Opinions on new recordings please?

Hi all!

As you may or may not know I am in a band (see signature). Now the music for download on our website is pretty old and we have spent the best part of a year working on what we hope will be our breakthrough album.

The reason I am posting this is because we have got to the mixing stage and as the recording/mixing/mastering engineer this is where I have huge amounts of fun! I have mixed and mastered two tracks which I personally like and before I go on to do the rest of the album I want to know your opinions on the recordings. They always say you should listen to your work on as many systems as possible...

http://www.smokeitndie.co.uk/preview.htm

Feel free to comment on the music or anything you like but I am mostly interested in what you think of the recording. Is it too bright, too much bass, one instrument stands out like a sore thumb? (BTW I know its pretty compressed sounding but that's how we like it in this band! Also with the gain wars and everything it's something you kinda' have to do).

Please bare in mind these were recorded in my modest home studio so don?t expect it to sound like a million squid.

Also I know this isn't directly related to Hi-Fi and I could post this on a music or recording forum but I have come to like you guys and value your opinions. I know you all have good systems to listen on as well

Finally the tracks are copyrighted so don't go doing naughty things with them please! Any naughtiness will result in us sending the lads round as we can?t afford a lawyer.

Cheers,
Simon

 

Please please please dont do a LOUD mix. Its a real pain listening to modern rock recordings. They all sound flat and tedious and just all merge together. Forget the gain wars and do your own thing. I have nearly given up buying modern roack albums. Slip a copy of Yes's 90125 in your CD player and enjoy the drama or listen to the Velvet Revolver album and turn it off or fall asleep after just two tracks.

Bring back the dynamics that make rock so exciting, dont follow the crowd. If you do that then I'm buying!

 

Sorry Tenson

I don't have broadband unfortunately, so can't download substantial files.

Good luck with the album

Chris

 

if you do get signed and release a single the nplease do a 'radio mix' that is compressed to fcuk and a propper mix that has some sort of variance and dynamics to it. just had a quick listen and for me the voice is a little forward and the bass / drums a little recessed but if you like it then fair enough.
cheers


julian

 

I also think the voice is a tad forward. I'd turn the snare up particularly, a bit more on the thwackometer would be good I think. the bass also sounds a tad light, but that of course is to these ears!
What mike did you use for the vocals. It could be that if you could beg borrow or steal a better mike, it might allow you to turn up the other instruments and still hear the detail in the voice. Something like this would help
How are you miking the drums? The cymbals haven't come out that well, it could be you could play with mike placing on that.
You've done a great job though, very slick performance and nice to see you using a variety of dynamics and texture.
Good luck with them

 

Hope you do well tension.

 

Hmm.. I could easily do a version of the whole album with no compression at all (except on the voice as it helps it sit in the mix). Thats how I actually mix it in the first place, then in mastering the compression is put on. It makes the guitars sound larger and more powerful but it does suck the dynamics out.

Hehe.. the thing is it would still be a 'loud' mix as a lot of our music is loud distorted guitar driven!

By the voice being forward do you mean too loud? I think I have a paranoia when mixing that people wont hear what we are saying! The vocal mic I used is a Audio Technica AT3035. Not the best mic in the world, but was the best I could afford at the time (and right now I am skint). Perhaps if we get signed we can then afford a better vocal mic.

A guy on ebay once agreed to sell me an AKG C12vr for £450! But then when someone else bid higher he changed his mind the bastard?

Is it just me that thinks the whole presentation is a little muddy and dull? That's the main reason I don't have the bass much louder.

Cymbals? I suppose they are a bit thin sounding and tinny. During mastering I boosted the treble a bit so that might just be it. They sound extremely clear and detailed on their own so it's probably in the mix where the problem lies.

The drums are samples I made so there is not a lot I can change. I used a pair of TF27's on the overheads, SM57 dual miking the snare and I forget what for the kick. Maybe an AKG D112. We have a drummer who plays live with us but for recording we just use the samples done by midi. We think they sound pretty good and we like being able to tell the drummer exactly what to do =)

Thanks for all your feedback so far!

 

sounds ok to me,maybe lift the bass git a little bit ,and the cymbals are a bit splashy in places, ,nice backing vocal postioning on morning tokyo,
o and forget the 57's on the snare get yerself some beta 56's and a nice beta 52 on kick

 

If you want to compress individual instruments like bass or guitar thats fine by me. But don't compress a mixed down 2 track. That's when things sound awful.

Like Chris I'm a dial-upper, so no can download. Maybe I'll just have to see you in concert.

 

Alright I have done new mix's of both the tracks. They are on the same 'preview' page as before.

Let me know if you think it's any better please!

If it isn't really any better then I suppose I have just done the best I can.

It's strange because sometimes I will listen to them and think they sound pretty good, even next to pro CD's. I think they have a similar tonality to Hot Action Cop. But then sometimes I will listen and think they sound really muddy, not bright enough and basically get pissed off with them, lol!

I guess the question is, if you bought the cd, would you think oh dear the quality on this cd is pants, or would you think it's alright and that it sounds like a lot of other CDs out there? Obviously it's not a wow blow your mind audiophile recording...

Thank you for all your help guys!

P.S. I also put a completely un-compressed version of Mirror Mirror on there in wav form for fun! Some bits like the toms sound too loud because with compression they need to be louder to come through and I ain?t changing it now! Enjoy!

 

I had a listen but I don't really feel terribly qualified to comment. Hope you do well though

 

From my experience the best way to check this is:
1. to listen outside of the room you are playing the recording in. See what sticks out.
2. Turn the volume very low, bring it up gently - this is the best way of checking prominance. Obviously if you can somethings first and it's not the focus turn it down.
3. Burn off copies and play them on multiple systems

By all means do something you like, but if you want to sell copies then you MUST do what your punters want. Seems obvious, but it's easy to get carried away in a studio.

Not my sort of music (style wise), but great sense of creativity both in composition and mixing. Best of luck,

Matt