Well.........the drummer on the second cut is bit better and hits things a touch harder. It also sounds like they have a better recording environment. It also sounds like they have done some drum replacement on the kicks and the snare at least.

Neither one of these are really all that sterling recording wise. I do like both sets of guitar players.

Not my cup'o tea as far as style of music, but then you just asked about the sound.

Yes, the second one's drums were all sound replaced and the attack of all of the samples was boosted, leading to the louder uniform sound. Thanks for the feedback. The first one was actually recorded in a pro level studio and the second was recorded in a living room :/ i think the engineer in the second one was a little better. honestly. the first one is my band, and i'm not quite satisfied with the quality yet, being a wannabe engineer myself. Does anyone know a good way to boost the gain of the first sample without clipping it? should i suggest that it be done in mastering?

Wow, there are so many things here.
The first one has a lot of potential, but the mix is poor.
If I was sitting in a club watching this performance the drummer would be about 50 yards away, the bass player about 25 yards away, the Gtr's about 10 feet away and gollum would be standing on my table.
The gtrs and bass have an abundance of lo mids that could possibly be tamed. the midrange of the gtrs and the vocals sound quite good.

The 2nd song, as has been pointed out, had the drums replaced by samples and is brought much more forward in the mix. Certainly this would be standard fair for a home recording or a less than stellar performer. But the gtrs and vocals do not sound as high quality as your song. The result of the drums being clear and the rest of the band sounding clouded, makes the drums sound even more artificial than they are. I find it distracting. The parts don't match. The low mids are slightly more controlled and produces a slightly better mix, but the overall experience seems disjointed.

I have better faith that your recording if it were remixed would produce a better end product. (assuming the drums were multitracked by a quality engineer) I don't know how much time you spent mixing, but you should be able to get more quality results within 5 to 6 hours.

Cool, thanks! My tracks are unmixed and unmastered, which has alot to do with the low mid situation. We actually took these tracks about five minutes after the rhythm guitar was recorded. :wink: I'll let my engineer know about your suggestions. It was actually his first recording. Ever.

that's not sound replacing, it's sound placing! the drummer of the other band was digital... the drums are definitely programmed, and not even really good. sounds very lifeless.

but for that kind of music sound ADDING is more or less unavoidable. i say sound adding, because you shouldn't replace the original sound completely. mix your drums as good as possible without samples, then add samples to kick, snare and toms. will sound much better and not as static as the other stuff.

Thanks. We have some other issues with buzzy guitars in the track at http://www.myspace.com/drewrecordsyou . Any way to fix this digitally?