OT: Check out this recording, comments/criticism welcome

[adouglas]

We JUST started recording our band after way too many years of slacking off about it.

Got home a few minutes ago with our first effort. It's our own arrangement of Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill.

Have a listen...comments and criticism are welcome!

Download it here:


http://putstuff.putfile.com/61432/7694757

 

[SteveB]

I'm only listening on laptop speakers, but IMHO the drums are panned WAY too wide... probably full left and full right for certain parts of the kit. I'd pan them to more realistic places (no drum kit takes up the whole stage, right?) Also the drums are a little too loud throughout.

The guitars sound good. The bass is good most places but too loud in some places..did it clip around 3:20 or did you kick on a distortion pedal? Again, I'm listening on laptop right now so it's hard to critique.

Otherwise, it sounds really nice! Great job covering the song.. i.e. the performances were very good!

(post script: I just listened with good headphones and I'd say the same things, even though I never trust headphones for mixing.)

All the things I mentioned are easy to correct in the mix, except for the clipping of the bass (if that's what happened there).. you'll need to re-record that part otherwise.

Great job first time out! My earliest recordings aren't fit for human ears!

 

[Colin]

I like it, but it needs more cowbell...

 

[adouglas]

Thanks, guys....

Yes, the drums were panned hard L/R. It's a drum machine.

The distorted bass in places (during the chorus) is intentional. It's not clipped...I'm just plucking hard near the bridge. Actually, when we play that live I normally kick in a distortion pedal during those passages, but I was lazy that day.

On listening to it through a variety of equipment (car, home, computer, etc.) I thought the biggest problem was that the bass needs to come down a bit and the vocals need to come up a bit.

 

[AnthonyD]

C'mon Steve... Bass can never be too loud...

Nice work Andrew!

 

[MingusBASS]

Sounds pretty good, although I think the bass is a little too loud. Also, it's a little thing, but I'm not a fan of the way the vocalist says SolsBURY hill at the start of the track. I'm not saying you have to sound English but he annunciates the word a little too clearly for my taste.

 

[eddybomb]

I liked it. My computor speakers are Alesis Monitor Ones, and the whole mix sounded great to me. Of course if the bass is a little heavy in the mix...it's all the better. The bass is dominant without being harsh...I do like the distorted phrases, it adds a little dynamic to the swooping smoothness of the bass line.

Nice job.

 

[ptg]

I like it, but it needs more cowbell...

LOL Walken is hysterical!

Anyway, hope you don't mind comments from a newbie...

I'm not a techie, so I can't help you with the mix, etc. (Though I think that the bass was not too loud. It's a wonderful song but there's not much going on except vocals and the bass, so I like the bass a little up front on that piece.)

Don't put your playing down...Perfect...Soulful and in tune!

Thought I heard the singer a little out of tune but all in all...Great!

 

[SteveB]

Yes, the drums were panned hard L/R. It's a drum machine.

The distorted bass in places (during the chorus) is intentional. /QUOTE]

OK cool. My track on the Forum CD is a drum machine (DR-770), but it's not panned hard L/R. (Sometimes you can edit the kit and change the panning of the individual drums that way.)