Acoustic Guitar And Vocal Song - Positively Ignored

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:07 pm

So I'm doing an EP for my drummer and this is the first of the six songs. If anyone has advice on the mix that would be very appreciated. Please ignore the autotune, he asked for it. Thanks so much you guys!

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=880080

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:56 pm

Hello and welcome!

Good job with the song. I'll attempt to provide a little constructive feedback, imho... It seems to me that there is very little low end present, and a lot of energy around maybe 2KHz-4KHz on the vocals. Sounds kinda "telephonic". Also, I would prefer to edit out the mouth noise just before the second verse. But if all these things are what you are going for in the first place, then you nailed it! Wink

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:00 pm

I thought the same that the low end was missing especially from the guitar.

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:11 pm

I did not notice the mouth noise thank you for pointing that out. Yes I was using a MXL 990 which I am told is a somewhat midrange-ish mic. I will try cutting somewhere in there. I'll try boosting that low end to. Thanks!

Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:15 pm

Let us know how it turns out - post an update!

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 1:30 pm

Thanks everyone for all the great comments. Here is an updated version. I took off the high pass filter on the vox, cut some at 2.18khz, and boosted a bit at 8khz. The guitar I took off a somewhat heavy high pass filter I had and boost 3db at 80hz. The second mix is on the previous link. I removed the mouth noise before the second verse too.

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:13 pm

Op is "punkrocker1" with two posts.

You are "punkrocker" with one post.

Given the sock-puppetry that's been happening. I ain't clicking.

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:40 pm

It may not be due to any thing the OP did. Seems to be going around this weekend.

The only real difference, and control of this specific issue, are the "Join dates".

They are months apart, so that for certain may be cause for concern.

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:42 pm

I think punkrocker forgot his password and had to sign up again?

Anyway, I couldn't tell much difference in the guitar eq, but just listening with some 'phones on my laptop for now...

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:58 am

I think it was better. I personally would still add low end, but it was closer. On the right track.

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:37 am

No i think a must have made an old account long ago on this site for something and used the same password and forgot to put a 1. it was me though. Sorry not up on the lingo but what sock-puppetry has been going on?

EricUndead and mwacoustic - I have already boosted by 3db with a 3.00 bandwith at 80hz. How much do you think I should do and where?

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:24 am

The second mix is better. The guitar is warmer. A little buzzy for my taste. Buzz is OK, but it could use some more body. Maybe a microphone closer to 12th fret. The double tracking is a little distracting in headphones, maybe you could pan them a little more toward center.

The vocals still have the lip smacking noise. If you want to keep it in, maybe bring it down a little in level? The vocals also sound pretty heavily EQ'ed. Maybe that's what you are going for. If not, try cutting from the guitar instead of boosting on the vocals. Do you have a low pass filter on them?

I know you said ignore the auto tune, but I can't. Maybe move the pitch detection threshold up a little so the tails don't get mutilated. Or feed it a cue track.

Over all it also sounds very empty. Some reverb may help, and some saturation on the vocals. Or get the rest of the band in their for parts of the song. Another option is to put it up on www.kompoz.com and let someone else add to it.

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:51 pm

How does it sound with no eq at all? (nothing boosted or cut)

Did you apply any eq while tracking?

I'm learning about all of this as I go along, too (training my ears) so for what it is worth...

It is possible that you are trying to compensate for frequency issues that are too much for post-processing eq? In other words, if the guitar itself doesn't have much low end, and if the mic position was up on the treble side, etc, etc... then you can boost all you want and it still won't quite get there.

And don't worry about Greener... he must have had a bad run-in with a sock puppet as a child? Wink

Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:09 pm

Sounds worse than with it. No eq while tracking. I think I'm just going to leave it as is for now as he has 6 songs to do and I don't have a lot of time on my hands. Thanks everyone though for all of their input!

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:59 am

Are you happy with the tone you are getting from the guitar? If you are recording 6 songs, then spend some more time on microphone placement. Put some headphones on, and move the microphone around while your buddy plays. It sounds to me like you have the microphone right over the sound hole picking up the string buzz and picking noises. You should consider moving closer to the 12th fret, or at least further from the guitar. The MXL 990 should work fairly well for guitar. Backing it into the room about 12" will help fill out the mix as well, just keep an ear out for the small room sound.

Thanks for sharing your recording. I enjoyed listening.

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