Sledgehammers wanted

[OMP Bassist]

Ok, pull out your sledgehammers and give me your hardest swings! This is my first serious attempt at recording my band. It is a live multitrack with no overdubs - just want to know if I am on the right track. The 3 toms and kick drums were micked with one OH for snare and cymbals, one mic each for vocals, bass, and guitar. Shure mics>cheap mixer>EMu1820>Cubase VST EMU>Wavelab Lite. You can bash the musicianship too, but I am more interested in the sound quality. Any suggestions welcome.

[phuckaar]

Hello there.

Firstly, don't take my words too harshly, I'm gonna be constructive hopefully with what you've put here and be just honest.

First, you aren't doing yourself any favours I'd say putting the track up in this state. I mean that it doesn't show anything about a quality of recording other than it just ain't good There are some interesting elements to your song but they don't come across at all with what you have here. A good effort though and I do hear what you have to play with, but I'd say you need to approach any presentation of the song in a different way.

Second, maybe just use the tracks you have to record with, to record the drums by themselves first, then slowly build the song up in the usual manner using a POD or similar: mix the drums, then bass, guitar, vocals, etc, and make it a proper piece to produce. At the moment it is too abrasive and I do imagine you want people to stay to listen to it, but it'll slice everyones ears off as it is!

Put some time in to get a good sound and you'll get many others commenting on it I'm sure then you will hear better I'd say where you're going wrong with playing or any other area. Good effort though and I hope I didn't bash you too hard!!!

Nik

[humantrip]

Pretty good for a live take, but phuckaar's got it right - you'd be better off re-tracking each instrument one at a time. The tempo change in the middle of the song is cool, but it's not an easy thing to do for any band, especially "live". Using the orginal track as a guide and playing along to it with each instrument one at a time, starting with drums as phuckaar said, will relax the pressure on everyone to have a perfect performance. This way, a mistake by one musician doesn't require everyone else, who may have had a flawless performance, to start over.

This way, too, you have more mics and your choice of whichever works best for each situation. Snare - mic it directly - it needs punch. EQ later will help, but you can't really add something there that didn't exist, merely enhance or reduce what was recorded.

If you have no room to isolate the drums from the monitoring speakers in the recording area, use headphones to get a good mic placement on each drum. 1/4" can make all the difference. Angle is huge, too - straight at sound source yields a completely different sound than across the sound source, and depends on the pickup pattern of the mic type. Experiment like crazy - you'll learn a ton.

The bass isn't bad for being mic'd, but you might want to try a combination of micing the amp plus a feed straight from the amp's preamp out, if it has one. That way you can blend for the best punch and clarity plus amp sound.

Overall, I think you just need to get better quality recordings from each instrument, with regards to mic choice and placement, so that you have better quality to work with when EQing and adding FX, etc.

If you're serious about recording the whole thing live, things need to be tightened up a ton musically, as far as playing together and "on beat", but it can be a great thing. Try a lot of these techniques either way, so you can get a better sound, no matter which direction you go.

[OMP Bassist]

Originally Posted by phuckaar

but I'd say you need to approach any presentation of the song in a different way.

Are you referring to the tempo change? Maybe add a smoother transition?

Originally Posted by phuckaar

then slowly build the song up in the usual manner using a POD or similar.

You mean a Line 6 POD? Yeah, the guitarist is having problems getting his sound the way he wants it.

Thanks for your input, I really expected harsher criticism!

[OMP Bassist]

Originally Posted by humantrip

things need to be tightened up a ton musically, as far as playing together and "on beat", but it can be a great thing.

Yes, I know the drummer has timing issues, I have a special hammer for him! And all of us need to get better. Thanks for your advice.

[phuckaar]

Originally Posted by OMP Bassist

You mean a Line 6 POD? Yeah, the guitarist is having problems getting his sound the way he wants it.

Yes, a Line 6 POD or any Direct Input tool like that. I know the problems of getting a good guitar sound that you're happy with, especially when you don't have a high level setup, but a POD or similar is a great way to get a good guitar tone easily. He could lay off the distortion a bit more than usual and bring up the mids if he wants a good distorted tone, it cuts through way better than one might expect

[valpurgisnite]

Originally Posted by OMP Bassist

Yes, I know the drummer has timing issues, I have a special hammer for him! And all of us need to get better. Thanks for your advice.

I also have a drummer with timing issues. I play in a metal band and the drummer is constantly trying to speed things up. Even when talking about how a song should sound and feel he always says "I think it would be cool if we sped up Part A and then hit with a really heavy double bass run in part B".

I have to remind him that it is okay for the crowd to actually see his hands when playing lol. I did get luck and I convinced him to start using a click track and we'll be working with that over then next few months or so.

As for your recording, I do agree that the snare could have a lot more "pop". Doubling or tripling the guitars on a separate track could definitely bring about a HUGE difference. I personally like VST's (Guitar Rig 3 is awesome lol). A good program like that can let you experiment with different amp/effect/guitar sounds without actually buying thousands in gear that you may never use. However, it's not the real thing and that can sometimes show. It's all about experimentation.

Good Luck.

[brandondrury]

I'm not big on the dull vocal sound. The drums have that VERY natural 60s sound to them. The drums get dramatically smaller when you kick in the rocking.