Critique my home recordings please!

[gregorybj]

Hey guys!! I am tired of everyone telling me that they love my stuff. I believe that they compliment it because they know me! Let me know what you guys think. I am really looking for advice in regards to mixing and production quality. I do not really mind if it does not fit your taste.

Thanks alot!!

Myspace link below!!

[funkycam]

I only listened to “Everyone else”. Here are my quick thoughts:

Intro Guitar is out of tune.

Effects on vocals are v cheesy & distract from the vocal performance.

Vocals way too hot in mix. As is guitar solo

Is there bass guitar on the track? I couldn’t hear any

A good start would be to A/B your tracks with some commercial trax you like. (i.e. comparative listening of levels of different instruments & tones. for example listen to where your snare is in the mix & listen to where the snare is in the commercial record)

If I was to mix this track I would listen comparitively with nirvana & weezer, but pick any band you like with a well produced record.


Hope you find this helpful.

On re-read my post sounds a little rude, but I am trying to help so please take these critiques in the good spirit in which they are intended.
Best,
Cam

[forgivenman]

Only one person?

[Melodic Dreamer]

I would have to agree. The Guitar is out of tune. The drums are lost in the mix. Really, you need to work on your basic drums sound and volume. The Vocals are way to hot. Did you pan anything? Everything sounds dead center. You need some separation in your sound.

Everyone starts out asking questions. So, that's a good thing. I hear potential, but as of right now everything sounds thrown together instead of mixed. Each instrument should have it's own space.

[jcground]

Thanks for the music.

General comments: Overall your stuff shows promise, but it's really ragged. These sound like rough scratch tracks - definitely not something I'd share as a demo to look for gigs or anything commercial yet.

Timing is obviously way off in a bunch of places. Make sure your arrangements and playing are tight.

Work on the vocals, and don't be afraid to do multiple takes until you get one that captures the feeling you're after and also hits the notes. Out of tune vocals never get it. I agree about with guitar comments - make sure you're in tune - but the vocals bothered me more than the guitar. A lot of pros cheat with ottotune today, but to me there's no substitute for singers who can hit the notes. It's worth doing multiple takes to get it right - both in pitch and feel. Today more than ever, the equipment makes it easy to try again, and even keep multiple takes to pick and choose.

I agree with the other comments about your mixes. Some parts are too hot, and others are buried. It varies song by song. In general, I'd recommend thinking about the spectrum of the mix, from bass to treble, and try to give each instrument (drums, guitar, vocals) it's own space at any given time. If everything is fighting for the same space in the spectrum, you end up with mud, or one thing that drowns the others out. Panning, as Melodic Dreamer suggested, is also a great way to create some space.

If you had bass, I couldn't hear it at all. Bass would be a nice addition to the spectrum I'm talking about - it could make your songs sound a lot more full, especially if you wrote bass lines that contributed some counterpoint to the guitar riffs.

Be careful with your use of effects - that's easy to overdo. They're fun to play with, and they can change the character of a song in lots of cool ways, but I think the most important effects in a studio are compression and reverb, and even those need to be used with care. Something that's more in your face like a swirly tape flange really gets the listener's attention, but not if it's going through the whole song. Think about how you'll use effects as part of an arrangement.

Everyone Else - I agree with the other comments. Needs some work.
Blame Myself - intro is pretty long and repetitive, with no real hook to grab me. I was starting to think it was an instrumental when your vocal kicked in.
Step - vocals is more buried in the mix, while the guitar is too hot.
Unstable - I liked this one the best of the tracks you put up, but it has many of the same problems as the others, including a long intro that kept me waiting too long for the song to get going (but I like the riff and the fuzz tone suits the song nicely).
Heart Failure - most interesting drums of the bunch, but still get a little lost because your mix doesn't make anything pop. I hear some Alice in Chains influence in the vocal.
Cause of War - Nice guitar riff again, and the structure of the song works. I liked the two different guitar solo tones playing against each other, but the mix, tones, and vocal all need work.

Overall, sound like scratch tracks, not ready to be a real demo yet, but a couple of the songs have potential. Keep it up.

[gregorybj]

Originally Posted by funkycam

I only listened to “Everyone else”. Here are my quick thoughts:

Intro Guitar is out of tune.

Effects on vocals are v cheesy & distract from the vocal performance.

Vocals way too hot in mix. As is guitar solo

Is there bass guitar on the track? I couldn’t hear any

A good start would be to A/B your tracks with some commercial trax you like. (i.e. comparative listening of levels of different instruments & tones. for example listen to where your snare is in the mix & listen to where the snare is in the commercial record)

If I was to mix this track I would listen comparitively with nirvana & weezer, but pick any band you like with a well produced record.


Hope you find this helpful.

On re-read my post sounds a little rude, but I am trying to help so please take these critiques in the good spirit in which they are intended.
Best,
Cam

Yeah, I thought that it sounded out of tune, and I recorded several times, but the tuner I used said it was in tune. I only put new strings on minutes beforehand. As for the effects on the vocals, I have little to choose from so I used some chorus, a voice with no effects sounds a little rough to me. Will check it out though. Thanks!

[gregorybj]

Originally Posted by Melodic Dreamer

I would have to agree. The Guitar is out of tune. The drums are lost in the mix. Really, you need to work on your basic drums sound and volume. The Vocals are way to hot. Did you pan anything? Everything sounds dead center. You need some separation in your sound.

Everyone starts out asking questions. So, that's a good thing. I hear potential, but as of right now everything sounds thrown together instead of mixed. Each instrument should have it's own space.

Actually, I pan all the guitar parts. The vocals, bass, and drums are centered in most of the recordings. Any advice on how to pan those?
Thanks!

[gregorybj]

Originally Posted by jcground

Thanks for the music.

General comments: Overall your stuff shows promise, but it's really ragged. These sound like rough scratch tracks - definitely not something I'd share as a demo to look for gigs or anything commercial yet.

Timing is obviously way off in a bunch of places. Make sure your arrangements and playing are tight.

Work on the vocals, and don't be afraid to do multiple takes until you get one that captures the feeling you're after and also hits the notes. Out of tune vocals never get it. I agree about with guitar comments - make sure you're in tune - but the vocals bothered me more than the guitar. A lot of pros cheat with ottotune today, but to me there's no substitute for singers who can hit the notes. It's worth doing multiple takes to get it right - both in pitch and feel. Today more than ever, the equipment makes it easy to try again, and even keep multiple takes to pick and choose.

I agree with the other comments about your mixes. Some parts are too hot, and others are buried. It varies song by song. In general, I'd recommend thinking about the spectrum of the mix, from bass to treble, and try to give each instrument (drums, guitar, vocals) it's own space at any given time. If everything is fighting for the same space in the spectrum, you end up with mud, or one thing that drowns the others out. Panning, as Melodic Dreamer suggested, is also a great way to create some space.

If you had bass, I couldn't hear it at all. Bass would be a nice addition to the spectrum I'm talking about - it could make your songs sound a lot more full, especially if you wrote bass lines that contributed some counterpoint to the guitar riffs.

Be careful with your use of effects - that's easy to overdo. They're fun to play with, and they can change the character of a song in lots of cool ways, but I think the most important effects in a studio are compression and reverb, and even those need to be used with care. Something that's more in your face like a swirly tape flange really gets the listener's attention, but not if it's going through the whole song. Think about how you'll use effects as part of an arrangement.

Everyone Else - I agree with the other comments. Needs some work.
Blame Myself - intro is pretty long and repetitive, with no real hook to grab me. I was starting to think it was an instrumental when your vocal kicked in.
Step - vocals is more buried in the mix, while the guitar is too hot.
Unstable - I liked this one the best of the tracks you put up, but it has many of the same problems as the others, including a long intro that kept me waiting too long for the song to get going (but I like the riff and the fuzz tone suits the song nicely).
Heart Failure - most interesting drums of the bunch, but still get a little lost because your mix doesn't make anything pop. I hear some Alice in Chains influence in the vocal.
Cause of War - Nice guitar riff again, and the structure of the song works. I liked the two different guitar solo tones playing against each other, but the mix, tones, and vocal all need work.

Overall, sound like scratch tracks, not ready to be a real demo yet, but a couple of the songs have potential. Keep it up.

appreciate it. There is also bass in my songs, it just is hard to hear over computer speakers. When I listen to it in the car, it vibrates.

[Vibrolucky]

You asked for us to be really honest....

The vocals are not good. Very monotone and off key, to many vocal effects trying to make it sound like you are a singer. (BTW....I suck alot worse than you singing....its not for everyone). It stands out quite a bit because its right up front in the mix.

Guitar is very sterile sounding, very processed. Sounds like you are playing straight into the computer. Needs warming up a little by using real amps/mics, or a better effects processor.

All the drums sound the same to me. It sounds like a drum machine.


Having said all this bad stuff.....it takes alot of balls to write songs and throw them out for all the world to see/hear. Keep trying and you will get better.

Playing live is the best way to get real audience feedback, IMHO. Hope you didn't mind me being honest.

[gregorybj]

nah, didn't think that everyone would like it. Although some of it may sound monitone, usually I am singing harmony with it.

[gregorybj]

Appreciate all the advice so far guys. Not sure what to do with it though. When you say a track is hot, does that mean I should pan it, lower the volume, record at a different volume? I really am having trouble mixing. Panning one thing and lowering the volume on another makes something else stand out even more.

[devinb]

First, always break-in guitar strings, before recording, before playing live, before practicing...

Second, tuning is only good for open strings, assuming the guitar's intonation is off.

I was far more bothered by the vocal pitch than the guitar.

Not that it's mix advice, but I would heed the above advice about multiple vocal takes, and probably go ahead and cut and paste the strongest parts together. Be careful with the gain you're using when you record, and watch the levels...unless it's by design, look out for changes of character in color that the changes in dynamics bought out...in other words, when you got louder, the tone of the recording changed, not just your voice...

On the mix, the vocals were entirely too high in the mix, and over-effected...I can be a big fan of heavy reverb, shoegazer vocals, but effects rarely cover up flaws. The combination of your effects choices left lots of artifacts, little digital noises and what not...listen to the line 'No one wants to get involved", there's so much going on there that you probably don't want...

The guitar did seem a little flat and lifeless, toy with compression, but I'd suggest starting with tiny amounts and adding, as opposed to going the other direction...you want to bring out nuances in the performance.

I'd also look into getting a few drums, maybe just a snare and bass drum, and a hi-hat, and play something simple. Personally, before the drums came in I was expecting something very simple, the fill seemed really inappropriate to me, and the beat didn't do anything for me either.

You may want to add bass, but I think you could get away without it if you did some sort of simple four on the floor drum beat.

All and all, as far as the mix, I think more pressing is probably better source sounds...I'm not saying you need expensive equipment, I'm just saying take the time to experiment with the sounds you're recording, and then work from there...maybe limit yourself to EQ, reverb, and a little compression.

[getbent]

I only listened to unstable...

hey, is the intro the patch out of an adrenalinn?
This song sounds kinda pre demo to me... like when I'm scratching out ideas...

The vocals don't work because you are making the words work.... you can't do the clipped vocal thing and then kinda gloss extra syllables in... it doesn't work.

I'm not sure what you have here... my advice would be to get out an acoustic and see if you can play this song as a folk song... if you can, then go back and start over... your arrangement is just not fully thought out...

Your suspicions are correct about your friends... they probably don't know what to say... and want to support you... but, you need to listen to this yourself and compare it to artists you admire.... do you measure up? if not, what are the differences? What do you need to do to get there....

While it is good to get feedback, it isn't that necessary... you know what is going on here...

[funkycam]

Hey Gregory,
I am by no means a pro mixer, but I do some production & mixing work & think I have a pretty good idea of how instruments should be mixed in a track.
If you want to send me the wav files of one of your tracks I could do a quick mix & perhaps it would give you some fresh ideas.

If you are interested I can pm you my email address & you can send the files via yousendit.

Best,
Cam

edit: I noticed you asked some questions about reaper, which is what I use, so I could send you back the reaper file & you could see what i had done on each part of the track

[GregoryL]

Originally Posted by gregorybj

Appreciate all the advice so far guys. Not sure what to do with it though.

A couple of sites you may want to check out for info. on mixing...

www.gearslutz.com

www.thewombforums.com

Recording Magazine is good also - I've picked up some good tips there.

Some specific topics to reseach to improve mixing techniques:
- using EQ on various instruments
- compression
- parallel compression
- EQ'ing reverb and delay