug 10, 2004 06:50 pm thats exactly what i was thinking, flame. jues's style is close to what i like and he's really good at it. too bad i havent seen him here in forever.
on a related note, this month's digital music maker magazine (a UK pub, i believe) has a full composition in both uncompressed and compressed formats with tutorial. so you can compare. i scraped up some dough --had to get the thing. haven't tried it yet, but i'm hoping.
SKOTZILLApSyChOTTic-da caps spell me nameMember
Since: Aug 07, 2004
Aug 10, 2004 08:39 pm Hey 3000. Glad you found some people to help you out, but I say work it out on your own. It helps to separate tracks if you just close your eyes and listen. I think doing "cover mixes" is a bad idea as far as your hearing is concerned. In order to record well, you have to learn how your ears perceive sounds in the natural environment.
Listening to individual tracks may be somewhat helpful when it comes to EQ'ing, but the life of your music comes from the panning of tracks, compression, reverb, etc in the final mix. Since you don't really know what gear was used, the room size, the axis of the mics, etc., listening to individual tracks probably won't help much.
You might even have better gear than they have. But if you base your sound on theirs, you could be selling yourself short. Experiment. You'll begin to notice what sounds good and what doesn't. Remember, Garbage In/Garbage Out!
Aug 11, 2004 09:43 pm Hey guys thanks a lot for the support, especially to minkus for sending me his song. I'm trying to learn by hearing and am getting better at it, but I find listening to the seperate tracks to be very helpful. Anyways, for anyone that would like to have a listen to one of my tracks check out www.amphibiangraphics.com/annual.mp3
Thanks!
Chris
Aug 17, 2004 02:53 pm There are many different ways to learn things. I say, the more things you can do to help you learn, the better. It is always helpful for a beginner to listen to mixes done by more advanced individuals.
It is also very helpful to break down a song into its individual tracks and be able to see and identify each change and step in the process.
The more time you spend doing something, the more growing you will do. When you were in school, the teacher didn't tell you on the very first day to go home and write a novel. You wouldn't have had any idea where to begin. Instead, you spent time reading the works of established writers, breaking them down into their components, and discussing the reasons the author used a specific technique.
It is absurd to suggest that someone not listen to the work of established engineers so they can "find their own sound". In the beginning, they don't need to find their own sound. Just as when a musician begins learning an instrument. They need to learn the basics and COPY what they hear. Their own style and sound will come once they have a firm foundation.
Aug 17, 2004 03:49 pm Well, I dont think anyone was suggesting that someone not listen to the work of established engineers so they can learn. In fact, that seems to me to be the best possible way to learn ANYTHING! (Radio anyone?)
But as Skotzilla so eloquently said:
"Listening to individual tracks may be somewhat helpful when it comes to EQ'ing, but the life of your music comes from the panning of tracks, compression, reverb, etc in the final mix. Since you don't really know what gear was used, the room size, the axis of the mics, etc., listening to individual tracks probably won't help much.
You might even have better gear than they have. But if you base your sound on theirs, you could be selling yourself short."
Unless you can get a short novel on what exactly an engineer did to achieve the sound on that individual track, that track will do little to inform you one way or another. And even if that was the case, you can mimic those mic placement techniques, compression settings, EQ curves, etc. and get FAR different results depending on the sound of the particular instrument you are recording, the style of music and MANY MANY other factors. It just seems better from my perspective to get specific help on what I'm doing, rather than specific info about what other people are doing.
Aug 17, 2004 04:57 pm Absolutely. I certainly don't discount the value of critiques and help specific to an individual's work. I'm just pointing out that a well-rounded "education" should include more than that. There's nothing wrong with doing both.
Listening to the raw tracks as they were initially recorded, and comparing them to the finished mix provides you with insight into how to use effects and panning, EQ, etc. You can listen for the different types of reverb added to the specific tracks. You can hear the delays added to a guitar part during the mix to give it a totally different vibe than the original track. You can hear how the backing vocals were EQ'd to make them more "breathy", and how the low end has been removed from them to compliment the lead vocal. You can hear the fader movements as the engineer brings a lead part to the forefront of the mix, and then back down so as not to compete with the lead vox as they re-enter the mix.
Of course you are right about equipment, but if I was going to listen to someone else's mixing, I would make sure that they were capable of the level of quality work that I aspired to.
