Green Day - Basket Case cover raw tracks for you to mix

[LeSedna]

Here you go, I'd be especially interested at how you mix the vox in here cause it's quite shitty and difficult to make it sound good .

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- Drums are S2.0 avatar kit for those who are too lazy to program a vsti.
- Guitars are a Lag mg100 (a cheap fender-like guitar)
- Bass is a LTD B50
- Voice is sm57 with popfilter>tube art MP
- BPM is 175
- Everything almost 100% tracked one-shot from start to end of the song so don't expect it to be uber tight, it's like a live recording.
- It's the first time I record myself singing a rock song and I feel like I suck big dicks but at least it was fun. It's really not my confort zone here, not sure if it's the tonality or the type of singing for greenday that i don't feel comfortable. If you could give me honest and critical opinions on it so far it would be appreciated even if it's totally negative (please consider it's recorded with only one take so it shows my real "live" level) cause I'm sort of exploring a few things vocally to find where I am the most decent.
- Additionnaly, i'd be interested in a few tips for recording with sm58 or sm57. I feel like it always give the recording a "live" sound which I really don't like so much. They get plosives too much cause of the proximity effect even with a screen so I'm experimenting using it from a few inches of distance (at least for not too busy mixes where you can't hide imperfections). But I've heard so many good recordings with sm58/57/7b that I feel like maybe it's just me needing to improve singing ?
- have fun cause it's a fun song anyway

tracks + drums midi + drums wavs (175mo)
tracks + drums midi only (52mo )

 

[MetalMiller]

Here´s a quick one. I´ve spent just one hour and fiddled with the X50... About your singing skills: First i couldn´t hear anything. It´s really dull sounding, and popping like crazy. I like the color of your voice, but it seems to weak to get it working. Had needed a lot SSL:Spin: Thanks for sharing...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/929252/Sheen Day.mp3

 

[LeSedna]

hum it seems your drums are off by 1 bar ? Like they are 1 bar too early.

I think I know why : in my DAW, I created a 1 bar blank to have the clic working before I actually record, and I consolidated every wav, but not the midi which still start 1 bar later.

So you should move the midi 1 bar later and it should be good.

Anyway nice to hear another mix, especialy another vocal chain. I'll post my own mix tomorrow. Seems like you compressed it like hell What's the vocal chain ? it sounds a lot different than mine, and I compress it a lot too.

I know it's popping, but I have actually taken care a lot of that by containing the "b" and "p" as much as possible, and by singing a little distance from the mike, and it's still a pain. I don't know where I'm doing wrong. Maybe I should try another microphone than a sm57/58 ?

By "to weak to get it working" are you refering the singing technique or the quality of the vocal recording ?

EDIT : for some reason, i feel like I sound more decent on your mix than on mine, maybe it's a psychological effect of hearing my voice in another's mix. It's actually a strange sensation so subjective.

 

[drope934]

This is my mix, and merci to share it with us! Tried to mix it yesterday night when I was tired and well... 2h of pure shitness... so this afternoon I erased everything and did this mix in like what, less than 1h? First time I load Superior Drumer 2.0 and it's a bit confusing (always used AD drum..).

 

[drope934]

Ho, I'm a total begginer, any advice on my mixe? I think there is some problemes with the snare in some partes. I think i can boost the low a bit on the master bus and remove some highs, no?

 

[LeSedna]

I sort of like the overall balance of your mix, maybe with a little more snare (more in your face) it would sound slightly better but not too sure. What's the vocal and guitar chains ?

That's very fun to hear myself in other mixes. Scary too, I hear so many of my mistakes

 

[drope934]

I have to work on the drums, as I said before, it was the first time that I use Superior Drummer. I still need to find a good preset on the web and try to make it fit my style.

The guitars are the easiest chain I've ever made: LePou Lextac - LePouCab1 with stock impulse (!!!) and a little notch on a EQ to not mess with the vocals.


For the vocals, you need to be more confident. You begin the phrases loud then your voice tend to decrease. I needed to level up the voice ,word by word, to avoid using a lot of compression (which ruins the dynamics IMO). I used IzOtop Nectar on your voice with (don't have the order of the chain in mind)- "preamp", de-breather, compressor, limiter, tape distortion, eq, verb, delay (lol, I think that's all ).

Tonight I'll work a bit on the drums and the overall EQ because the mix sound really good on the headphone I use to go outside, which are not neutral and empathies a lot the bass (make songs boomier) So if it's good on it, it means that there is a real problem on the original mix

If someoneis interested, for the bass I just used some EQ and the the master chain is UpStereo (http://www.quikquak.com/Prod_UpStereo.html), Eq, Waves L3LL-multimaximiser.

 

[LeSedna]

Thanks for the tip, it's the first time ever I record myself singing

My biggest problem was more the overall recording quality, and I really tried not popping the mike, and it was a sm57 with a popfilter, and sang from a distance, with great care, and it's still popping so I don't know where I'm doing wrong. I'm only using a cheap preamp, nothing fancy, and I guess that would help, or trying another microphone ? I know my technique is at beginner level but still it feels like there is something wrong with the recording. It seems to me totally impossible to sing very close to my sm58 without having it popping like hell.

 

[drope934]

Maybe could you invest in a Condenser Microphone. I had always good results with no pop with my THE T.BONE SCT800 + a good popshield.

 

[LeSedna]

Hum I'm starting to lurk around condenser mics, can't find a SCT800 used here. I would like to end in the 100/150$ range, I'm just so new to this.

 

[drope934]

Look out the new AKG Perceptions. I don't know how expensive they are (not a lot I think, but maybe around 200$ for the Perception 420) and I've heard they do an amazing job for the price.

 

[necropsymex]

Hello, new forum member here

My take on it:

 

[chiesa]

can you reupload traks with midi drums??