After 3 years, my first post: DIY Rock Track, comments?

[dynomike]

Hey everyone,

Since this is my first post, I'll introduce myself. I've been into writing for 5 years and started recording 3 years ago. I'm now using a MOTU 2408 with Sonar 2.2 and love Sonar, not my MOTU, but since this isn't the General Forum I'll get to the point. I've recorded a couple of bands which I'm involved in to some degree or another, but mainly I work on my solo material. I haven't released anything because I'm worried about my mixes, as I'm mixing on some high-end, but consumer, Tannoy speakers, and my room isn't exactly optimum (basement, low-ceilings). Anyway, I've got about 40-50 songs done rough, but this is my most recent with vocals, so I'd appreciate some honest critique.

The vocals are pretty rough, as the song has a pretty large range and I'm a hack vocalist, but there's no one to blame for that but myself. I multitracked all the instruments and vox myself over a few days, and just finished mixing it today. Nothing is ever final in my studio so I'd like to know what you guys think. No DIYer can really critique their own mixes objectively.

Thanks for your contributions to the forum, this is a great tool.

http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~sdkuehn/Mi ... aster).mp3

Mike

[zoetrope]

here's a working link to your song
Sounds good to me. Dinosaur Jr.-ish.

[dynomike]

Thanks Zoe, any likes/dislikes? i've never heard dinosaur jr... i'll check them (him?) out.

[zoetrope]

i've never heard dinosaur jr.

Dino Jr. albums
Especially good are Green Mind, You're Living All Over me, and Bug

[eeldip]

pretty good, not bad at all... good song... etc.

some mixing thoughts.... (ignore if you will, only listened on cheap headphones)

personally i would like the guitars louder, vocals a little quiter in parts...

the rawness of the vocals are not always matched by the rest of the instruments, the drums are a little timid in playing style as well the way they were recorded. and the guitar playing could use some extra umph too...


song is good, and that is the hardest part...

[iamkoz]

i agree with eeldip completely... louder guitars... quieter vocals... and less pretty drums... but yeah i enjoyed the song a lot...

[xonlocust]

agreed w/points so far.

-good rhythm section bass/kick relationship

-the hihat sticks out a bit too much in a not flattering way to me, it sounds miced separately to me - which personally i'm not a fan of. it gives a wierd left weighted feel to the kit. listening to the track i can't focus on the other great stuff cuz i keep going back to the 1/8th notes right at that HF. maybe pull out a little at 10k, or try a ribbon to tame the cymbals? maybe if you try and think of the kit as a whole instrument a little more - theres a wierd disparity between the drums and the cymbals. my opinion FWIW (as a drummer) is that drums should be mostly the drums and less cymbals. (though i bash tons, i also hit pretty hard) a lot of times if you listen to stuff it's either kick or snare heavy - or rather, what do you want the emphasis to be on? this song, i'd think of a lifting snare - POP - focus the energy on the upbeat. when mixing try and first to think about the kit as a whole blend of all instruments, then maybe shade it so there's an upward momentum in the snare.

-good job on vocals/harmonies

-despite my drum diatribe, i think you've done a fine job! keep hammering away!! thanks for sharing!

[radiantbrian]

besides a lot of what's already been said (especially the hi-hat thing), the only other thing i'd say is that maybe the recording (the intro vocals especially) isn't quite bright enough and seems a bit 'cloudy'. but of course, that is a pretty simple EQ thing. maybe you just have a trebly stereo or something?

but yeah, it sounds pretty darn good otherwise.

[dynomike]

Thanks for all the input guys, I'll work on a remix soon to address some of the issues.

xonlocust - You're totally right, all the drums were totally mic'd separately. LDC on hihat, 57 on snare, sm91 on inside of bass drum and another LDC on the outside. Can you tell I have shitty LDCs? Thats why I'm not mentioning the names... haha. I didn't even set up the rest of the kit except a 16" crash which I only play a few times and it bleeds into the hihat mic. That explains the left-weighted feeling to it. I'll work on panning. I decided I wanted a sort of bizarre, close mic'd sound, but I guess you guys aren't digging it so I'll have to work on it a bit.

Theres no reverb on anything, intentionally, and everything is close-mic'd (guitars, bass, drums, vocals) so I had some trouble mixing. I'll definately turn the guitar up a bit.

Radiantbrian, yeah you're right about the intro vox. I think the recording is bright enough, I usually like things kinda darkish though. The intro vox are run though the waves REQ taking out all the highs and lows. The lo-fi bass sound at the start I thought warranted some vocal processing to match. Maybe if I process the drums too in the intro it will be a bit more unified.

Anyway, thanks again, I'll start work on a remix today or tommorow, and I'll post.

Mike[/quote]

[trashy]

I like it! Great song, vocals sound good. I don't think there is a problem with brightness. Guitars could be a hair louder.
I do agree that the hihat is WAY too loud. This is actually a pretty common thing with at home recordings. You snare should pop way above the sound of the hihat. When you open them up it is really hard to hear the rest of the set. Always remember the listener; your snare shouldn't just be felt, it should be heard. It's easy enough to guess where the snare goes, but that shouldn't be the listeners job.
Anyway, enough of that. You did a great job. Let us know when we can get a copy of your double album!

And never heard of Dinosaur Jr, huh? This world never ceases to amaze me. Your new life is just beginning! I envy you.

[dynomike]

I'm uploading a remixed version right now, and I deleted the old one from the server. I think it addresses some of the problems you mentioned, but now it sounds a little dull. I might cop out and use reverb. As an experiment, I was really trying to do without it entirely and end up with a pleasing, but bone dry, recording. Ah well. I'd still like to hear what you think. I also finished the vocals on another song yesterday, so I'm going to start a new topic for that today.

Mike Kuehn - All Grow (remixed).mp3

Mike

[iamkoz]

i can hear what a difference the lowered hi hat makes... i think i just didn't notice before because of a bass heavy comp speaker setup... but i don't think the new version takes anything away from the song itself... and did you do something with the drums do make them a little dirtier during the raspy vocal sections... i'm pretty sure i can hear it but it's fucking late and since my bed broke my sleep intake has gone down... but that's another story... i think it just sounds duller to you because it has less of a high end without a piercing high hat through the whole thing... and the guitar parts mesh a lot better with the vocals now... they share the same space in the sound palette... which is what im a fan of... after listening to them back to back a few times as i write this i can definitely say the new version is an improvement... but i agree that something sounds duller... but i really think its due to the lack of a high end now... but i dunno... my two cents...