Synonym Music

Again - ??? It's a bigger waste of time to crossfade things together from what are essentially different performances. If a band can manage to do that and make it sound great (not good, not okay, not alright, not average) then I would never argue with their technique. But.. I've never seen anyone do that in my lifetime. You always determine the best way to do things. You're making those decisions yourself now if recording is one of the tasks you decide to take on. Most people use whatever method gets the best results with the minimum amount of fuss.

??? All in one take. Anyone should be able to do one take. You can do several and comp the best parts in if you'd prefer.

also james, here's an example of why the basics are so important. Shapes and Distance drum demo it is taken from this thread. that sound was achieved by finding the best room in the house, setting up the kit in there and tuning it properly, and then moving the mic all over the room until it sounded best. oh yes, *the* mic. that drum sound is one shure sm57 in a room. incidentally i think that recording with that one cheapo mic sounds a lot more natural than the one you posted. the good news is, you can learn a lot and there's plenty of room for improvement I'll have to pass that on to one of my professors... But I bring up The Globe Sessions yet again. MFM - a {censored}ing hi-hat mic, mono overhead, close kick, close snare, close tom. That's it! Stellar sound. The only thing I'm not sure of is if the one distant mic is above the kit (an OH) or in front of it. The kick definitely seems to have an outside mic - that could another separate placement used to make it beefier, or it could just be the distant mic.

Hey, I'm mixing a cover for a fan forum. I'm using Reaper. all we've done so far are the drums, butwhat do you think? http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?5tnnooyidrm They sound pretty rough, but hey.. I don't think the original recording sounds that great either, so why not improve upon it? It won't get fixed in mixing. No way. The recordist could've just kept it simple - spaced pair, kick, snare, maybe one or two toms - but instead there's parts of the kit all over the place. There's a lot of phase cancellation, practically no high end past 11kHz, boomy/resonant low mids, harsh high mids, small cymbals, nightmarish room tone, yadda yadda yadda. I'd reject that recording. There's nothing I could do.

Thanks!! Would you have any suggestions on how to fix those things? Stop overcompressing. Let some instruments overlap in terms of where they're panned. You're a little hell-bent on hearing everything all the time.. Not really how a mix works. There are often areas of focus for different sections of a song that don't sound right until you let the energy dictate what the spotlight should be during that time frame. Some of the instruments also sound a little closed-in (sax, acoustic.) That's a result of an overly dead room. The proportions are also a little funny, like the horns will drone on with no real direction for opening parts of the chorus when they should be a converse energy compared to everything else that's going on. The drums, guitar, vocals and everything are really moving, they're staying - but it's as if they haven't really "decided."

What would you suggest trying to get rid of the fizziness. Thats really the main problem i'm having and it's been alot worse. And as for the being thin and sharing frequencies with the cymbals should i just do a little eq'ing? I'm not really an amp or guitar guy, though I am a "sounds" guy. I would generalize that cheaper solid-states and emulations can get you fizziness, but not always. What are you using now? You'd EQ both instruments a little differently anyway. It's just they shouldn't be conflicting so much from the start. Cymbals are an odd choice for guitar frequency overlap - I don't hear that often.

http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/nate23/ Looking for some feedback on my tone. It's just a test. Any advice on improving it is appreciated. Both guitar tracks were double tracked and panned hard left and right. A little thin and fizzly. One thing I notice is that it shares too many frequencies with the cymbals.

Hi Guys, I recently had to mix some songs in my apt. The tracks were previously recorded at a studio, and I used Logic Pro 8 to mix and "master" them. I don't have reference monitors, so I'm not sure how the mix came out. I would appreciate any feedback good or bad! Thank you so much!! These are 128kbps mp3 files. Soulwise Based on a Feel Harsh and crowded, but otherwise pretty good.

That's a shame. I didn't buy from them often, but I do remember the service being really good. I hope this transitional period gets worked through - it's having some pretty deep ripples now.

Thanks for the tips! I haven't been able to figure out if my vocals just sound like that, or if I'm just not EQ'ing them right. I'll try to loosen up a little bit. I tend to worry a lot about pitch more when recording and it definitely effects the style. BTW, your stuff sounds great! I don't listen to a lot of electronic music, but your mixes sound very alive. Yeah, well..

I haven't done anything serious with music since way back in high school. I've been getting back into guitar playing in the past year, but with my limited free time, it seems that I've been spending more time buying guitars than playing them. I'm in the Army, and since I'll be deploying again at the end of this month, I have two weeks of leave. I decided that instead of taking a vacation somewhere, I wanted to record an album. So, I broke out the MBox 2 that's been sitting around for the past year (hey, it works!) and I'm getting my hands dirty in my first project. I'm not much of a lyricist, so I've been struggling to come up with original songs. In the meantime, I recorded a few covers that my girlfriend wanted me to do (Still have to give "Part Of The List" a good mix down). I'm not completely satisfied, but I don't know if anyone is ever truly satisfied with their work. (The high part on "Coffee Shop" was WAY out of my range) I was hoping that some of you experienced people out there could take a listen, make some critiques, and maybe give me a few pointers on how I could make these songs and the upcoming ones sound a little better. I have them posted on my MySpace @ http://www.myspace.com/thesourgin Thanks in advance for your help! Fairly solid tunes. The vocals don't have a lot of body, and their performance sounds like you striving for technical acuity rather than emotion. There is a third dimension to lyrics which has to be in the performance - most people can hear if you're faking it. Landon Pigg was right up on the mic for Coffeeshop. Don't be afraid to get up close and personal and play with proximity effect.

I wonder how much he got for it. I think it was 21 million.

Like I said, the change in transient response, smearing and (what sounds to me like) low pass filter are what is making the clips sound different on a whole. Those can be altered via performance. Hence the lack of objectivity. Look, if this difference is so obvious then we'd hear it in more structured tests.

The difference in overtones is very indicative of performance. That leapt out at me before anything else.

The biggest difference is the performance.

Hi guys It would be great if you could give me some crit on the songs on my bands myspace site. They were recorded by ourselves at our schools studio. Any advice on how to improve next time would be great You'd still get more mileage out of better mixes. It'd take a lot of work, but don't throw in the towel so quickly. On the recording side: - Capture more guitar parts. These are where you lose momentum the most. Notice how things suddenly empty out on the verses for Losing My Soul? How about some strums? - Use a real piano and stereo miking. - Play confidently. Dig into it. - Get an overheads sound first before you put any more mics on the kit. That OH sound should be really good by itself. Then fill in spots (snare, kick, toms etc; the common things) to make them sound less distant and roomy. - Consider doing a scratch vocal for the live, full-band takes and then overdubbing a lead vocal. This is better for flexibility overall, but it doesn't really work with all singers, so the choice is yours. - Work on your timing. This will come with more extensive amounts of practice, but yes, it makes a pretty big difference in the recording - even if a mix engineer can time correct and piece together takes. It's not preferable for anyone to do that. - Kill those bad notes. Nail down parts. - This could be Myspace, but it all sounds a bit too dark. Don't be afraid of high end.

I just saw this thread. Kind of embarrassing posting this here since I hear so many great recordings. Anyways, I'm trying to put some effort into increasing the production value of my songs now. I posted this in songwriting section, but would love to get some feedback on the production here: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=846258&songID=7869683 My gear is pretty limited. I've been recording for maybe 2 years or so. All my recording gets done on my Boss 8-track recorder. Thanks Timing, better samples would make a bigger difference than the mix itself. Once you get to this stage there's no way to cover up underlying faults. They're offering up the Big Mono kit for free at Analogue Drums.

While some overlap of the kick and bass is not unusual, it's rare to hear them sharing too many of the same prime frequencies. Often one is above and the other is below. And by cutting parts, I mean re-arrangement. That happens well before EQ. If the kick has to be less busy (common), whatever, but if they're reacting off each other then it's important that both be heard close to their original idea... In which case they need their own frequency ranges.

Hello there, this is my first time using this thread, im really proud of my latest song, because its the best production ive ever done plus im just diggin the song so, Im looking for some advice on mixing and EQing, well just generaly anything you think that will help the mix or any mistakes you hear. Thanks in advance and i hope you guys like it:p http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7876973 Great song. Plenty of masking. Overlap is one of the keys to euphonous recordings, but that's not to say you shouldn't ever carve if need be. At first I thought it was the acoustics stepping on the bass, but no.. It's the low kick pattern along with some of the low mids from the acoustics. Even if you don't agree, the fact is that you have at least two instruments dipping into very similar ranges at the same time. Masking. I hear it a lot in the lows and I either start scooping or start cutting parts quite aggressively. Don't be afraid of the mid or high mid range. The balance is cloudy overall.

How about this one? http://www.jenium.co.uk/downloads/ttacoustic.mp3 That's even better. See now you hear what's really holding this back from sounding like a record - a great performance.

Exactly. You have a first-time poster, w/an obvious troll. BBS was just getting his "Simon Cowell" on. No problem in that - he's my favorite judge on AI, because he gives the mostly delusional contestants a SMALL taste of what it will be like, if they decide to pursue a career in the music business. MG Not all people want that career. I like Cowell, too, as he's equally inspired and impressed by performances he truly likes (or at least ones he'd think would fit a certain demographic). There's harsh, and then there's plain ol' grouchy.

Recording is easy that's why there is millions of home studio around the world. Hard part is competing with commercial studio's that have top notch gear and their mixes are well balanced with depth,width, and space for each instrument that sits perfect in the mix, and can be played on any media player and sound great. Problem I have and like with most home studio's is the gear usually budget priced and the balance of the mix isn't compatible with all forms of media players. I know my mixes lack the balance and space and 90% isn't media player friendly. However, DAW's still beat the {censored} out my old 4 track cassette recorder days. This is precisely why I can understand BBS's stance. We don't want to be complacent and let just any recording go by... But then again, we don't want to be too unforgiving or harsh, at least I'd hope. That can be equally destructive past a certain point. B2B expanded on this.

Recording IS easy. Making it sound really good is the hard part. That's the act. The art is not easy, no.

Anyhow, simple recording isn't too hard these days and really hasn't ever been too hard. But as others have noted, an acoustic singer-guitarist demo is one thing and a full blown time-and-money-budgeted commercial studio project with kit drums and multiple musicians and a complex mix is another, entirely. Certainly. And if you ever have to deal with those super high, unrealistic expectations.. God damn. And I wouldn't ever compare this to a commercial studio project in a million years, it's just something a musician did in his own home with absolute minimal gear and expertise. The thread title is comparing them, perhaps unintentionally: "Recording is easy." I'm of the belief that if I go out and hire a professional, they'll bring something to the table that I can't. Otherwise it's truly a waste. If it's great production, wonderful. If it's superb engineering, that's a huge plus as well. It could be a deep mic locker and great space... That's more renting out the studio than hiring a pro, but the benefit is still noticeable. Whatever it is, it's an advantage that I cannot gain or produce myself with a certain amount of funds and time.

In what part of the universe would that ever be considered even remotely "good-sounding"?? I mean props to the guy for figuring out how to hit record button but let's be real - it sounds like a demo recorded by a novice...... Well you uttered the words "it sounds like a demo" so I think he hit the mark close enough. There are leagues of worse-sounding demos.