My buddy Reed and I jammed up this little rock song last weekend. I made the backing track this week, and tomorrow we're laying down the vocals on it.
Here's the rough demo we made last week:
http://www.progressions.org/music/racketeering/heartbreaker-demo.mp3
And here's the backing track:
http://www.progressions.org/music/racketeering/heartbreaker-backing.mp3
The instrumentation is simple, two guitars (my Epiphone Les Paul) and bass (Fender Jazz) run through my little Kustom amplifier, using its overdrive settings for the guitars. Drums were programmed using one of the rock kits from Cakewalk Sonar's "Session Drummer".
I've been getting stalled doing some long, ambitious tracks lately so I've taken this opportunity to do some stripped-down, more lo-fi productions. I need to send my Zoom G2.1u unit back for a repair so I'm keeping the guitar simple.
The drum track on this is not complete, and I'm not 100% happy with the rhythm on the main guitar so I think I might be re-recording that. Just thought I'd put this up and see if there's any feedback while we're finishing it up!
Thanks!
Jeff
After clicking on one of your links I got a pop up saying. "your computer has tracks of adult sites that you have visited...blah blah." Which is not possible since I haven't visited any "adult" sites. Bottom line, I don't appreciate popups. Did you know that that your host provider is using pop up adds on their site? Soundclick is much better in regards to the lack of those types of things.
I listened to the first track and it sounded fine.
edit: Ok. I clicked on the second link. There are some timing issues that I'm sure you're aware of. The bass needs better representation. The mix is a tad muddy. I'm sure you're aware that the mix is extremely dry. The guitar tone is actually quite good. Did you record and mix this on the zoom? If you already pointed that out. Sorry, I missed it.
Anyway it sounds like the beginnings of a great rock tune.
My guess is that your browser thinks it's somehow a viral or "adult" site because it's simply an mp3 link instead of a regular web page. My host provider doesn't use any popup ads, those links go directly to the mp3s. You could also right-click the link and "Save Target as..." and then play the mp3 in iTunes or Winamp or whichever mp3 player you use. They're not viral or popups or dangerous in any way.
Thanks!
Jeff
Thanks for checking out the rest! The guitar tone is just my Epi LP plugged into my Kustom amp, with its "Harmonic Clipper" button pressed and the "harmonic clipper" and "selective boost" knobs turned up. I hadn't listened to my amp without the Zoom in a long time, so it was nice to get a decent sound without it!
You think the mix should have some more reverb? Right now there's a basic slight reverb on the whole track, but nothing on the individual tracks. I'll make sure the bass gets a better placement too, I had some issues with the bassline on the middle/chorusy section, playing in the higher registers that threw the mix out of whack. I'm contemplating rewriting the bassline for that bit as well.
Thanks again!
Jeff
For the bass just try some compression with a particularly slow attack. Say around 30ms. Slow release around 150-250ms. Try a ratio of around 2:1. If that's not enough 4:1 would not be unreasonable. You just need to help the transient to be a bit more pronounced. It doesn't have to be overly prominent but just enough so that the bass gets some representation. You could also try boosting around 2kHz.
When you add reverb it will enhance any eq problems that are already present. There's a lot of mid range going on. Try listening to your mix on a different system. You could also try listening to a commercial cd that has the sound you're shooting for and try to match it.
Drums sound great by the way. I didn't realize they were programmed.
By the way. I checked out your youtube vid. Awesome sound. Sounds like real punk. Kind of reminds me of DOA(not Dead or Alive but the canuck punk band.).
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind while eq-ing!
...Youtube vid?
Jeff
Oh. Maybe that wasn't you. At the blog link there is a youtube vid.
Oh yes! That's The Replacements, live from 1981!
Jeff
Cool. Never heard of them but that totally explains the sound. ON another note. You should post your song over at recording.org. Those guys are mostly working engineers. There are some real heavies there hiding behind screen names. You can get some opinions and tips that are really worth something. I'm just a hobbyist.
I've never been there, I will check it out! Thanks again.
Jeff
Hey Jeff,
They both sounded ok alone. Was there of recording of them together that I've missed a link to?
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Together? The first one is just an acoustic demo we recorded last week. We'll be recording proper vocals later today, and then I'll post the track with vocals while I'm mixing it.
Jeff
I'm still not following you, I admit.
I thought the first recording was a track you recorded that was supposed to go over the backing track. They both seem to have the same breaks and structure.
Bish
"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"
Are you pulling my leg? :)
The first track is a demo, it's a demonstration track, it's an acoustic version of the song. Last week my friend and I wrote the song, and we recorded a quick acoustic version, a quick acoustic demo, a demonstration track, so we would have a record of what the song sounded like.
You know, when you write a song and you just want to record a quick acoustic version of it, just so you have a demo of it?
Then, earlier this week, I recorded a more finished version of the song without the vocals. That's the "backing track", because it's the backing instruments without the lead vocals on it. They're two different recordings of the same song, done at different times, for different reasons.
Today, my friend is coming over and the two of us are going to record lead vocals onto the backing track I made, and I'm going to mix that down into the finished version of the song.
Make sense?
Jeff
