Holy crap your so above my level. I mean, I get what your talking about, but when I'm EQ'ing the bass, or drums or vox or whatever, I have no clue about dbs, and Hz. I just go by ear. It is very frustrating, as I wish I really had more time to study the numbers of it, because I know its all really just math. I was checking out different options to hand my tracks over to a pro early this morning even. HAHA. I just got done jamming all day with some friends and am beat and need to spend the rest of the evening with he wife or I wont be able to play tomorrow. Ill send you a pm in the morning with a dropbox account and I can upload the wav files. FYI., this was recorded through a Presonus studiolive 3288 onto pro tools 9. Mostly everything I left flatlined on the presonus and added all the plugins for EQ, Compressors, Gate, etc., within PT9. Meaning, I can bounce a raw track as well as send my mix, in wav. That would be awesome and I'd be eternally grateful though if your able to provide a better quality mix. I would obviously offer fair compensation to an extent. I cant pay for hours and hours of work, but I would def. want to offer whatever I could afford at the moment. I've listened to your recordings, and though the music is much different, you have a superbly clean mix and fully respected when I listened.
I've been at this probably 25 years, in various capacities, so I can say that it starts out as feel, goes very numbers-oriented, then comes out the other side again as all feel. I'd love to spend an hour with your mix. I'd do it as a hobby, just to get more experience. Now, you may or may not know but I am a semi-pro mastering engineer. So if you wanted I could try my hand at that too (though to be honest, you should never have your mixing engineer also be our mastering engineer, because they get too precious with their mix). I look forward to your PM!
Ok; I thought maybe that's where I'd heard of the band name (I kind of know Kris because our fathers were best friends in HS), but maybe I'm just making up the memory.
Are you playing from your phone? I think Reverb has an app for phones and does weird stuff like that. Im at my pc now and can play all the songs from this link: ... EDIT: Nevermind. I sent in a request to them No matter what I did, only the first song will play for me now too... UGH... Today is the day I set up accounts for Bandcamp, Soundcloud, etc., So I should have other listening options I can post by days end.
I used to do commercial midi loops in my studio overseas with Cool Edit Pro and Cakewalk, although I started with the original Apple computer and Mastertracks....the pacman of midi history. Used a Korg M1 for many, many years....that was fine...built in dynamics, swing tempo, eq..etc...but I did studio recording as a sideman for many Taiwanese pop stars and there's nothing like a really expensive tube microphone in a booth with an actual engineer running the board....problem with home recording was pushing play, then trying to instantly get into a part with an analog instrument or voice. The only time I tried hiring pros and working in a real studio in Hawaii, it cost me over 3k to record 7 tracks on one song..mostly paying union scale to a Jamaican guitarist and a Jamaican drummer to get properly in the mood while the rest of the band tapped our feet waiting. Never again. I picked up a Fostex 8 track digital recorder that I've tried some demos on and it's just too thin sounding....guess I'd have to run the master through a lot of outboard gear and learn more about how to use it....thinking of using the built in microphone and miking up actual amps next try.
Once you go digital (I had a fostex digi 8 track at one point myself), its not so much the recording device that helps the warmth of the sound, but the preamps that you are going through prior to the recording devise. I learned this going from the MBoxPro with PT7 to PT9 and getting a presonus preamp. Presonus is mid grade semipro at best, but it was still hands down better. Warmer, fuller and crisper than simply going direct into a tabletop recording device. I shared a basement next door with the percussionist from Pink Martini for a couple years downtown in our rehearsal space prior to purchasing my house. Martin taught me a ton of stuff about micing and preamps. I have 7 mics on my kit. He had two. His recordins were kicking mine in the ass in all aspects. But the thing was, I had $800 invested in 7 mics. He had $3000 invested in two mics. I had $3500 invested into a 32 channel Presonus studiolive with preamps. He has $7000 invested in a two channel ( f0rgot the brand name) preamp. The difference was night and day. Wish I had that kinda money to spend on gear, but you piece it together one toy at a time. I bought some monitor speakers and a Yamaha keyboard off him. He game me a screaming deal. Incredibly great person.
Okay guys, try this. I tossed them onto SoundCloud. Man they sound so weak as MP3's though.... https://soundcloud.com/user-676004734
Huge difference dude! listened to them all and enjoyed them...I'd still boost the bass and vocals and drop the guitar and drum volume but I've got really old school ears.
I always remember that the Beach Boys used a chevy oval car radio speaker to mix Good Vibrations...how they got that bass vocal mix is still a mystery to me without blowing out a small speaker
I have shared my music on countless occasions but, since the band is defunct and I an now currently writing for a new project, I decided to make all downloads free for my band's last album. Give it a listen. It isn't the best recording, as we recorded and mixed it ourselves. But I am still proud of what we did, and it was a giant learning experience. I now know what to do and not to do for the future (at least some of it). I know the drums don't sound dynamic enough, the backup vocals sound awkward in the mix, and my lead vocals are far from perfect (that's what happens when you lay down a couple of takes, and your drummer is mixing the album without your feedback). Anyways. Here is free music. Ps. This was mastered by Tony Lash (just about the only thing we got right...hehe). Pss. I can't wait to improve and create new things in the future.
Geez. Ive been around here and there in various projects in town for the last 15 years. The more I think Ive learned the more I realize how little I know. I speak of all the people in town with skills, in good bands with good recordings like this, etc. Humbling to listen to this...
Are there any left? Hahahahahahaha. There are a lot left actually. A lot. I wish we would have just done a limited vinyl press and had digital downloads with it. You are free to buy one if you want. Still a valid way to do it. But I would probably just send you one for free.
And by the way @Orion Bailey, everything @riverman and @BlazerCaravan have said has been spot on. I really like your vocals. They should be raised up in the mix. And yeah, the guitar sounds a bit thin without some mid tones in there. Their advice trumps mine honestly. But, this is how we learn. Recording is part science and part art and very tough to master. I hope to get there someday, cause I am not there yet.
Thanks man. I am proud of the band even though we never really broke through. Had fun though and got to tour the country. I can't wait to start some new stuff up when I get back. I am going to join my old drummer from this group to play keys and backup vocals in a group he is fronting, starting a new band to release my personal songs, and also starting a collaborative group trying to bring back Electro (think early Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Mantronix, Zapp and Roger etc.
