@fake plastic shrub
Have I made the best use of what I have? This was the first time I've used the firepod and cubase to record. This recording was the last one we'll do using POD and drum machine. I played everything and programmed the drums, even though we are a full band and play out, because it's been easier. I tried to place every part in the mix using decibel boosts and cuts, have i done ok on the levels? how could it have been done better?
A late response is better than none right?
Before I even scrolled down to read your info I was thinking, 'Man, this reminds me of some old-school Kyuss.'
I friggin' love that band and everything Josh Homme has done subsequently.
But really, change the font color on your page or update to the new Myspace format, my eyes can't cope with that kind of strain anymore.
But seriously, I really dig the tunes.
Recording and Mix- First off, there is some clipping going on somewhere, sounds like it could be happening during tracking or could be in some EQ or elsewhere in the mixing. It's not everywhere / on every insrtument, so find it, watch the peak meters like a hawk and just keep it in mind. Also not neccessarily your fault, the tracks sound a little mp3-ifyed. (I complain about that alot.)
I know you used the drum machine on these so my advice would be to be more vigilant about maintaining consistency with the volume levels of the individual drums before even laying them down to 'tape'. Then again I would much rather hear real drums anyway. I felt that on some songs the snare got eaten up and others it was sitting nicely in the mix.
For that matter I really felt the drums were kind of quiet overall. I know drum machine gets a bit tiresome to listen to sometimes, but they were kind-of buried at times.
The Gtr. riffage is pretty sweet, I really liked it, but they were a little too upfront. Gtr. tone sounded nice.
Vox also were a bit upfront and need some reverb,delay, something. I know you got that whole Kyuss influence going on and Chris Goss's vox were pretty dry ,most of the time, but wetten them up some, it will help seat them in the mix some more.
Sometimes the vox got thinner from track to track. Try getting the singer to maintain a consistent distance/position relative to the mic from session to session and save some presets for mixing to try to maintain more consistency.
Overall, I'd say 1. I like your music, and 2. you've got the basics down and your mix isn't unbearable, definitely room for improvement, but not bad.
Keep at it, try new stuff, learn from your shortcommings and improve.
Hope I don't offend you.
-Gabriel-