Me vs. A Wall of Marshall Stacks

[echosound]

i'd be happy to post a clip, but i don't really know of a convenient way to do it. anyone?

check out soundcloud for posting music.. it free and you can post and listen to uncompressed wav files..

here's the shameless plug for my digital label on soundcloud..

http://soundcloud.com/digitalnoir

[Matt C.]

here is a clip of one of the tunes (quick rough mix). after re-amping the bass and screwing around with the guitars more, i think things are pretty under control, but i'd still be happy to hear any tips you guys have. thanks.

edit: dead link removed

[niccolo gallio]

Hey,
seems kinda good to me..
at least on my crappy laptop speakers.

[Mane1234]

That didn't sound so bad....Kinda GBH sorta vibe in the first part. Next time around smaller amps for sure and a little compression buss maybe and work really hard at getting the sound you need coming out of the amp in the first place and you'll save yourself some tail chasing later on.

[decocco]

Nice.

In my opinion, you could make the left guitar a little less bright and bring it up in level slightly. I just feel like the right guitar is always dominating.

Good luck with the mixing. it sounds good so far.

[DorianListens]

Sounds pretty decent to me.
Certainly the right side is a little more dominant, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Simply a rhythm/lead split.

Personally, I might try doing a bit of a cut around 200-300 on the snare (I know that's not what you asked about), I think I'm hearing a bit of the resonance of the drum clogging up the meat of the guitars. That way you might be able to pull up the over all level of the snare, bringing up the 'crack' of it, and still have a bit more room for the guitars and bass.

I could be wrong though, just something I've been playing with recently.

[jgimbel]

I like asymmetrical guitars. I agree about the snare though, that's really the only thing that bothered me, if anything, about the track. Sounds great!

[Matt C.]

thanks, i'll try messing with the snare EQ. glad the guitars probably aren't a serious problem. most importantly the band is happy with it so far, so that's good.

[Beardaby Jones]

Make sure your pour a 40 of old english on the cd before you give it to them, to bring out that grimey punk quality

UP THE PUNX!!!!

[Gentleman Jim]

Hey Matt, I just got a chance to listen to this. I can see why the band is happy: it sounds authentic and the aggression in the music comes through. And I've been a fan of punk and hardcore since about 1982, so I think my opinion is valid. I know my SNFU from my NOFX, if you get my drift.

IMHO, too often recordings get caught up in technical cleanliness when the music doesn't ask for it. Just as it can be hard for a musician to rein in a tendency to overplay, it can be hard for some to avoid a tendency to overedit, overtweak, and overmix. We all talk about how we love Billy Holiday recordings, but if she wanted us to record her today, how many of us would try to turn her into Kelly Clarkson?

[Matt C.]

cool, i am glad it still sounds authentic and aggressive to you. of all the projects i've worked on, this is probably the cleanest, most heavily edited and tweaked recording i've done. my first instinct (when recording this sort of stuff) is to make things sound more raw and crazy than this, so i'm glad this one didn't turn out sounding sterile or weak.

at the mixing session last night, the drummer was definitely drinking a 40oz. good times.

[dfuruta]

nice job!

the drums are a little too forward for me, particularly the kick (i would also like the kick more if some of the mids were scooped out). i think the guitars sound good!

[douglas baldwin]

Hey, I'm liking this. My only 2 cents: maybe add just a leeetle bit of room reverb to the voices, just a teeeny hint of ambience, and maybe an even teeensier bit of the same to the mix overall, just to put everything "in the same room." You know, just a hint and mostly in the midrange - no freaking new age wispy reverb clouds of prettiness, just a little linoleum floor, a little cinder block. The vocals sound just an eeensy-weensie bit like they're in a vocal booth. I want to hear the singers more "in the room." Another bright idea - just an itty bitty bit of distortion on the vocal, like he's pushing the meters into the red.

[jgimbel]

Hey, I'm liking this. My only 2 cents: maybe add just a leeetle bit of room reverb to the voices, just a teeeny hint of ambience, and maybe an even teeensier bit of the same to the mix overall, just to put everything "in the same room." You know, just a hint and mostly in the midrange - no freaking new age wispy reverb clouds of prettiness, just a little linoleum floor, a little cinder block. The vocals sound just an eeensy-weensie bit like they're in a vocal booth. I want to hear the singers more "in the room." Another bright idea - just an itty bitty bit of distortion on the vocal, like he's pushing the meters into the red.

Leeetle? teeny? eeensy-weensie? itty bitty? This is the cutest post I've ever seen on here.

Just pickin on you! I agree, it could definitely use a bit of linoleum, perfect term for it.

[sleep over jack]

to me, Marshalls get washy when you push them too hard. Less can be more - have them turn their guitars down a bit, but leave the amp alone.

bzzzt. turn the preamp gain down. turning down the guitar volume will also reduce the apparent treble, making your definition problem worse, not better.