Help/Advice pls

[tkdman]

Hi AllIm relatively new to Taxi,I sing and write in a few projects and we do our own recordings, have had some success and some fails at it.I do the recording and production and have invested a fair amount in my home Rig and have the majority of the tools I need for Recording and basic mastering. I have been at it for a few years now.I have had success with my recordings here on taxi(forwards ) and on review sites such as garageband, but I have often had comments in some reviews regarding "needs better production" etc. Now, I've tried different things and come up with some different techniques and am generally getting better as time goes by. I've been beating the horse for a while and was hoping for some other specific input.The purpose of my post is...to ask some of you recording "experts" out there for advise - what am I doing wrong/right in my recordings? any technques they can suggest they do in their recordings to give them a more "professional" sound.For exampleThis song is a hard rock song that I recently recording with my project band called "Empty" it is doing well, and I am happy with the song itself, but I still recieve some "needs better production" comments from other musicians.This is the link to the song on garageband (not sure how to post the Taxi link)http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8L ... YFm0a2kCut and Paste the above link into your browserAny advice is welcomeThanks alotChris

[anne]

Hi Chris - The only thing I could really pick out while listening on my laptop is the guitar at 37 seconds is way too "heavy" compared to the previous guitar (i.e. doesn't blend in with the overall mix well). I will try and give it a listen on my studio monitors later to see if I can be more help - HTH

[bigbluebarry]

hey Chris, I'm by no means an "expert" at this, but I do love the hard rock stuff and I'd be willing to offer any help I can. But without knowing what you did, it might be helpful if you could kind of give a rundown of the recording process for this specific song, like how you mixed the song, did you use a compressor on any of the tracks, etc... One thing I've learned over the last year or so, there really isn't a right/wrong way to do something in recording. Granted, there are some basic guidelines that should probably be followed, but in the end, it all comes down to what sounds good (how's that for subjective?). I'll give the song a listen later tonight when I'm in my studio. - Big Blue

[devin]

I was waiting until getting home to the studio to hear this before chiming in. I was hoping to dl your mp3 and play it on the monitors (my studio is off the 'net)...but I can't get it off without ponying up (hehe ). So I'll throw some thoughts out there using this lousy laptop sound card.I like this tune for sure!A few things that come to my ears:- I can hear the vocals really well...super clear. That doesn't happen alot as the songs get heavier, normally the vox is back a bit more, in a nice fight with the music.- All the individual elements are clear, with some space for them...sounds like the tracking was done well...but it's not "gelling" yet. Might have to play with reverb settings until things start to sound like they are all in the same room.- Did you do any mastering compression and eq? If not, might be nice to run the stereo wave through a mastering setup...some eq, maybe reverb, and compression last? Try hitting the compressor hard enough to start taking -6dB off on the hits, and see if it increases the loudness and power of the track just a bit. I hate overcompressed tunes (makes me tired listening to that new Metallica), but just a little bit might give it some bite.Oh ya, whatever you do, listen to this man:Oct 27, 2008, 12:41pm, bigbluebarry wrote:hey Chris, I'm by no means an "expert" at this, - Big BlueIf he refutes what I say, then throw my opinion in the garbage and follow what he says. He's too modest to tell you how good he is at this genre, but I'm a kiss ass, so I'll tell ya DO WHAT BIG BLUE SAYS P.S. If Ern shows up, follow his advice too!

[ernstinen]

Rockin' tune! Great guitar sound.I've been producing/engineering professionally for over 20 years, and I hear a few things:1. If you can't understand the lyrics, and I couldn't for the most part, the vocals have to come up in the mix. Maybe compress them a bit to make them pop out of the mix.2. I couldn't distinguish the bass notes. Maybe it needs to be EQed, or compressed, or just turned up a bit.3. A rule of thumb is that if tracks are turned up, something has to be turned DOWN. As I said, I love the guitar sound, but you might want to turn the guitar tracks down a bit so that you can hear the vocals and bass better.HTH,Ern

[billg]

Krank up the bass Chris! I hear plenty of lowend with the kick but no bass guitar. I've got a feeling that you'll have an easier time getting it into the mix with eq & compression rather than volume.

[ibanez468]

Oct 27, 2008, 2:46pm, billg wrote:Krank up the bass Chris! I hear plenty of lowend with the kick but no bass guitar.Yuupp! That's what I didn't hear either.I-468

[tkdman]

Thanks Everyone!!I will try to do some work on the Bass Guitar today, Ive done some Compression on it already, but Ill try to play with the levels a bit between all the guitars,As for my Mastering Process (as someone asked) on the final Wav I usually follow this train...Sonic Equalizer (harbal)slight limitingSlight EQ (mainly shelving)Multiband EQadjustment of phase (if necc)Limiting ( up tp -1)On the Individual song itself - I usually follow a few different Guru's suggestions Ive found on the net and in books (Im always looking for advice)My Input sound is usually something I try to get as strong as possible and I record clean and as hot as possible. Ihave a decent selction of Mics both dynamic and condenser (some 57's amd some Rode's) and some OK Preamps.Afterwards - depending on what Ive achieved I will EQ/Compress mainly.I usually Do some Compression on every track individually to help with my spacing and EQ as well (although EQing makes my soul cry sometimes My sends are usually a variety of spacial Delays (15-35ms) placed on different tracks for spacing and usually some taste delays as well (on the beat)As for Reverb - this is a device I rarely use as Ive heard alot of mixed advise on it - such as it can create too airy a sound etc. I have the same feelings regarding different spacial effects - ive discovered I can do alot with my spatial delays without creating too much room - maybe some reverb is somethign I should start thinking about.I often get people saying my mixes are OK but not good enough to be considered professional sounding - Im wondering if its me/my monitors/my room/my process etc. I really appreciate the advise so far and am eager for more as this is how I learn Thanks and thanks againChrisPS - I hope this is OK, Ive just found learnign about recoridng to be somethign Ive really had to fight and search for information on and since I joined Taxi it seems like a great place to ask!

[devin]

Some have started advocating a lower level when tracking. When 24 bit is used, there is an opportunity to use a less than "hot" signal on the way in....this guy explains it much better than I can:http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/ht ... els.htmlHe suggests an experiment to prove it for ourselves, I'm going to try this on the weekend.

[tkdman]

OMG - I never looked at it that way - Im gonna try that too.Great article!!Makes senseChris