middleaudio.com

by **Ian** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 3:16 pm

I am in a band and we finally decided to record something. instead of going to a studio and paying money, we decided to do it in our basement. we rented a small 4 input recording board and 3 mics for the drumset. We put the 3 guitars and the vocal mic through our mixer and out to the recording board as one input, then filled up the other 3 inputs with drum mics.

anyway check them out and please post some feedback.

http://www.mediafire.com/?e1tg0wtztdx

if you like the music pm me for the full set.

by **macrae11** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:07 am

Just wondering what the purpose of this demo is?

by **oddioguy** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:39 am

*Awaits Ian's reply to macrae11's post before delivering critique*

by **Ian** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:18 pm

we just wanted to do a few recordings that we could send people as a demo tape

All I wanted was some feedback on how they turned out, since I did them in a basement.

by **oddioguy** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:08 am

Sounds a lot like the recordings I used to turn out as a kid. If you weren't intentionally useing massive compression, I would say they you have overloaded your soundcards' input. Try reducing the main out levels and try again. Could make a lot of difference.
(Of course, I have no idea what soundcard/computer you were using...)

From a musical standpoint, listen to you timing...objectively. If this is a demo to secure paying gigs, you are going to want to tighten up your playing.

Keep recording and listening to yourselves. It will improve your playing dramaticly.

by **macrae11** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:37 am

Yeah there was a few other recording issues i noticed as well. It sounds like you have some phase issues between your drum mics. Also not all of the parts of the kit are coming through equally. There's lots of hats, but not enough snare. Lots of rack toms not much floor toms. Not much kick.

Here is a link that was posted on this forum before that talks about micing up a kit with three mics. Everything might not apply, but should steer you in the right direction.

http://www.mercenary.com/3micdrumstuf.html

There is definatly some input distortion going on becasue some levels were too hot. Sometimes this might not be a big deal(might even be a good thing sometimes) but there are several spots on the lead vocal, which isn't helping.

Also as oddioguy was saying, watch your timing. Especially noticable on fills.

I hope this isn't to harsh, but we're just trying to steer you guys in the right direction. As far as this recording goes, i think it's a valuble learning tool. Recording yourself lets you hear flaws that you might not pick up on while playing.

As far as recording quality, i don't think it is of sufficient quality to use as a promotional tool. If you're just recording because you feel you should, perhaps saving up to do a small demo at one of the local studios might be a better way to go. But if you're really into recording and enjoy the process by all means mess around with different methods until you get something that sounds good. Many of us here just record music for fun, not because we plan on selling it or making big money off it.

by **Ian** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:44 pm

thanks for the replies, yeah the drummer seemed to go off time while doing fills. Some of the vocal distortion you guys were talking about must have come from the crappy recording board because I did not mess with the EQs hardly at all.

o, and I dont think we will use this demo to make money, just to give people for free, to get small gigs at like sessions.

thanks! for your replies

by **Alain Benoit** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:36 pm

Ian wrote:Some of the vocal distortion you guys were talking about must have come from the crappy recording board because I did not mess with the EQs hardly at all.

thanks! for your replies

The mixer you used should not be typically generating any distortion regardless of EQ settings unless the gain structure is outta-whack.

That being said, like MacRae mentioned, the likely source is the input stage on your computer interface.

by **Alain Benoit** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:37 pm

Ian wrote:
.........to get small gigs at like sessions.

What do you mean by sessions?

by **oddioguy** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 7:27 pm

Ian,
Browse the artists section here...

http://forums.middleaudio.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Most songs were recorded in basements and spare bedrooms using bare bones gear, and a little creativity.
Gives you a sense of what you can achieve with a low-dollar budget.

by **Malcolm Boyce** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:12 am

I'm not going to get into a technical dissection of your recordings. Your request is a broad one, which asks for broad answers.

I like some of the tunes. I hope they are originals.

I applaud your taking a crack at recording a demo yourself, AND then coming here and putting them up for folks like myself to hear. Kudos for that.

I will give you three broad ranges of quality in recordings. These are all subjective, and opinion based:

1- Album ready. Finished product, ready to peddle to whomever may want it. Your best work.

2- Demo quality. Nice, but not the best it could be. Weak or incomplete performance. Not the perfect sound or quality. Fine for promotion, or for giving out to friends.

3- "Learning the songs." Used by everyone to document where you are with the tunes. Allows you to fine tune the details, and get them ready for the next step. This goes for performance as well as sound.

I would agree with Andrew and say that these recordings would fall into the #3 class for me.

Keep recording your songs, and use albums you like as your benchmark, or reference. Work at it and you will get closer to what you like. This is the definition of what is "good". What you like is "good".

It is hard when you are starting to listen to your own work and be critical of it. BE CRITICAL! Make it sound good to you, and it probably is good.

After all that, on the other hand, if you have specific questions about how to get to where you want, ask and the folks that hang here will be more than happy to help you out, as we disagree with one another... ;-)