Pro Advice Sought

Ok, its stick my neck out time!

This is my first post on the Studio but you may have seen some of my posts in the lab.

Apart from making tube recording gear I also do DIY recording, but as this is a solo activity I need some feedback from some pro guys to make more progress.

This is me doing the lot to various degrees of competance:-
http://soundcloud.com/delayed-action/heading-for-nowhere

The input train is Rode NT1-A through my EL84 mic pre, then Pultec and LA-2D or BA-6A to my Yamaha AW16G digital recorder.  Guitars and keyboard DI'd

This is my own arrangement of a "Jets Overhead" track, but I don't have any autotune or similar its just down to repetition until its acceptable.  I'm 61 so I'm obviously not looking for commercial anything, I just want to learn how to make the best recordings I'm capable of.

You guys are the only contact I have with the Pro recording Industry so I trust your opinions +ve or -Ve and they are important to me.

best DaveP

Hey I really liked it! Found it easy to listen to, which is very refreshing.

abechap024

abechap024 said:

Hey I really liked it! Found it easy to listen to, which is very refreshing.

Click to expand...

Can you hear my sighs of relief?
Thanks!

Cool song.

There seems to be a build up of lower mid frequencies and some low frequency build up which is robing the track of some clarity. The kick drum is very boomy, maybe a low shelf on that would help. Perhaps try high pass filters on some other instruments to clean up the lower mid-range.

Perhaps you need to upgrade your monitoring to be able to hear these frequency build ups more clearly.

Mark

Thanks Biasrocks,

Thats the kind of input I was looking for.  I'll look into the EQing of the relevent tracks

best
DaveP

I also have a AW16G recorder...and i feel like I'm always fighting for clarity on it...
it does have a nice "smooth" sound but always a little mooshhy.

That being said its great fun just to sit down and record! No mouse clicks.

I like it!

Really nice sounds. Awesome layering. Loving the bass sound. A little thick overall as others have noted but I dig that.

The little guitar "blips" during the verses, maybe sounding "boxy" to me? Maybe pull out around 300-400Hz? Maybe add a *little* high end, and then pull the volume back of the blips just a dB.

Lead vox. Less reverb, get it more up-front (especially verses), try more of a delay instead of a verb maybe? Maybe high-shelf boost on the high end to sparkle it up a bit?

Nice guitar part starting at 10 seconds in, watch timing between that and the drums, sometimes late, sometimes early. Same thing happens with the "blips" during the verses. Ever so slight, but you can tell it's out if you start bobbing your head to the song, listening to that part, and it doesn't groove in spots.

Being really nit-picky because I really like the arrangement and production, and the song, good stuff!!!!!

On vocal intonation, if you have the time, I'd love to see if you tracked vocals, ensuring you're breathing from the diaphragm. On the other hand, I personally really like the vibe you have... Some people are really crazy about pitch being perfect all the time, I kind of like a more relaxed approach.

Thanks you guys,

There's lots for me to think about there, I was the vocalist in my band in the 60's and although I did the arrangements, the others were better musicians than me, as you can hear; I have been appalled at my sense of timing and I can't drum for the life of me!

Anyway, what I can do something about is the EQ and mixing and that is why your comments are so helpful, I'm very grateful for them.

I still have an ear for a good song, that never leaves you, even if everything else goes south in the end.

all the best
DaveP