My First Recording Project - How did I do?

[Zerochance]

First of all, I'm by no means an recording engineer. I'm mainly a guitarist and songwriter. I haven't played in a band for a couple of years now, but I still write a lot of original material, so over the last few months I've invested a bit of time and money into getting the best possible sound out of my home recordings. This is my first project.

Mainly looking for feedback. What I did right/wrong, what could be tweaked, changed, etc. I have no aspirations to become an engineer, but I'd definitely like to expand my recording knowledge since it's definitely such a useful skill.

Thanks in advance!

I used the following gear and software in the recording of this track.

- Les Paul Standard (rhythm guitars)
- Jackson Rhoads (leads)
- Squire five string bass
- M-Audio Pro interface
- Reaper DAW
- EZ Drummer w/Metal Machine extension
- Lepou LE456 amp sim
- NadIR impulse loader w/catharsis fredman impulse
- TSE B.O.D. & 808 plugins.

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/zerochance/an-uncertain-march?in=zerochance/sets/original-tracks[/SOUNDCLOUD]

 

[MrBongo]

i wouldn´t really call it "recording", since there wasn´t a single microphone involved but it´s just fine, work with whatever you got

the guitar+bass section sounds pretty cool.
nice lead sound. I like that you kept the lead guitar volume at a lower level around 1:30, but I´d raise it back up a bit just before the beginning of the doubled lead part, or add some "bridge" FX. feels a bit bumpy to my ears.

EZDrummer cymbals sound like shit, nothing you can do about it ... well, get a real drummer
but that´s a whole different animal, and you won´t learn to do proper drum recording in a matter of weeks or months

good song, too

 

[ForHerDeadEyes]

i wouldn´t really call it "recording", since there wasn´t a single microphone involved

Well, that's just plain wrong..

You got some cool parts going on, and if you're happy with the sound, go for it..
To me, vocals are missing.. not sure if it's supposed to be an instrumental, but some parts feel empty..
Overall, I think it needs some compression to glue it together..

 

[Zerochance]

Well, that's just plain wrong..

You got some cool parts going on, and if you're happy with the sound, go for it..
To me, vocals are missing.. not sure if it's supposed to be an instrumental, but some parts feel empty..
Overall, I think it needs some compression to glue it together..

Should have cleared that up, yes, it's meant to be an instrumental.

Honestly, the goal is to get my home demos to sound as good as possible. I'm not sure what I want to do with my material; whether build a band around it or use it as a portfolio of sorts and maybe join a band in need of a guitarist. We'll see.

I'm definitely a BIG proponent of a real drummer vs. drum samples, but I'm relatively new to my city and don't know any good ones yet. EZ Drummer is a good songwriting tool but I cringe when people argue they can get it to sound as good as a real drummer with a good kit, properly miked. It's a silly argument. Not sure if I'll ever be able to record real drums, but I do know how much better a real drummer is than MIDI samples.

Thanks for the feedback though!