The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

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stevemoss
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The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by stevemoss » Sun Jul 20, 2003 10:50 pm

Hi, all. My name's Steve Moss. I've been reading Tape-Op for a little over a year, and just finished putting together my first disc of material - it's all home recorded (to PC using Sonic Foundry Vegas, a POD, and an SM57 copy).

I'd love to hear what you guys think of some of the tracks. Any feedback or comments are greatly appreciated!
Last edited by stevemoss on Sun Aug 03, 2003 5:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.

kristopher612
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Re: The new kid in town

Post by kristopher612 » Mon Jul 21, 2003 5:51 am

i really dig without you, it sounds like a really good song. but sullivan street is a little distorted for my tastes, but still a nice song. sounds like a good mix too.

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zoetrope
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Re: The new kid in town

Post by zoetrope » Mon Jul 21, 2003 6:37 am

I listened to Without You. Very trebley/tinny sounding to me. Other than that, it's a good song, but I'd like to hear less sizzle and more oomph.

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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by dynomike » Wed Jul 23, 2003 1:25 pm

Hey Steve.

Thanks for sharing! I also downloaded "Without You". I like the song. Everything is well-played (did you play all the instruments?) And the harmonies are quite nice. Good song, catchy guitar descending guitar thing. Although it would have been better to share BEFORE you were done, I'm not sure how our feedback would be helpful at this point... for future releases I assume! :)

The sound quality of the recording sorta made me think that my tannoys had suddenly become those little computer speakers. I have a feeling you used the same (bad) mic on everything? I had some recordings which sounded somewhat like these before as well, but your mix is actually good. The levels are great and it blends quite nicely, its just the source material is very unnatural sounding.

I tried eq-ing to correct, but I do believe its in the microphone, as I couldn't really fix the high-end and there's very little going on below 200hz. If you only have the one mic, try recording some of the guitars and bass direct and using amp sims or something. Not much you can do about the kick drum though.

Nonetheless, I think you did a good job on the mix considering what I've suddenly assumed your tools were. Its still a good song, and if I had fast internet I'd sample the rest of your album! I'm interested to know what you were using to record. Check out some of my new songs if you want, and thanks again for sharing.

mike

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eeldip
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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by eeldip » Thu Jul 24, 2003 2:30 pm

yea, what did you use.

it sounds... a little funky. not in a bad way. sort of interesting really...

oh yea, the second one sounds like it was made with pretty limited means. very kinksyyyy. nice. we are the village green preservation society! good stuff.

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stevemoss
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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by stevemoss » Thu Jul 24, 2003 7:04 pm

Thanks for all the comments so far! Yeah, as much as anything, I'm looking for ideas for next time.

Mike - correct, everything on here is just me.

Drums were recorded using my sole mic (an SHS clone of an SM57), set at ceiling level about 6 feet back from the kit and aimed roughly between my snare and bass drum.
Image

Electric guitars, depending on the track are recorded through my POD, or by micing a little Smokey amp with the SM57 copy. Acoustic guitar is alternately miced with the 57 or by running a Duncan Performer acoustic pickup through my POD. Bass is recorded through the POD. Vocals direct to PC through the SM57.

Recording, effects, editing and mixing were done in Sonic Foundry Vegas (using desktop speakers and headphones, and listening to test mixes in friends' stereos and my car).

It all varies depending on the sound I was aiming for.

'Without You' was something where I wanted it to sound like it came off the Nuggets set (actually a lot of mine aim for that); up to 4 fuzzed basses in thicker areas, and vocals have a fair bit of chorus on 'em.

'Sullivan Street' was of that 60's-band-trying-to-write-a-song-that-sounds-like-it's-from-the-30's style, as a result of my acoustic buzzing badly from need of a neck adjustment... capo and parametric EQ got a banjo-ish sound. Vocals also got parametric EQ. Close-miced the strings of an electric bass. Ran the entire mono mix through another parametric EQ and a vinyl plugin to degrade the sound.


I can toss up links to a few other songs, if you want.

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axial
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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by axial » Thu Jul 24, 2003 9:05 pm

sounds cool, I like your voice.

I had alot of hi on my system.

to me its all about the song and performance of the peice, sometimes in a recording it can be so bad that even a awesome performance is lost. I don't feel thats the case here. I would consider beefing your drum sound, I'm just guessing here but the cymbals seemed to be pushed abit hard to compensate for the drums, again just a guess from the one mic comment. I would have to listen a few times more...
anyways good job, keep it up!
don't worry we don't need to track, we'll fix it later!

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eeldip
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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by eeldip » Fri Jul 25, 2003 9:55 am

stevemoss wrote: Image
this, by the way is one of my favorite mic positions. although i go out front with it. the big disadvantage is that the bass drum sometimes doesnt come out so well... but for getting a quick and dirty usable sound... perfect.

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stevemoss
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The new kid in town would (still) like your thoughts...

Post by stevemoss » Sun Aug 03, 2003 6:27 pm

In addition to Without You and Sullivan Street, here's a few others:

- From Now On - aiming for a ~1968 fuzzed-out feel; all electric guitars recorded using a Smokey amp miked from various orientations while inside a metal bucket.
- Tonight - mid-sixties pop. Chunky acoustic strumming, and a semi-cowbell feel in the verses from whacking away at the rim of the snare instead of playing hi-hats.
- Hard - Cheap Trick by way of eighties retro pop; MIDI drums sequenced in Midisoft Studio, along with real shakers and tambourine.
Last edited by stevemoss on Sun Nov 16, 2003 4:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

1\2moog1\2man
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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by 1\2moog1\2man » Sun Aug 10, 2003 7:41 pm

Hey Steve! your song is so good. I love the feel/ the sound/ Little dist on bass. You got it..I cant think of any thing to change.

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Re: The new kid in town would like your thoughts...

Post by 47ronin » Sat Aug 23, 2003 9:21 am

cool retro sound...kind of reminds me of a band called the green pajamas


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