My Production's getting a bit better

tallone6902

Still working on this one, pretty happy with the way it's coming out so far though. The bass sounds ok through my headphones, but seems to be a bit much when it comes through the speakers. Any feedback is always appreciated. Hope y'all like it.

http://www.digitech.com/soundcomm/guitar_view_music.asp?productid=199&music_id=2195

iliace

Are you adding any reverb? Are you recording it or adding it in post-production? Reduce reverb on vocals, if possible. During lead breaks, reduce reverb on the lead guitar. Acoustic and electric are blended very well! good job there.

The sounds really sweet. I'm listening on laptop speakers, and in fact there isn't much bass... maybe just the speakers. The acoustic and lead guitar

Listening to it on a pair of AKG K240s, and the bass is overwhelming!!! I have no eq or any other effects on, just straight to headphones. It sounds like perhaps some of the bass clipped, due to the boom in the low to low-mid area. Are you running the bass through the GNX also?

Definitely turn down the bass on it, probably around 60-100 Hz, the rumble is really low. Add eq in the mid area, right beyond the 200-300 range, to add some punch to it; also possibly a boost around 1-1.5kHz, play around with it - just keep it out of the 500-1000, that's the characteristic fundamental range for guitars and vocals.

tallone6902

Thanks for the feedback, I've only been recording couple of months now and this is only my second complete song. So I appreciate all the help I can get. I think the headphones I'm using to mix with don't have enough bass resopnse and I'm overcorrecting for it. Gonna work ith the EQ and I'll post it again later.

Also when I recorded it I used a spread delay on the vocals with 10 ms delay and no feedback. I think this might be the slapback that your saying to reduce.

What would be your advice for recording the vocal. Should I start totally dry with it??

iliace

To get proper bass response, don't mix with headphones alone. Use a pair of monitors (preferably 8\" or so) or, if that's not available, a home stereo. Also it's good to listen on large speakers, at reasonable level, to get a better idea of how it's shaping up.

Whether or not you record with or without ambient effects (e.g. chorus, reverb, delay) is going to depend largely on whether you have the capability for adding those in the mix later. If you cannot add them later, I would recommend these guidelines for getting a good ambience:

1. Use the same (or similar) reverb settings to record everything.
2. Use LESS of that reverb to record things like lead vocals and other primary instruments.
3. Use more on rhythm instruments (in your case acoustic guitar) and drums.
4. Refrain from recording bass with too much reverb; you'll generally want bass more up-front. If you do use reverb, try to make it a more trebly reverb since low-end reverb tails will muddy up the bass.

If you can add reverb through a plug-in on PTP or Sonar (or whatever you're using), I highly recommend that instead. Usually when mixing, you want to add ambient effects last, after everything sits well together - so it might sound like it fits when you record it, but not after you're done mixing. Use an aux bus, and output a separate all-wet reverb sound to mix at the master. Turn down the aux bus to about -15dB (or even lower). Adjust the level of send to the aux bus based on the four items mentioned above.

Delay is another story; I would recommend adding a hint of delay to the overall mix, again if it's possible. Usually I'll offset by 1 measure in the left, and between 1.5-2.5 measures in the right channel; add some cross-feedback if your L/R mix varies, and set delay mix to below 10% (probably even below 5%, maybe 4% left and 3% right). You can add heavier delay to lead guitars and things of that nature.

WOGS858

I enjoyed your song very much
god grace is sufficient for you and me
good job