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mschuster
09-09-2007, 12:47 PM
hey gang -

i'd love some feedback on this mix/song.. it's my first using Reaper - and really, PC daws in general.

thanks in advance,
mark

format: mp3 - 192k - 6.52Mb
http://www.markbschuster.com/mp3/did_what_i_did.mp3

eightnine
09-11-2007, 06:29 AM
I love it!
Some southern rock - stoner vibe to it. Great voice ;)

And cool riffs, good melody..
Reminds me of Down in some parts and maybe some BLS.

Ok, I loved it, that's all.

mschuster
09-11-2007, 10:43 AM
thanks eightnine! appreciate your comments and listening..

bigwoody
09-11-2007, 12:31 PM
Hey man, this is really nice. I really like the dynamics and the musical chorus in the middle of a "heavy" song. A small suggestion is I would make the vocals more present, especially at the very beginning (just before 50 sec), they are done well and IMHO should be out front. Overall interesting changes and very well performed and recorded.

mschuster
09-11-2007, 06:14 PM
thanks bigwoody, i appreciate you taken the time to listen and the nice comments..

being my first PC daw/Reaper project - i'm not sure i'm doing everything "correct" regarding vocals - or anything else for that matter. ;) i fully admit to being a complete dumba** on this. i opened another thread a few weeks back in the 'NEWBIE' forum asking for vocal tips. got a lot of good stuff - but still wondering..

if anybody has some advice on how to make vocals more present - i'd appreciate hearin' em.

here's what i got goin on this tune for the lead vocal track:

panned center
fx (in order):
-------------
mda stereo (32)
ReaFir eq
Reacomp (automakeup,limit on)
Tls Saturated Driver
verb (medium room - about 20%)

maybe just a vol incr..

thanks again.
mark

dminoz
09-11-2007, 08:16 PM
I think it's a good song, and well-performed, and a damn good mix. It sounds like you had a clear idea of what you wanted, and then went and got it.

The vox could be mixed up a little more in the verses without hurting it, imho.

I like the way the melodic chorus takes it away from the grungy/metal sound of the verse (what's the right word for that genre these days? I forget...) You could even put some strings, like violins/cellos, in the breaks after each chorus, and that would bend things right out. I like surprises like that. Like in an Espers song, when it's sounding all sweet and acoustic and hippified, and then suddenly there's some dirty digitally distorted lead gtr coming at you. It's good to keep the punters on their toes, I reckon. (I'd have the strings working under the vocal overhang at the end, too.)

bigwoody
09-12-2007, 07:38 AM
Holy crap...your first DAW project, your gonna be scary when you figure this stuff out...lol! I think that what you have done with the vocals sound great, I could just use them a bit louder in places...

mschuster
09-12-2007, 10:54 AM
dminoz/woody - thanks for the feedback.

appears a common theme is appearing... louder vox in the verses. just the kind of feedback i'm looking for!

tough to guage that stuff. too loud and it's annoying - too soft and it's, well, annoying.. lol.. maybe i should create a plug that does it for you, or at least recommends something based on the peak db for the song at any point.. now, how do you create a plug? ;)

mark

StudioDave
09-13-2007, 05:38 AM
i'd love some feedback on this mix/song.. it's my first using Reaper - and really, PC daws in general.


Very nicely done. Not my cup of tea musically, but an excellent first work. And yes, I agree with the other critics that your voice needs to come out front.

A question: Do you think of yourself as a good singer ? I've found that often recordists will unconsciously bury their vocals due to a sense of not being a good singer. But ya gotta get that stuff out there if ya got something to say (er, sing). :)

Next time, if you think the vocal is in front enough maybe you should push it out a little further. This is of course a matter of balance in your mix.

Excellent work, man, you're gonna do just fine.

StudioDave
09-13-2007, 05:47 AM
I whipped up this example for a student the other night :

http://linux-sound.org/audio/reaper-demo-1.mp3

http://linux-sound.org/audio/reaper-demo-1.ogg

It's just four tracks, two MIDI instruments and two guitar tracks. Plugins included sfz (with the Fluid soundfont), Luxonix 1310, and ReaVerberator. The music is just a loop groove demo: my student is learning to compose MIDI drum loops and he needed a simple example.

Recorded with Reaper 2.0 beta 2 running under Wine in 64 Studio, a Linux distribution for 64-bit machines, using the OSS sound driver for my M-Audio Delta 66.

Comments welcome.

Jim Roseberry
09-13-2007, 02:26 PM
hey gang -

i'd love some feedback on this mix/song.. it's my first using Reaper - and really, PC daws in general.

thanks in advance,
mark

format: mp3 - 192k - 6.52Mb
http://www.markbschuster.com/mp3/did_what_i_did.mp3


First, that was very musical!!
The guitars/vocals are especially nice...
I'd put the vox out front just a bit more.
The only thing I really don't care for is the drums.
IMO, they sound a bit 'home-brew' compared to the rest of the production (which is excellent).
Don't take that critisizm too hard...
Drums are probably the hardest instrument to do well in a home studio environment. Especially if you're new to recording...
Keep it up! That's a hell of a first attempt with a DAW.


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
jim@studiocat.com

BattleCat
09-13-2007, 03:32 PM
Very good and very CC Adcock. Good Timing with the accoustic Great style man.

L.A.D.

mschuster
09-13-2007, 03:40 PM
studiodave - thanks for the comments.

A question: Do you think of yourself as a good singer ?

hmmm **ponders for a minute...or two** gosh, honestly - not sure. i think there are elements i enjoy about my voice - and others that, well - without an act of god i will just have to live with. we can't all be robert plant or sting.. not that the world needs more of them...lol.. but you know what i mean. anyway - i've just started singing on my recordings lately and the comments in this thread are sure helping my confidence. btw, i'd listen to your post - but not sure what a "*.ogg" file is. Something within Reaper?

also- not sure if people listening to this song are aware ( or even care..;) ), but i'm doing everything on this song from the instruments to the recording. Taint easy.. but - helluva lot of fun!

jim - thanks for your comments. i'm actually not new to recording, just PC daws. i've been recording on a roland vs1824 for about 4yrs and before that a little 8-track for another 4. however... this was my first swing at recording "real" drums. before that i used midi/sampled stuff. so, yea - major, major undertaking - that's all i have to say. recording drums is THE most difficult instrument to record imo. why? there's SO much going on that can destroy your recording if you're not really paying attention OR have a few under your belt. for example - ringing heads, outta tune drums, mic placement (don't get me started...), the room, etc, etc, etc.

any tips on how to make the drums sound better?? i noticed you have some drum samples on your site. i think i actually visited your site some weeks ago when paging through another thread on drums samples... the word on the street is they're pretty damn good!

battlecat - just got your post while posting this! mucho thanks for listening and the comment on the acoustic. i really love my acoustic! have for years...

mark

StudioDave
09-14-2007, 03:38 AM
... i'd listen to your post - but not sure what a "*.ogg" file is. Something within Reaper?

I've changed the format to MP3. OGG is an excellent audio file compression method that's caught on over the past years. For instance, Reaper's demo by Brad Sucks contains a number of OGG-formatted tracks, so I suppose you could play the file there. Bit of overkill though, just to use Reaper as an OGG player... :)

mschuster
09-14-2007, 11:39 AM
got it, but looks like you changed it to an mp3...

very nice. laid back, friday late afternoon with a very large glass of wine kinda tune.. ;)

Jim Roseberry
09-14-2007, 02:46 PM
jim - thanks for your comments. i'm actually not new to recording, just PC daws. i've been recording on a roland vs1824 for about 4yrs and before that a little 8-track for another 4. however... this was my first swing at recording "real" drums. before that i used midi/sampled stuff. so, yea - major, major undertaking - that's all i have to say. recording drums is THE most difficult instrument to record imo. why? there's SO much going on that can destroy your recording if you're not really paying attention OR have a few under your belt. for example - ringing heads, outta tune drums, mic placement (don't get me started...), the room, etc, etc, etc.

any tips on how to make the drums sound better?? i noticed you have some drum samples on your site. i think i actually visited your site some weeks ago when paging through another thread on drums samples... the word on the street is they're pretty damn good!



That's not bad at all for your first attempt at recording 'real' drumkit.

Getting a good drum sound depends on many different things.
1. The drums themselves: Pro-level kits typically tune up better and have better mounting systems for the toms.

2. Heads and Tuning: I group these together because heads first need to be seated properly... then tuned. If you skip (or botch) the seating process, the head may never tune well.

3. Microphones: IMO, Most of the sound/articulation comes from the overheads. Thus, they are really important. You don't have to have the most expensive mics in the world. But a quality set of overhead mics make drum recording life much easier. If you've got a spare $9k, an AKG C24 (stereo C12) will blow your doors off as an overhead mic. ;-)
Otherwise, good small diaphragm condensers tend to work well.
Position of the overheads is also critical. They need some distance above the cymbals... but not so much that they start catching reflections from the ceiling. Also make sure the snare isn't too far left (in the stereo image) when placing the overheads. If so, you need to re-position the mic/s.
Think of spot mics (kick/snare/toms) as adding extra weight (pop/punch). One last thing, you've got to pay attention to phase. When you mix, start by bringing up the overheads. Now check the phase of each of the other tracks as you add them. (Reaper can flip the phase of any track)

4. Room: The room can make/break a drum recording. If you have enough space, be sure to setup a room mic or two to capture natural room ambience. If the room is decent to great, this can make the drum track come alive.

5. Plugins (EQ and Dynamics in particular): IMO, Mixing acoustic drums really sets appart the better plugins from the mediocre. UAD and Waves SSL plugins excel in mixing acoustic drums! TONS of punch/clarity/warmth without sounding harsh/brittle.

I've just barely scratched the surface...
I've got a gig and have to run.

If you have all the above, then you simply need to practice your craft. Each time, you'll learn more...
One last thing, sometimes simpler can sound better.
IOW, You may find that with the overheads/kick/snare/room mics that you don't even need the tom spot mics.
And (IMO)... spot mic'ing the ride/hi-hat just isn't necessary (with proper positioning of the overheads).
The fewer mics you have, the easier the whole process will be.

5-6 well positioned mics... on a good kit... in a good room can sound amazing! Big/fat/punchy/etc...


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
jim@studiocat.com

mschuster
09-14-2007, 04:56 PM
thanks jim - really appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences.

i read about 1000 articles before attempting this first one, but nothing really prepares 100%. i found a lot is trial and error (isn't everything in life...). i used a pair of marshall mxl condensers in a slightly modified spaced pair setup w/ the snare right smack in the middle, an audix d6 on the kick and 57 on the snare. all recorded on my vs1824. once in reaper - the kick and snare were completely unpalatable to me - so i made use of Reaper's own samplomatic and drumtrigger and sampled one of pipeline's kicks (i really like them) and an andy sneap snare. both are blended with the originals. why stop there.. LOL.. the toms sounded like over-turned boxes through the OHs - so i sampled them too with some of mine own from an alesis dm5. the only thing that's real is the hat mic and the overheads...lol. i didn't get as much stereo separation as i thought in the OH's -OR- the VS utility that rips to a Reaper format didn't do it correctly. not sure. still pondering that. it sounds better on the vs..

anyway, a recent new recording of them has turned out better. i didn't spend 2hrs wondering around the kick with a tape measure trying to make sure the snare was perfectly in the middle or each OH was exactly the same height. ;) i think it paid off. oh, and for the room .. that is probably the biggest downfall. a very small 8/9Ft ceiling with a LOT of crap in it. i'm sure it didn't help. on my next recording - i'll keep in mind your statement about reflection from the ceiling. i didn't fully take that into consideration before. i will on the next one and lower the OHs a little.

just out of curiousity, was there one or two specific elements that made the whole thing sound more "home-brewed" than anything else? it'd be nice to know so i can concentrate on those pieces.

thanks again, mark