First Ever Effort - Model 12

[JSchmo_Bass]

Hey all,

So sharing my first ever “soup to nuts” effort at recording a full proper song on my Model 12.

Process was to track my band on the model 12 in two steps:

Guitar - SM57 on amp (Fender delux)
Bass - DI to track 7/8 from amp (Ampeg V4B has a very nice DI)
Keys - Direct to 9/10
Drums- kick and 2 overheads (all SM57... this will be adjusted to kick+snare+overheads for my next effort)

Vocals were then added via SM58 as a second take while monitoring the band’s effort. We did 3 tries before deciding this take was as OK to use even though the drummer broke a stick halfway thru.

Later I then brought the all tracks into Mixbus6 to re-EQ and “finish” (I am not master enough to call it mastering). While the initial mix down on the Tascam was decent, after I played for quite a while with detailed EQ and compression, and some verb and delay, the Mixbus version won the bands OK to post as a teaser:

https://hometownunknown.bandcamp.com/track/madhouse-drive

VERY open to critiques here; the gift of feedback will not go unappreciated.

We are getting to work on 5 more original songs out via the above process to Comprise our band’s debut “album” in a month or so...

this isn’t a money effort, just a desire to share what we created in this crazy time, before some
of us get too old...

Hope you enjoy.

 

[Morgelec]

I'm a fan! Nice playing and I like the song.

I find the guitar is very dominate, to the point it overshadows other instruments and the vocal at times. But this could be what your looking for too.

 

[-mjk-]

@JSchmo_Bass that is an excellent first effort. I'm going to move this thread in the Song Review forum.

I really like the guitar tone and the playing is great. All of the tracks sound good and the performances are good. The mix leaves a lot to be desired though, but you aren't to be faulted for that as mixing skills take years to develop. Often, the band is too close to the project and they've become used to hearing the session as it was monitored for tracking. A good mix would make that tune really shine!

There are a number of Tascam Forums users who do mixing, so if you would like to post the raw tracks for download, you might be surprised at what you get back. You could have a fully mixed record ready for release. If you do decide to open your song up for others to mix, be sure and include some reference track names to give an idea what sound you're working towards.

Nice work!

 

[Mark Richards]

Agree with mj. I like the song and performance. The key thing about mixing is deciding which element of the song is most important. Whatever that element is should be most prominent in the mix. Everything else should be balanced to support that key element.

There are a few easy things I think you can try that may improve the mix:

• On my reference system, the bass is a bit too prominent and could be better shaped and tightened up. You might try reducing the EQ a few dB at about 80Hz, then adding some mild compression, and then adding a few dB of EQ at about 1kHz to bring out the overtones.
• To my ears, the drums could be more prominent in the mix and could benefit from tuning in a few dB in the 1kHz to 3kHz range.
• On my system the vocal sounded a bit right of center (ok if that's what you intended). If not, it helps to also listen to the mix in mono over headphones to be sure the sounds you want centered are where you intended. It also helps assure clarity in the overall mix. This is easy to do using the Mixbus Monitor module.

Hope this is helpful.

ps - you can upload your mix to finalizer.com for free and analyze/compare your mix to commercially recorded mixes for the same genre.

 

[JSchmo_Bass]

First I didn’t see this section of the forum so thank you MJK for moving my post - a lot to read, listen and absorb here.

Really great feedback, thank you all. I will take it all in and go back to the woodshed some more on it.

I did indeed pan the vocals slightly to try to make “room” for the guitar. That’s not working so well in hindsight. But the point about deciding what is intended to be most prominent is very well taken.

I would definitely consider releasing the individual tracks and trying some other approaches/help. However before I do so I am considering having the band re-take this song as more recently (on another song) I have been able to obtain better results with a different drum mic approach (adding SM57 on the snare, a DMK52 on the kick, and dialing back the gain on the overheads so I get less bleed from the guitar and bass amps in the rehearsal space... also added acoustic tile the walls of the space).

I am clearly on the steep part of the learning curve as to what matters, and the more I mix and listen, the more I want to go back and get the fundamentals of the recording as good as they can be.

Thank you all very much for your help.

 

[-mjk-]

@JSchmo_Bass sure thing. Everyone loves this section of the Forum!

Looking forward to your re-cut. I know just what you are experiencing. We all are constantly upping our game and we want to go back and redo things. If only I could go back to 1981....

Please feel free to do a followup post when you've made the tracks available. Thanks.

 

[-mjk-]

@JSchmo_Bass I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd post the link to your band's Soundcloud tracks:

Hometown Unknown | Free Listening on SoundCloud

 

[JSchmo_Bass]

Yes no problem to repost the link.

I may not keep those files up on SoundCloud for ever but for now if they can be of interest to others, great.

Update - my band and I decided to attempt some “re takes” to try to improve the underlying musicianship (The big learning is ... recording casts a harsh light on things doesn’t it? Humbling!).

So far no huge breakthroughs, but some marginal gains.

 

[BikerDude]

Really great!
Great playing!
Great song!

If I was giving any criticism I'd say maybe boost the vocals a bit.
But it's great!

 

[Jim D]

Nice tune. Kinda reminds me of a SRV type of song. I do agree with BikerDude that the vocals need to be punched up a bit. They are a bit covered over by the guitar.