New songs from a newbie!

Hi all,
So after spending a boat-load of money on our second CD and not being 100% happy with the final results (we ran out of cash at the end and he slapped it together for us as a favor to help us out), we've decided to DIY this time around. I've got to learn all I can about recording, mixing and mastering. Gee... some awesome new recording skills to go along with my ninja skills... cool!

So here's a link to our first 'scratch' trials. We're just trying to get an idea of whether we should really try this... and I think we will.

Give a listen... one song has no leads yet and one has a scratch vocal, but you get the idea.

Since we'll probably re-record these anyway, I just figured I'd post them to get some opinions. What I've heard from my friends so far is "Don't quit your day job." and "Ummm, can you fit all your gear in the toilet and flush... right now."... ahh... my friends....

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=869303&content=music

The Big D

Great job IMO for scratch songs! You've got talent and great song-writing skills.

You are obviously joking about your friends (or maybe you need new friends?) because this is some really good stuff. Very tight playing and a great sounding band. It's so hard to record live drums, and the drums sound great! Everything seems well recorded. Love the slide guitar work in "She's All Summer". If these are scratch recordings, then I'm really looking forward to hearing what you guys can do when you get to the real thing. Newbie? Ya.... right... It's really good Big D.

Thanks Michael, Janet, Ron, DarinBad and Beagle. Appreciate the kind words.

I must say I was joking about the friends comment. They're all players, have good ears and are brutally honest. And the brutality keeps us all on track... no swelled heads around here!

Drums are done in my basement, no soundproofing or acoustic treatments worth mentioning. We set the kit up next to the stairwell for a little natural verb. Overheads on Carol were XY pattern on the overheads (SM81s), SM57 on a piccolo snare (top) and CAD mics on the rest. The other song, She's all Summer had the 'recorderman' setup on the overheads. I'm not sure which one I liked better. I went 100% pan on the overheads. Then I mixed them, copied the track and compressed the hell out of one of them, laid it in the background a bit and it really fattened them up.

As for the mix spread. I'm fighting/resisting the modern mixing trend of one guitar 100% left, one guitar 100% right. I absolutely hate that sound. Loathe it. I get apoplectic. Did I say I didn't like it yet? :o) Especially when the main rhythmn is only in my left ear for the whole song. Arrrgh. That's why I am trying to keep the main guitars at about 50-65% L/R. If there's another guitar riff or a background/secondary part, I going to try to put it at 80% L/R. And you can take that as the ramblings of a madman, for what it's worth!!

Yup, probably could be a little wetter. I'll dip it in the pool a little longer next time!! :o)

The Big D

Yeah, I'm diggin this. I like this style of music, and and the performances are excellent and I like the mix.

I liked your songs, and your band sounds tight. My favorite is "She's All Summer" - that's a cool tune.

Thanks for sharing.

Hey BIG D, two great tunes, great structured on both songs and the band sounds tight. I have to say for scratch the mix sounds great.
On SHE'S ALL SUMMER , the vocals to me had a Roy Orbison feel. It's nice to see another forum member from the Chicagoland area. GREAT JOB!

Later

Thanks drumstixkev! Hey, I'll take a Roy Orbison nod any day of the week! Go Cubs/Sox!!

Thanks Tom. I know... that weird artifact is showing up on everything. I wasn't too worried about it because it'll be chopped off at a later date, but it's odd. We don't even have a synth on the song. I think it's tied into the drums when I mix them down. That's on my 'to do' list of things to figure out!! Yeah, a bit of amp hum. I'm tempted to use Guitar Port to track the guitars so I have a little more control.

She's All Summer sounds quite good and is a good tune.

mix-wise i would concentrate on the drums. they have a pretty soft sound and they are getting covered by the mix. the hat and OH come through good but the snare and kick are in the back row... the vocals could probably come up a notch. i hear some room sound in them too, (or reverb needing a lot of help), what's your recording space like?

guitars seem ok if slightly thin. bass should be a lot more prominent given how sparse everything else is, so you may have some stuff to clean up in the lower mids on all tracks around 400hz. probably vocals mostly. you need to get the kick and bass locked together using complimentary EQ. i can hear the beater which is good but there's not much punch to the kick. in fact you may want to bring down the OH/hat in relation to the rest of the kit about 2 or even 3dB or so.

edit: sorry that was on carol used to be.