so we borrowed this space, and

[EasyGo]

tracked basics for our band's farewell album. Our talented friend dropped by and dropped some wicked Rhodes tracks. We got 7 keepers over the weekend; here are a few highlights. These are bare dry tracks played back through an old mixer.

[url=http://indoor_boy.tripod.com/mp3/target.mp3]Target[/url]
[url=http://indoor_boy.tripod.com/mp3/congress.mp3]Congress[/url]
[url=http://indoor_boy.tripod.com/mp3/photojeanie.mp3]Photojeanie[/url]

We still have half an album's worth of basics left to track, so kindly hit me with your suggestions. Thanks!

Don

[wenzel.hellgren]

How did you mic the drums? I like the tom sound and the stick clack.

[EasyGo]

Put up 2 x C3000s in XY in front of the kit as [url=http://indoor_boy.tripod.com/temp/bobondrums.JPG]such[/url]

Had to move em around to get more of the pesky floor tom. The usual D112 just inside the front hole, and an SM57 on the top of the snare. Drums took up half the room, and were behind gobos.

Thanks for the comments!

[Bear]

The sound quality is nice. Everything is clear. As for the mix, I think I'd like more Bass at times, and the overall sound would probably benifit from a bit of reverb in the master. But all in all, everything is clear a nicely balanced.

Something I'll mention is that, from the style, I kept expecting to hear some words. As if these were written with vocals in mind, but they just aren't there. If these are indeed remaining instrumental, I would go back and track some extra melodies/points of interest with extra guitars or pianos or xylophones or accordians ... something. Whatever you think would fit (pick up some tortoise if you want to hear some ways odd instruments can really add to the music).

In other words, what you have there is good ... just feels like it needs a little something more.

[EasyGo]

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!

Maybe I wasn't clear: these are the basics only, no overdubs, no vocals, no mixing, certainly no reverb. Our stuff is very vocal-oriented, generally overproduced with lots of vocals, harmonies, and other parts. These are the rhythm tracks only.

You are right on the money about more points of interest. Thanks for listening and posting!

[Bear]

Oh. Well, then scratch my comments. I wasn't aware that these were more or less the skeletons. So let me rephrase...

You are on the right path. My only comment that remains then is the stuff about the mix of the bass. It's a little sparse.

And please post again once you've tracked all the components. I'm interested to hear how it will turn out.

[axial]

I don't know what to say, its was pretty cool there are things in the mix I feel could be changed, I didn't like the tom so appearent, I thought the keys could be turned up, but thats just one listen, post it when its done I too am interested where it will go.
keep up the good work

[EasyGo]

Thanks for the positive feedback, folks! We have half an album left to track, then all of the vocals and overdubs before we even start mixing. I'll post some future mixes here later.

Truck forth,

Don

[dynomike]

Pretty cool... the drums have really insane stereo separation. Which is kinda cool, for the toms for sure. Toms sound great, better than I can ever get out of overheads for sure. I may have to try doing some x-y in front of the kit experiments. Snare could use some comp/eq.

The low-mids a bit rumbly. And I couldn't really pick out the bass guitar, esp. in the beginning. Just some occasional rumbly stuff. I've said rumble twice too often. Thats my two cents, I know others have mentioned the bass as well.

I'd like to hear it with vocals. Tell your drummer he did a great job on the snare ghost notes and left foot hihat stuff at the end of the song. Thats a great groove he has there. The keys and guitar solos are solid too!

mike

[trashy]

Those are really nice. I think the drums sound pretty great. They're really alive, with good room sound. You don't hear that as much as you would hope nowadays (or at least I don't).
Yeah, low mids, blah blah. Bass, blah blah.
Can't wait to hear 'em with vocals!

[EasyGo]

The low-mids a bit rumbly. And I couldn't really pick out the bass guitar, esp. in the beginning. Just some occasional rumbly stuff. I've said rumble twice too often. Thats my two cents, I know others have mentioned the bass as well.

Yeah my bass player owned up to the low end rumble. Apparently her hoodie sleeve was brushing against the lower strings while she played the notes up high. We promise to retrack. Or something.

Tell your drummer he did a great job on the snare ghost notes and left foot hihat stuff at the end of the song. Thats a great groove he has there.

I'll definitely tell the drummer you liked the tracks. He's about to move away so we're trying to get our drum tracks done quick. I keep telling him to try being a studio drummer, but for whatever reason . . .

Thanks all for the encouragement.

Don

[xonlocust]

don-
sounds great man - again, such a testament to the importance of having a good drummer and good sounding drums! he should totally be a studio drummer. only thing i'd suggest is a little more kick - just a *hair though - and that's a mix and style thing. for basics it sounds great! it's awesome to hear someone else at sup. st. doing good sounding stuff! see, you can make good recordings at your practice space, even with the horrible bleed between rooms!

nick

[EasyGo]

see, you can make good recordings at your practice space, even with the horrible bleed between rooms!

Thanks for the kind words, Nick. Yeah the bleed between rooms is bad; that's why we end up tracking in the morning and early afternoon, before all the Rawkers wake up!

Don