First thing ever Recorded. Let me have it!

Zak with OMG

Zak with OMG

Bringer of screams
Oct 11, 2009
119
0
16
Connersville, Indiana
Hey.....So I'm recording my bands first Demo and "I" think it's turning out pretty good. This particular piece is something we open every show with to kinda loosen up and get the crowd ready. We decided to record it and put it at the beginning of the cd. So....here it is. Please be extremely harsh. It's really the only way im going to learn. And let it be known that i litterally know "NOTHING" about mastering. Not a thing. Tips or tricks would be extremely helpful.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2905914/This Is The Beginning.wav

Thanks
 
And let it be known that i litterally know "NOTHING" about mastering
Click to expand...

I think you're confusing mastering with "mixing".

Tips or tricks would be extremely helpful.
Click to expand...

Did you already read the 5000 topics on the forum full of "tips and tricks"?



Everything in mono? There is little to no definition in the instruments. And what is that loud "woof" right when the instruments come in?
 
Everything is in mono except for drum overheads. Any suggestions on improving my instrument definition? The loud "woof" is somewhat of a sub drop. Its not the best....but the best i've ever made.
 
yes....yes i do.....i also knew him growing up. He's the kid that used to have some hacked out ps2 game and we thought it was awesome. He's also the same kid that used to be into wrestling. My friend Chris and I used to make like.....fake title belts.....and he used to play with us. That was a long ass time ago. It's actually REALLY FUNNY that he's so big on here. To alot of people he is god. To me he's the dude that i grew up near and saw every once in awhile. its whatev though......3000??? lol. Connersville is small....not that small.
 
Meh.....Thats the thing. I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. I knew him growing up. But thats all. I wont act like he was my best friend. I just knew him. And if I asked then I'd just be some kid on the internet saying...."hey...Hey teach me everything you know so I can sound exactly like you!" Only I wouldnt be on the internet....I'd litterally be right down the road. I don't want to annoy someone I idol....hehehe. You understand.
 
First off dude it'd be handy to know what you used for guitars, bass and drums?

If you give us an indication towards what you already have equipment/software-wise, people can then give you some constructive suggestions about what you can do that's actually within your current reach.

Only suggestions I can really give are that the guitars need to be hard panned left and right to give the track some stereo seperation.

Also, I'd suggest leaving out the sub drop for now until you're a little more experienced with production, simply because it's over-powering everything so much that it's pretty difficult to hear what's going on behind it.

Loud snare roll a little way in sounds like it's clipping.

I'm not that into synth-related stuff so I can't really give any advice on that (sounds fine to me though) but I'd say that all of the basic instrument sounds (drums/bass/guitar) could be improved, but like I said it's pretty difficult to give advice without knowing what you've got going on already!

I'm really sorry if I'm coming off as a condescending bastard, I'm just trying to be helpful :p
 
No offence, but you should really practice ALOT before starting a studio (even an underground, because you guys ask money for **** like that). Those examples @myspace were HORRIBLE.

Edit: And what?! First thing ever recorded and a studio. Good game.
 
NO NO NO......This is my band. I didnt get paid anything at all....hehehehe. Also I do ask for money from other bands. Like 15 bucks, HAHAHA. Trust me...I completely understand that I have Huge amounts of improvement before any real money is involved. On my myspace I even said, "I'll be recording for gas money." My recordings aren't the best I know, But they are better than some garage band setting up a laptop in the middle of the room and hitting record on audacity while playing at the same time. As for what I used to record,

Guitar- Pod XT. Thats it. Plexi Lead ....Amp 26 Recto Dual. The Pod was a hand me down from a good friend, and "I" think it sounds good.....But I can see that the tone is somewhat thin.

Bass-DI'd into a Firepod. When i solo'd the track I noticed That the notes where EXTREMELY skippy. What I mean is that There would be a loud pop....than many quiet notes then loud pops.....then many quiet notes. I compressed it and it sounded "To ME" Amazing. evened everything out.

Drums-4 piece Gretch drum set.... Mic'd with a 7 piece CAD mic set all into a firepod. First things first....I really need to look into stopping bleed in the drums, but they sound ok. A mic to each drum, Two overhead, Room mic'd with a C-3 Condenser.

Techno thing- I made awhile back on FL 8.

*To scissors61- Dude your not being a condensending bastard. I asked for people to be harsh. Opinions on this forum are usually GOLD. And little tips like Pan guitars left and right are extremely helpful to me. Thanks.
 
DoubleFacePalm.jpg
 
uninstall fruity loops IMMEDIATELY.

double track guitars and hipass/lowpass them and hard pan.

smoke the room mic, you have no idea what to do with it.

gate the drums. then replace them. hi pass overheads.

drop guitar fader.

edit: also, when tracking guitars, plug in the pod via usb and set your DAW to recognize/use it as the main ASIO device. this cuts out the conversion and gives you max fidelity, and this is how i did it back in the pod/firepod days. be aware that while doing this the pod becomes your interface, and you can't use the pod/firepod at the same time.
 
darthjujuu said:
uninstall fruity loops IMMEDIATELY.

double track guitars and hipass/lowpass them and hard pan.

smoke the room mic, you have no idea what to do with it.

gate the drums. then replace them. hi pass overheads.

drop guitar fader.

edit: also, when tracking guitars, plug in the pod via usb and set your DAW to recognize/use it as the main ASIO device. this cuts out the conversion and gives you max fidelity, and this is how i did it back in the pod/firepod days. be aware that while doing this the pod becomes your interface, and you can't use the pod/firepod at the same time.
Click to expand...

I like Fl...why uninstall.

Its too late to double track but i will hi/low pass and pan.

no room mic......ok........its whatev i guess. I dont see what im doing wrong.

can gate the drums, cant replace them, I have no idea how. Will hi pass overhead

There is no guitar fader.

I did use the Pods ASIO.
 
Zak with OMG said:
I like Fl...why uninstall.

Its too late to double track but i will hi/low pass and pan.

no room mic......ok........its whatev i guess. I dont see what im doing wrong.

can gate the drums, cant replace them, I have no idea how. Will hi pass overhead

There is no guitar fader.

I did use the Pods ASIO.
Click to expand...

:zombie:

I'm pretty sure he meant the fader on the mixer that controls the volume of the guitar in the mix.

Seriously, I'd completely POUR over this forum and read, read, read up on EVERYTHING recording related you can find. I'm still a relative noob compared to a lot of guys on here, but reading this forum alone is enough to where both this mix and your subsequent replies would never have been posted if you had just taken the time to read up at least on here. To be clear, I haven't listened to the clip, but I can tell you that you need more than mere mix critiques just by reading your replies. Ya gotta put in the time to learn what you are really doing, you can't just ask for tips to make it better....Learning the "why" and "how" is the most important part.
 
the biggest single easy thing you can do to improve this is re-do the guitars, double tracked, and hard pan. seriously. being a good engineer is about to taking a no-compromise approach. the last band i recorded drove up to my place and tracked drums for a whole full length, and i realized while beginning preliminary mixing that the 421 mic on the floor tom had the bass roll off all the way up, rolling everything below like 500hz. i felt stupid for not realizing it while tracking, but it was my fault, and beyond repair. instead of replacing or attempting to "polish the turd" floor tom track, i made them drive back up a few days later and re-track all the drums. the point is, you can't compromise as an engineer. just make the guitarist re-do it all. the fader is the level on your "virtual mixing board" in your DAW. i basically meant turn it down.

replacing drums is extremely easy and there's n00b ready sticky threads at the top of production tips outlining in extreme detail how to do it.

and uninstall FL because if you simply MUST have uber techno metal, you should learn to use VSTi's and MIDI and sequence it within your DAW. don't just bounce audio from FL and import a prefabbed techno track into your DAW.

EDIT: room mics are tricky and if you don't know how to EQ/compress everything very well yet to "glue a mix" together, a room mic is only gonna clutter you up. that's room accoustics aside entirely. you'll get the best results for now with just a spaced pair and drum mics. you want your mix to be as open and uncluttered as possible as a beginner, meaning kill all drum bleed like you said (see glenns accoustic drums for metal tutorial) and EQ everything as tightly as you can. use lots of hi/lopass wherever possible.
 
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