“Ange - please give me a short rundown on how you recorded this if you don't mind.â€
Right, well it's simple really, I recorded everything straight through the sound card, the guitar was not mic'd as I haven't got the right mic so it was direct line in as with my other tracks so if there is any compression or clipping then it's probably the sound card!
However, as I'm sure you discovered, (much to my embarrassment) i've had a sad attempt at playing with compression and eq (found in the effects box for each track) but all of those were added after recording and they can all be taken off.
Thank you all for your time and your sweet words on me song n voice, this weeks proven one of my toughest (artistic temperament if you will) Thanks guys.
Ange x
Ps Flavio... you know those cute little smiley winks is there any way to add one with reddened embarrassed cheeks? (i've felt the need for one on various occasions!) x
Jeepers, Ange, you have no reason to be embarrassed. You have huge talent. This stuff is all technical. And there are folks here (not me) who have a lot of technical knowledge.
Nonetheless, I’ll tell you what I see/hear, FWIW.
Poppa - she had the track effects on some of the tracks, I just bypassed all of that. Was that the problem? Also - the track faders were all cranked way too high.
Even with that stuff off and the faders down where they should be it still sounds moderately compressed. Ange, remind us what your soundcard is. Does it have compression in it?
Couple other things, Ange: there are still pops in the vocals, from plosives hitting the mic dead on - e.g., “pig” at 12 sec. Those can be fixed by using the vol evolution like you did in the quiet part of track 2 at 50 secs - although you should draw a rectangle and not a triangle. But better mic technique and a better pop filter would be…better.
Actually, there is a lot of low end content in there, even on non-plosives - I just rolled off the low end, and that took care of most of it.
Also, Ange, you seem to have had track 1 cut off before the guitar stopped ringing. Was this because there was so much noise with it so compressed, once the guitar got really quiet?
Just so you know, I love this song and I love your voice.
Edit: I know - I bet that the compression we are hearing is in the PA you are using for preamps - does it have a limiter?
Edit of the edit: I looked at the specifications for the PA, and I don’t see any limiter; perhaps i’m missing it, and maybe that’s not it. In any case, tell us what the meters look like on the PA when you are recording - are you driving it too hard? Are the meters pegging up in the red?
Ange, remind us what your soundcard is. Does it have compression in it?
it’s an old soundblaster live! 5.1
Quote:
Ange, you seem to have had track 1 cut off before the guitar stopped ringing. Was this because there was so much noise with it so compressed, once the guitar got really quiet?
erm! I’m not sure! i was probably just messing around and did it by accident.
is there some kind of way that i could get a single setting saved for compression and another for eq that i could just use on all my tracks, i know that all the tracks are different but if there was one procedure that i could follow to get them all a bit better? i really just need to get the songs up to an acceptable level to sell my songs and get gigs, do you think i can achieve this with the raw files I’m producing or do i need to take drastic measures and find a way to fund some equipment? (am i wasting my time!)
Ange - if you want you could post another .sgw file with your most common vocal track recorded on it - We could save some presets for you that are ‘close’ to what you might use most for mixing… just a thought.
But even with presents that are close, you’d still need to adjust them.
Poppa - she was using the eq and compression built into each channel (and the master IIRC).
Ange, the Soundblaster doesn’t have compression, does it? I suspect (1) Poppa heard the track compression (maybe) and (2) there’s additional coloration from the PA. But once I just set up the wave files unaffected, and then rolled off the low end a bit and did some very light soft compression on the vocals and a bit of limiting on the whole thing, and it really breathes much better. I did not even put any reverb on it, and personally I think it kills. So does my wife. She wanted to know where we could buy the CD.
Edit: if this recording doesn’t get you the gigs, then the club owners are clueless. Don’t worry so much about the sound, at least not if the demo is just for gigs - they’re going to listen to your voice, and as I said before, I think you have a fabulous voice. As far as selling stuff goes - well, there are lots of folks who buy for the music and not the recording - just think of Guided By Voices - and in any case you are already making stuff that is so much better musically than the vast majority of the crud that is out there.
IMHO!
Also - you can always have a bunch of us mix stuff and you pick the best, you know. Some folks here are really , really talented engineers…
I wish there was something to be done with the boxy, piezo sounding guitar thing but it is what it is. The vocal is the “thing” here anyway. Maybe you can get a good mic (or two) to record it with someday.
Well, if you want my honest opinion, D, that’s still too much compression for this sort of song (and I’d control for the plosives just a little more - the “P-ig” is still there at the beginning - and pull out spit sounds, e.g. right when she draws her first breath). Your mix sure does make the vocal harmonies sound tight, though, like Craig says, which is very satisfying. I’d call that a “pop” mix.
Um, Ange, the only place I have to post a mix is on my soundclick site - if I stick it up there but move it to the bottom would that be OK? Or I could email it to you. (Not that it will be as good as D’s, but I think it would be very interesting to hear how different it could sound). I won’t be able to email it or post it till Sunday, however. It’s a big meat-eating, beer-drinking holiday over here this weekend. Me, I’ve got some fine veggies to grill…
I’d say “Pop mix” is right on. I have the harmony vox spread a bit too wide. I was wanting to add a bit of depth to it since there’s only the one part. Over-did it a bit though. Still, I only spent about 20 minutes noodling with it. I’d like to load the guitar track up in Audition and do some surgical editing on it to get rid of some noises but that takes a WHILE… Besides for this kind of diddy it seems appropo to me if a bit of performance noise is in there.
As for the lead vocal, there’s hardly any compression in there? Ange has such a wide dynamic range going here it definitely needs a bit because the lower stuff gets lost a bit. I started with the naked wav files and went from there. When I get some more time, I’d like to fiddle with it some more. It’s cool little song that deserves some more attention IMO.
D
PS Ange? I’ll probably take this with me on vacation next week. Would it be okay with you if I tried to put a bass line and some simple drums from maybe a little cocktail kit or something on there? That may be more than what you are after here… dunno??
PS Ange? I’ll probably take this with me on vacation next week. Would it be okay with you if I tried to put a bass line and some simple drums from maybe a little cocktail kit or something on there? That may be more than what you are after here… dunno??
feel free hun, thank you again for you interest and support, i’m learning so much from you guys and i appreciate everything you’re doing for me.
Hmmm… I only have a 1.4:1 ratio dialed in and I’m shooting the un-compressed signal back in too. What are you guys hearing that says “Too much compression” that I’m not hearing?
BTW, there is NO compression on the harmony vox. Also, I am working in that ‘other’ program. n just don’t work here no mo’ and I’m sick of fighting with it… I have been monkeying around with it. I thought if I put something in the recording contest, I’d do it in n-Track… but alas, it is not to be. sigh
D
PS I’d like to get a nice LDC like a AT-4040 or sumpin’ in front of that gal. I like recording folk what can SAAAANNNNGGG. LOL…
Dnag it all, Diogenes, do a track and listen to once through n-Track and ENTER IT.
I am considering it Tom. I have an old tune I did a long time ago in n-Track. It was for a friend for a short film "thing". I want to "remake" it. It's an instrumental and shall remain that way. I have some new ideas to expound upon it a bit. It was originally only 2 and a half minutes long as a "opener" for the film.
I'll see if I can find the time. I just got a BIG project approved at work and I'll be working like a DAWG on it. I ain't complainin' though... we're adding new equipment and creating new jobs while it seems everything else around here is dying.
D
PS I'm flattered that you think I might come up with something worth entering. Thanks. I tell you if I could write lyrics like some of you guys and could con Ange into doing the vocals... look out...
is there any way to add one with reddened embarrassed cheeks? (i've felt the need for one on various occasions!) x
x
that mix is awesome 
