One of my first songs

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:29 am

This was a local band I've been friends with for a good few years. This was one of the first recordings I totally coordinated. This was before I had a lot of my current gear.
Drums were miked with Rode NT55's as overheads, 57s on snare (top and bottom) and on toms. Kick had a d112 and a 57 was used on the Batter side. Toms had evans coated g1's and was a yamaha maple custom. Didn't not note the kick drum head, but there was no hole on the resonant side.

Bass was recorded through the bassist SVT-6 pro's DI, as well as my TECH21 RBI and upon his request a MXR Blowtorch distortion pedal. This was difficult to work around.

Guitars were done through the guitarist's amps, a Mesa f-100 and a Roland JC-120. You'll definitely be able to hear the two amps. this was also difficult to work around as the guitarist who used the Jazz Chorus was rather stubborn about maintaining his tone regardless. Beta/sm 57's on there depending on the situation, and my AKG C-414 was generally also used about 6 feet back.

Vocals also recorded through the 414.

Cubase 4. Fireface800, drums tracked through the most ragged Mackie VLZ24 i've ever seen. All other overdubs through the pre's on the Fireface
http://www.mediamax.com/the_scort/Hosted/Seven%20Four.mp3
This is over a year old, and I have got a few other projects under my belt since. Retrospectively, i have my own critiques of the mixes despite the severe limitation of circumstance and hardware surrounding the recording. I'd really be interested to hear what all of you have to say about this earlier stuff!
Thanks for your time guys and gals!! If you are interested in other songs on the EP i'd also like to hear your feedback on those!

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:17 am

i like your song,the mix is sweet too...
good luck.

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:14 am

Sounds like a very good track to me. If anything i'd lower the vocals slightly but that's only my opinion.

Good stuff;)

Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:45 pm

yes I certainly agree with you on the vocals!
Thanks for the positive feedback and the constructive crit!!

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:30 pm

I like the mix. Its raw and very big and open sounding. The playing is nice and tight. The song is good although Im having trouble making out the lyrics.

Keep it up!

Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:26 pm

Mixing is really good ,Songs are super,i liked it very much

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:43 am

I like it. Has a cool Mayfield Four vibe.

Thumbs Up

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:33 am

These are all very interesting compliments. I'm glad you all like the tune, I'm sad they aren't including it on their next release.

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:08 pm

Good job man, I like the mix and song a lot. Some parts sort of remind me of this band Morning for the Masses.

Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:16 pm

I'm just curious that no one has noted the distortion on the vocals. Perhaps this is a matter of taste and the style takes it somewhat gracefully, but there is certainly is some distortion on the louder vocal parts, whether they were clipping or if they may be overcompressed.

The drums, guitar, bass all sound tight to me. Brought together well and sounds more like a live performance than a studio overdub or anything. So yeah, good stuff.

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:37 am

i really enjoyed the mix. i think the band kinda sounds immature, but that has nothing to do with you. your a great engineer

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:54 pm

Discrete: Are you referring to the last chorus, "they leave you empty"?
There is a tube overdrive on the vocals, which may have been a little too saturated at some places. Actually it was the DaTube plug in Cubase. The overdrive on that plug is actually not all the friendly.

Thanks for the feedback. I may post another song from the demo as well, just for interests sake.

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:01 pm

the_scort wrote:

Discrete: Are you referring to the last chorus, "they leave you empty"?

Yeah, that's what I was talking about, but after listening to it again today, I'm really surprised I even mentioned that. The song rocks hard and sounds great. Kudos.

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