Calling all critcs

[clorox]

This was my first recording effort. Please let me know where I messed up, and how we can do better next time!

Admittedly, mp3's are not the format of choice. I'll provide a link to an aif upon request to my personal email.

We really need suggestions; we start tracking drums on the next CD in a couple of weeks!

http://www.mp3.com/the_Outside

[Stage]

sounds good on my ****** computer speakers..

is the band managed by rick smith?

[clorox]

We have no affiliations with management, labels, etc. It's hard going it alone. We're doing fine (plenty shows, nice crowds, record ourselves, etc.), but we're willing to entertain any offers!
[img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[archtop]

Let me start by saying I really dig it musically.

I am on a personal crusade to try and get drummers to have a lighter tough on cymbals.
It would be nice to give your kick & snare a little high end, but you don't dare when you have too much cymbals already.
Ever had a snare mic with too much hi-hat in it? (99% of the time)
Drums sound a little choked / muted ,(O.K. for kick )like he's using dead ringers or moon gel or tape.
Bass want's to be brighter and a little distorted.


Guitars are big... [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] I like [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] feels like a tube amp up to the solo (1st song fall ...)
I think you're very close to an great recording.
Please don't succumb to volume war's (need to be the loudest cd in the tray) Ton's of data on internet to prove this kills fidelity.theses song are alittle too hot (level)for
me.A recording that is really loud makes me turn it down.

A recording that is really good makes me turn it up
[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[murph16]

Okay, my curiosity got the best of me. I listened to "Things Fall Apart" and it sounds GREAT! I don't think you did anything wrong, besides there is no such thing as wrong, just individual interpretations.
Anyway, if I had to nitpick, I'd say the vocal, primarily in the verses, is not quite loud enough. The singer isn't really "showcased". I would have liked to hear the vocal more upfront and intimate in the verses. When the song gets louder, the vocal sounds much better.
But I'm a vocalist myself and I'm very aware of vocals. That's just my personal taste. Ask 100 different people and you'll get 100 different responses.
Overall, it sounds really good to me. Especially for an mp3! Very professional. Keep up the good work! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[clorox]

Originally posted by archtop:
A recording that is really loud makes me turn it down.

A recording that is really good makes me turn it up
[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Great advice!

[Kipsey]

Sounds good..How did you go about recording the drums anyway, and were you using any outboard gear on this recording?

[murph16]

God I hate mp3.com!! I must have filled out that "you're about to listen to music, blah blah blah" form about fifteen times. If I haven't been to mp3.com for a while, it keeps prompting me to fill out that ******* form!! I won't do it anymore, out of principle.
Too bad, I'm sure your recording is great, but I refuse to keep doing that. It's really a pain in the ass! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

[clorox]

Originally posted by Kipsey:
Sounds good..How did you go about recording the drums anyway, and were you using any outboard gear on this recording?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">For drums, we used the Digi001 so we could have enough analog inputs. We used a Mackie 1604 VLZ Pro for mic pre's. Microphones: D112(kick), Beta 57(snare), SM57's(toms), SM58(hat), AKG C1000's (overheads).

For everything else, we used a dbx 386 mic pre directly using spdif out. The guitars were a combination of live recording his VHT tube amp, and a Guitar Pod Pro. The bass was pure live recording using a D112 and a Beta 57.

All processing (reverb, compression, eq), done in Pro Tools LE with the free included plug-ins.

Mastering done at West West Side Music in Tenafly, NJ.

There ya' go!

[1b9]

First, I'd like to say that it sounds plenty fine for a first effort. (I listened to "Things Fall Apart" and "Upper.")

I thought there was a lot of merit in what Archtop had to say, particularly as reflected in "Things."

On "Upper" the bass's upper register tends to dominate and steal room from other elements, sometimes almost drowning out or pushing the vocal out of the way.

In general, the cymbals tend to get in the way. Obviously, the drummer is partial to beating on them but there's a nagging lack of meat in the drums that seems a bit aggravated by the prominence of the shiny metal. (It sounds on "Upper" like you might have tried to thin them out a bit, too, with a high pass; and it probably helps keep them from completely overpowering things but it sounds a bit, well, thin. I mean, those are big ol' pieces of metal and he's pounding on them. I can see the aesthetic drive to keep them out of the way of the rest of the music, but at the same time they should probably sound like big ol sheets of metal being pounded on. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )