I finished my bands recording last night!!!

camerondye · 04-19-2010, 06:34 AM

After a little over 3 months of work I finished my bands 6 song recording (I'm the bass player). I'm really happy with the results and the good news it was recorded and mixed with Reaper.

To listen go to either one of the following:
www.reverbnation.com/thesecondseen
www.myspace.com/thesecondseen (let the player load then press the play button)

jrhoden · 04-26-2010, 10:57 PM

very cool !

i love it !

ryan462 · 05-14-2010, 07:07 AM

Sounds pretty good man .. good work!

camerondye · 05-14-2010, 08:24 AM

Thanks for listening, I put a lot of work in those but I'm happy how they turned out.
cam

plgrmsprgrs · 05-14-2010, 08:42 AM

Cam - listening on cheap comp speakers. But as far as I can tell you did a fine job with these. Impressive. All in the box?

camerondye · 05-14-2010, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plgrmsprgrs

Cam - listening on cheap comp speakers. But as far as I can tell you did a fine job with these. Impressive. All in the box?

All in the box...mixing and mastering. Thanks for listening.
cam

mrloud · 05-14-2010, 09:30 AM

Sounds very good, I dig the tunes, keep up the good work!

CaptainWigster · 05-14-2010, 09:59 AM

Excellent! Really top notch mixing and performance!

I really like the composition on these songs as well.

May I ask what kind of room (dead/live) and basic mic placement (close/room) you used? Though I can pretty much hear or guess, I'm interested if you tracked together and how you accomplished isolation vs playing in the same room together.

camerondye · 05-14-2010, 10:49 AM

Well, fortunately or unfortunately my guitarist had the whole demo recorded when I got in the band and I convinced him to redo it with me so we made up really good scratch tracks to a click including vocals. Everything was recorded separately and we used no room mics at all unless you consider overheads on drums room mics. All other ambience is UAD EMT 250 & 140 and the Echoboy from Soundtoys. Nobody played in the room together on any of these songs.

We recorded the drums to the scratch tracks. I used the real overheads (Josephson C42 through ADL600) and then used Steven Slate Samples on the drums. I recorded them all but ended up using samples after messing with them for a while, but I like what I ended up with because I think it sounds a lot more natural than most modern type drums. I ended up using no or very little reverb on the overheads (UAD EMT 250) and didn't use any of the room mic I recorded. I recorded the drums in my living room...but it's decent for drums because it has a high vaulted ceiling. I also had a SM81 on the HH which I did end up using a little bit of also.

Guitars are all Mesa Mark IV with almost zero room recorded on them. We actually read an article that Dream Theater put a blanket over the mic'd cab and that's actually what we did. I put 3 traps around the mic and then put a pretty big blanket over everything. It really did take the room out of the equation. The mic is a 57 through a Great River. On the solo's I actually used a modified 57 with a TAB transformer. The mid range garbage I like on the rhythm's I don't like on solos and usually use something else but also through the Great River. This is cleans and dirty channel for electric guitars BTW, SM57 and a Mesa Mark IV on all electrics. Solos also had some Echoboy mixed in and bussed some to the EMT 250. I forgot about mic placement, it's just the mic angled in towards the center. My guitarists cab has a metal grill so we just found a spot where it looked like it had a little better look at the speaker. We should have take the grill off but it sounded good so we didn't worry about it and went with it.

The acoustic that is mixed in with the cleans is my Taylor 514ce recorded with Josephson c42's through a A designs pacifica. The Reverb I used on the clean guitar/acoustic is the 250 or the 140 from UAD or a little of both. The 140 tends to run a little darker and I like it on acoustic and to add a little darkness on vocals sometimes. I love Plate reverb a lot and use Plates almost exclusively. I think it adds a density to mixes that some people just honestly don't like but I love it.

Vocals had a little bit of room sound but not a ton. All reverb was the EMT 250 from UAD and some Echoboy delay. Vocals are all through a Peluso 22-251 through a Great River with an 1176, LA2A from UAD and with some CL1B from Softube.

Bass is me playing my Ken Smith BSR5 through a Mesa head into an SWR cab mic'd with a 421 through the Great River. I think I compressed with a UAD 33609 on bass because I needed it pretty clamped down.

I just got a Distressor which I'm loving on vocals and bass but everything on this project was recorded dry without anything besides whatever the pre-amps did. I tried to be specific on everything but if you have any more questions...just ask and I'll do my best or open up the project and find out.
cam

CaptainWigster · 05-14-2010, 11:47 AM

Wow, really great stuff. I'm impressed with the musicianship required to record a track at a time and retain really good feel and synergy between the parts. Nice job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by camerondye

...I recorded the drums in my living room...but it's decent for drums because it has a high vaulted ceiling.

So this^. Those houses with the high ceiling and 'magic' mix of carpet wood and drywall are so great for recording drums. And suprisingly common.

Quote:

Originally Posted by camerondye

...We actually read an article that Dream Theater put a blanket over the mic'd cab and that's actually what we did. I put ... a pretty big blanket over everything. It really did take the room out of the equation.

Yes 'movers blanket', the secret weapon! Used it many times.

Very specific, thank you so much! You made great use of spaces and gear, performed well, mixed the hell out of it in Reaper, and put it up there to be heard. Well done

camerondye · 05-14-2010, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaptainWigster

Wow, really great stuff. I'm impressed with the musicianship required to record a track at a time and retain really good feel and synergy between the parts.

I'm very lucky to have a lot of talent in the band, it does make recording tracks so so much easier. Thanks for the comments...
Cam

ugh · 05-14-2010, 01:24 PM

it sounds extrenely good ! well done.
nice music, too

a lot of times the bass can be heard clearly (good !), I wonder why that is the case .g.

camerondye · 05-14-2010, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ugh

it sounds extrenely good ! well done.
nice music, too

a lot of times the bass can be heard clearly (good !), I wonder why that is the case .g.

What...you don't think there aren't perks to owning a nice home studio?

nitrousbob · 05-16-2010, 08:42 PM

Great recording.

DuraMorte · 06-15-2010, 05:35 PM

Vocals are loud as crap, as well as the clean guitars/acoustics.
But otherwise excellent work.
Thumbs up!

geetarjake · 06-25-2010, 09:00 AM

I am running my reaper with a MOTU 828 mk3. I am just learning so bare w/ the questions.

I have recorded tracks.. but I cant get them Play back through the headphone mix from the MOTU. I have worked with the Outputs in reaper, and still having trouble. Is anyone familiar w/ this problem that knows a quick fix?