E-minor Rockish Bit, feedback please! |
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E-minor Rockish Bit, feedback please! |
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Sep 15 2007, 12:43 AM |
I've been feeling incredibly uninspired for creating music lately and I finally actually felt like playing yesterday. Came up with a little something that ended up being fun for me to play, so I don't feel so worthless on guitar for the moment ( I haven't practiced very much in a while, nor done much creation aside from a couple collaborations ).
I welcome any and all feedback : Melodic ideas, execution, recording tone (looking at you Andrew!), etc. I'd like to work on the tone a bit, cause I'm not sure I have my boosts / cuts at the right point in the eq. Also, this was an initial recording - so not quite finalized, but it will keep evolving as I play anyway so I thought I'd share. Update: e_minor_rock___izotope.mp3 ( 1.04MB ) Number of downloads: 609 Did a couple minor updates to the EQ settings for the guitars and added a couple iZotope presets on the master for some reverb, widening, exciting and suchwhats. Also panned the two guitars about 12% to either side. It does widen it and clean up the noise, though it almost sounds a little muddy or muffled to me. I'm not familiar with all of what the Ozone is capable of. This post has been edited by exorcyze: Sep 15 2007, 07:10 AM |
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Sep 15 2007, 03:17 AM |
I think that was quite good, but I agree with Robin about the guitar sound though
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Sep 15 2007, 03:42 AM |
Hi there, did someone call my name?
I think "horrible" is a little strong, I would say "under produced" and this comes down to tips and tricks that you learn with practice. Here are a few pointers:
This post has been edited by Andrew Cockburn: Sep 15 2007, 03:42 AM -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Sep 15 2007, 04:16 AM |
Andrew : Thanks for the feedback. I'll get on the other computer and try to grab some screenshots of my eq settings and give you some specifics. I'm using reaper and have all the standard plugins that come with it along with things like WaveLab EQ and iZotope Ozone, so any and all specifics to get more pleasing sound I would be all about. I'll grab that stuff and post it. Cool -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Sep 15 2007, 06:07 AM |
Looks good ... probably the biggest thnig you can do at his point is pan the lead part of the way to the left and the rythm part of the way to the right, that should help a lot.
Regardsing the EQ, the approach is not really to EQ the individual tracks so they sound good, but to EQ them in the context of the mix. For instance, in the rythm you might cut the highs a little, and on the leads cut the lows so they aren't fighting for the same frequerncy range ion the mix. Finally, looks like you don;t have a reverb impulse loaded, are you sure you are getting any reverb at all? (I can;t remember if reapers reverb does algorythmic as well or not) OH, one final tip, fpr the delay, try a ping pong dleay - that will help with the stereo width as well. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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Sep 15 2007, 07:17 AM |
Ok, thanks for the tips. When you say "cut the highs a bit", is there any good starting points ( ie a frequency range and a db amount to cut / boost by ) that you would recommend as a rule of thumb? Its very hard to generalize of course, and I would say talking about frequencies is not the best way to go, ditto for graphical eq tools - they are great but they put the emphasis more on what you see and less on what you hear. In general, less is more - try to cut frequencies rather than boost others and do it a litle at a time and listen to the result. Each mix is completely different though. QUOTE In one of the previous collaborations, you said the item I submitted had a lot of high-end noise ( if I remember correctly ). Did you hear that in this? Do you recall what you cut and by how much to bring out the richer tone? Yes, I put in a big cut around 3500 hz if I recall, but remember its always in the context of the mix. Your guitar this time had a similar sound but in this more edgy song I think it works a lot better - in the collab I was going for almost a bluesy sound so I wanted to get rid of the high end fizziness - in this case it helps the lead cut through. The tool you are using by the way is more of a problem fixer than an EQer although it will do both - in EQ you usually gently dip certain broad ranges of tone rather than put in drastic cuts - ReEQ would be abetter tool to use here as it is a little more gentle. QUOTE Is there any general starting points for baseline EQ on different types of music that you could suggest ( or a resource ) ? For instance, if I'm going for more of a bluesy sound then I want to cut / boost at these bands, versus if I'm going for a crunchier metal sound I could do this? In recording terms, its always better to get the basic sound right rather than fix it in the mix. If you don't like the sound you have coming out of your amp and pod, fix it, don't try to change it in the mix! Getting a bluesy sound in recording is the same as getting a bluesy sound in real life - get yourself a Les Paul and a great tube amp, or maybe a boss BD2 etc, you can;t take a shred sound and make it sound bluesy in the mix. Really the first and only rule is to go for as near to perfection as you can at every stage - perfect instrument perfectly tuned, perfect effects settings. Perfect performance. Perfect recording levels. Perfect mixing - if you have been perfect up until now, it should almost mix itself QUOTE Is that ok for the amount of delay I put on the lead? I was trying to not saturate it too much, just give it a little bit more spaciousness to sit in the mix without being too overt. Let your ears be the judge - its your track not mine I would say the delay you had in certainly wasn't overwhelming, but ask yourself this - if its that subtle is it adding anything ? Try it both ways several times to make sure it is adding something or do without it if it isn't. For adding spaciousness do think about trying the stereo ping pong delay though. QUOTE Finally, any other suggestions on tone, technique or melody? =) Thanks much for the feedback and help. I'll also try applying one of the iZotope presets on the master fx chain for some widening and post that in the original thread to see if that helps. Yeah, don't use Ozone yet - get the track so that you are happy with it, add Ozone as a last step if at all. The panning helps matters but you still need to differentiate the guitars some more, maybe make the rythm a bit less intense, and have it working in rythm with the bass (whoch isn;t there yet ). That's what comes to mind at the moment. -------------------- Check out my Instructor profile
Live long and prosper ... My Stuff: Electric Guitars : Ibanez Jem7v, Line6 Variax 700, Fender Plus Strat with 57/62 Pickups, Line6 Variax 705 Bass Acoustic Guitars : Taylor 816ce, Martin D-15, Line6 Variax Acoustic 300 Nylon Effects : Line6 Helix, Keeley Modded Boss DS1, Keeley Modded Boss BD2, Keeley 4 knob compressor, Keeley OxBlood Amps : Epiphone Valve Jnr & Head, Cockburn A.C.1, Cockburn A.C.2, Blackstar Club 50 Head & 4x12 Cab |
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