ShortScale.org

i've been playing this song for more than a year but never really bothered to record it 'proper' so last night i set up some stuff to record it..
no amps were involved,
just guitar->pedalboard->m-audio firewire interface->ibook

i'm not very pleased about it, drum samples and timing mess up here and there so i'm not even sure wether i'll record the vocals too later on to put it on the myspace page for public listen-age..

but you can give it a listen here and then tell me what you think


click

I'm looking forward to hearing it with vocals as at the moment it sounds like several disjoint sections kind of linked together, I'm interested to hear what it sounds like in true "song" form.

However there's some really nice guitar work and sondz on there which is cool. Nice fuzz.

How are you making those drum samples? They sound pretty realistic to me!

i want the transitions to sound smoother too yes, now it's to much of a cut/paste thing, especially the bridge because it's more of an improv part but it's hard to do that when you're recording eveything yourself, it's not as spontaneous ..but i'm keeping the overall structure (very short verse), just a short and simple song.

drum samples come from here and there and everywhere, hehe, freebie stuff on teh intranetz and garageband loops, my gf has a drumkit at her place but recording real drums is a biatch.

OK cool - how are you "programming" the drums, what are you using for that?

i don't really 'program' them, i just have different loops and i cut and paste them in garageband until they sound somewhat 'realistic'....very primitive.

yes. finish this. it will be worth it. I likes it.

heavium wrote:...no amps were involved....drum samples and timing mess up here and there so i'm not even sure wether i'll record the vocals...tell me what you think

Personally, I like the timing "mess up here and there" - makes it sound raw, and live.
If you used an amp on one or more of the guitar tracks it might really bring it to life, but it sounds great as is. Definitely a cool tune - do a vocal!

with vocals:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7n0x09tmyso


this might just be the final 'demo' version until i win the lottery so i can get some decent recording equipment or cash for a 'real' demo.. but anyway.. there's hiss where you don't want his, bass boom in teh vox etcetc.. it's the best i can do so.. it's alright..for now. hope you like.

heavium wrote:with vocals:
http://www.mediafire.com/?7n0x09tmyso
...

Nice. I'm listening thru laptop speakers at the moment, but it sounds cool!

Breederstastic!

I'd drop a crap load of low end of the vox though, they're reet wooly.

I couldn't really handle the woofy vocals, you should really kill the lows on them.

yup, i did opt for the 'reduce bass boom' option in garageband, but i think i held the mic waaay to close too, that's what you get when you're recording vocals in a car, haha ... i should redo them.. again.. if i weren't so.. lazy.. ohwell, fuck it, it is what it is, if you can't understand the lyrics because of my poor mic technique, lack of time or silly accent i'll post them here if you want.
doog, wether you wanted to or not; i think you just gave me the most motivating compliment.. ever !

btw, i played a gig last friday, tonight and have another one coming up (sunday) so i'm kinda..wrecked, but last friday was reeally weird, people were all over me with compliments..and other stuff, haha.. i hated it..but it was good for my bigass ego too.

heavium wrote: doog, wether you wanted to or not; i think you just gave me the most motivating compliment.. ever !

Good to hear.

If you're using a bog standard dynamic mic, keep it a good 2 or so inches from your mouth, and if you havent got a popshield, try singing at an angle into the mic to reduce the popz.

And don't bury your vocals in the mix- sing loud 'n proud!

yeah, i'm using a shure sm58, no pop shield or whatever,
..angled, yes, gonna keep that in mind for the next time !

had lots of volume issues with teh mic too, my interface kept giving me these digitalized ring mod-ish things when things got too loud so i had to turn down the volume, then i had to hold the mic closer etcetc.. recording sucks.

John lennon used to catch (most of) his pops with his hand.

heavium wrote:yeah, i'm using a shure sm58, no pop shield or whatever,
..angled, yes, gonna keep that in mind for the next time !

had lots of volume issues with teh mic too, my interface kept giving me these digitalized ring mod-ish things when things got too loud so i had to turn down the volume, then i had to hold the mic closer etcetc.. recording sucks.

Can't you just boost the volume of the track in Garageband once you've recorded it?

i always turn each instrument into a separate mp3, which means everything gets like five/six tracks or more, garageband is extremely quiet when you only use one track per instrument, there's even a slight volume drop when you turn them into an mp3

vox were either way too loud compared to the instrumental track (and constantly overdriving ) or way too silent (when everything was done instrumentally i turned it into one mp3 file for the instrumental part)

you just have to do it that way because otherwise you have tons and tons of tracks and garageband just can't handle that (well..my ibook can't..and my head can't either )

..but i'm learning, it's impossible to even come close to a 'real' studio recording right now, i just do it to sort of have something that sounds somewhat representative for heavium

Actually a car is an ideal space, acoustically, for listening to music, so I don't see why recording vocals in a car would be a bad idea.

Good isolation. and no matter how dead the room is, it won't ruin a close mic'd voice. In fact a dead room is the preferred space for a lot of vocal recording. IE a walk in closet full of clothes is a good spot.

And as far as getting a cleaner recording with your interface. (I'm not sure what you have) But if you keep your signals going in clean and undistorted and you don't hit the interface too loud either... when it comes to mixing, you will get a world of difference when you go to add some compression.

Pop Filters work best around 6 inches away from the mic. And you can make one out of a coat hanger and a nylon.

Does garage band have compression?

Mixing is half the battle of getting something to sound good. But that's not to say getting a great recording and recording things right isn't equally as important.

But, I'm no expert. I just read a lot.