My First Recording... :D

GigaWatt · Jul 17, 2009, 01:18 PM

ok guys, this is my firs recording with the band...

... the name of the band is Beyond The Horizon... the style is black/death/melodic (don't think many of you will dig the style LOL

). the EP should be released in the near future, don't know when exactly, but the label manager said that i could post 2 songs from the EP in mp3 @128kbps on the net...

so, here they are...

Rainfall

Reign Of The Unholy Stars

the recording was done in my apartment, so the sound is not really great, besides the guitars and the bass guitar was recorded with direct input, so they sound kinda "clean". oh well, that's life...

Used equipment:

Software: Window Server 2003 EE SP2, Cubase SX 3, ezdrummer + drum kit from hell, Reverb A plugin, Roomworks plugin, Double Delay plugin, Waves L3-LL MultiMaximizer VTS plugin, Omicide VST pugin, EQs, etc.

Recording Hardware: Lexicon Omega USB connected sound card + Ploytec USB ASIO driver, Behringer Vamp 2 guitar processor.

PS: about the clipped signal, the rest of the band wnated it like that, so it was 3 against 1... LOL

comp_ali · Jul 17, 2009, 04:40 PM

Nice job , man.

Mac Daddy · Jul 18, 2009, 03:25 AM

The style I don't mind but a bit too repetitive for me on it.

Great job on the recording well done

GigaWatt · Jul 18, 2009, 12:33 PM

yeah, i know it's kinda repetitive, but most of the songs were written by the lead guitarist, so in a way it's more his work than than the rest of the bands...

and thanks on the opinion about the recording, in a way, that's all i needed, cuz it's my first recording and i really needed an opinion about the production...

Tyrsonswood · Jul 18, 2009, 01:17 PM

The recordings are clean and seem well mixed. A couple of things come to mind, realize I didn't listen to these on my basement system but on something more like others would hear these on....... I heard no bottom and very little spatial relationship. These two things made the songs sound a little "thin".

I've found that I need several mixes, depending on the desired output format. When going to mp3 I need to mix overly fat, lows and low mids really heavy, because the compression removes so much. If the output will be CD or wav then I mix more flat. The hardest to get correct is mixing an mp3 for MySpace because they re-compress the mp3 and remove more for their "streaming audio" format....... There are guys that do this mathamatticly and know which frequencies to boost/cut, but I just fudge it to get close.

GigaWatt · Jul 18, 2009, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrsonswood

The recordings are clean and seem well mixed. A couple of things come to mind, realize I didn't listen to these on my basement system but on something more like others would hear these on....... I heard no bottom and very little spatial relationship. These two things made the songs sound a little "thin".

i guess that there is no bottom cuz of the mp3 compression (i know, i had the same feeling when i heard the compressed waves: "where is the bottom...?"), but there are no worries cuz the final product will be released on CD

. and about the relationship between the two channels (i think this is what you meant when you wrote spatial relationship, if this is the correct term for the corrleation between the two channles, i'm just getting into the audio mixing terminology LOL

), the rest of the members of the band kinda wnated it to sound that way, so i just mixed it like that. i know, the guitars are too separated appart on the left and right channel... i also think that the solos are placed too much in the background, but (again) the rest of the band wanted it to be mixed like that... :S

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrsonswood

I've found that I need several mixes, depending on the desired output format. When going to mp3 I need to mix overly fat, lows and low mids really heavy, because the compression removes so much. If the output will be CD or wav then I mix more flat. The hardest to get correct is mixing an mp3 for MySpace because they re-compress the mp3 and remove more for their "streaming audio" format....... There are guys that do this mathamatticly and know which frequencies to boost/cut, but I just fudge it to get close.

the tracks are not meant to be played on myspace, or any ither kind of flash player, so i guess there is nothing to worry about...

i would have uploaded the two tracks in flac or wave, so that everyone can have a taste of what the final product should sound like, but the label that the EP is supposed to be released for is against any kind of wave or flac releases before the official release of the EP, so i guess i'm kinda stuck... :S

Tyrsonswood · Jul 18, 2009, 04:53 PM

But you can see what I was talking about, a CD mix converted to mp3 looses a lot, so if it were to be released in multiple formats different mixes are needed. Ditto on the "where is the bottom" That was my first reaction when I compiled a wav to mp3... I actually lost some notes.

The "spatial" relationship I was mentioning is wide VS. narrow, this mp3 sounded narrow to me but that probably fits the genre better. I use a very wide mix for my ambient work, but narrower for my blues/rock. These sounded very "center heavy" to me. Could be my sound system here too.....

Nice work overall.

GigaWatt · Jul 18, 2009, 06:54 PM

actually, i thought that the mix was too wide (LOL

)... try hearing them on headphones...

... actually, most of the mastering work was done on headphones cuz one of my tweeters fried a couple of days before i started to mix the songs... :S... anyway, i only mixed the mid and high on the headphones (cuz of the fried tweater, i couldn't really distinguish how wide the mix was... :S), while i did the lower ones on the speakers (both of the mid-bass speakers where fine...

)

will try to do better next time...

... there is another band (i'm not a member of it) that wants to record their first EP in my "studio"... so, a lot of the mistakes that were made during this recodring will not be made again...

... but hey, if you don't practice, you'll never get good at it... hahahaha

anyway, just wanted to say thanks on the opinion, really means a lot...

DJ BIG T · Jul 18, 2009, 07:06 PM

hey i like it did a good job recording it...i might be a dj but i listen to all types of music i have 2 brothers that listen to this plus i grew up with rick ross from death...

Mac Daddy · Jul 18, 2009, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ BIG T

hey i like it did a good job recording it...i might be a dj but i listen to all types of music i have 2 brothers that listen to this plus i grew up with rick ross from death...

Word !!

Overall a few notes here and there GigaWatt but I think you did one f*ck of an awesome job mixing and recording this

Tyrsonswood · Jul 18, 2009, 08:17 PM

Not mistakes, or things needing to be done better, by any means, just my take on it...... I didn't check it on the system downstairs or headphones either, i'm sure that would make a difference.

Mac Daddy · Jul 18, 2009, 08:27 PM

Same here Ty on recording we can never too many ears Bro

GigaWatt · Jul 18, 2009, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Overall a few notes here and there GigaWatt but I think you did one f*ck of an awesome job mixing and recording this

yeah... one of the guitarists made a few mistakes here and there (misplaced a string or two :S)... we noticed after we recorded everything, but by then it was too late, he sold his Behringer Vamp 2 processor and the sound just wouldn't be the same without it... :S... so we decided to leave it as it is... :S... oh well, it's only an EP, the album will be recorded in a real studio...

thanks to everyone for listening to the demo, i needed a second opinion on the mixing and mastering job, and you guys were more than helpfull...

... thanks a lot again...

Falstaff · Jul 19, 2009, 10:09 AM

it will definitely have to be played at full volume. I dont perosnally listen to music of this style, so I played it for my son, who has his death and speed metal collection, he immediately tried to find it on ITUNES to download it..LOL
My son likes it, and that is saying a great deal becasue of his age (21) and the gamers he hangs out with listen to the same thing, AT FULL VOLUME!

GigaWatt · Jul 19, 2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falstaff

it will definitely have to be played at full volume. I dont perosnally listen to music of this style, so I played it for my son, who has his death and speed metal collection, he immediately tried to find it on ITUNES to download it..LOL
My son likes it, and that is saying a great deal becasue of his age (21) and the gamers he hangs out with listen to the same thing, AT FULL VOLUME!

hahahahaha

... nice to know that we have fans abroad... hahahaha

still not released though, and i don't think it'll be available on itunes even if it was released... the label it's supposed to be released for is kind of a "street team" underground label, so... :S

Falstaff · Jul 19, 2009, 06:48 PM

forgive me, but my son wanted to know if you all were planning a signature song. Something that would make it different from the music he listens to.
I know lots of bands slow things down a bit to capture a niche in the market, do you all plan to do that?

GigaWatt · Jul 20, 2009, 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falstaff

forgive me, but my son wanted to know if you all were planning a signature song. Something that would make it different from the music he listens to.
I know lots of bands slow things down a bit to capture a niche in the market, do you all plan to do that?

no, we're not thinking of making a signature song... if one of our songs turns out to be our signature song (some day), that would be pretty neat

... but if you meant it as making a song only for the purpose of being our signature song, than the answer is no... :S... don't get me wrong, we just don't like the idea of making songs for any other purpose other than making them for fun...

and about the slowing down, we're not planning that much ahead... at the moment, we are concentrated on releasing this EP and see how things turn out after that...

Asmoday · Jul 20, 2009, 03:06 PM

Not bad man...not bad...

Falstaff · Jul 20, 2009, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GigaWatt

no, we're not thinking of making a signature song... if one of our songs turns out to be our signature song (some day), that would be pretty neat

... but if you meant it as making a song only for the purpose of being our signature song, than the answer is no... :S... don't get me wrong, we just don't like the idea of making songs for any other purpose other than making them for fun...

and about the slowing down, we're not planning that much ahead... at the moment, we are concentrated on releasing this EP and see how things turn out after that...

ahhhhh, an EP then, my son will be able to get it.

GigaWatt · Jul 21, 2009, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falstaff

ahhhhh, an EP then, my son will be able to get it.

there should be copies available online...

... don't know about mass distribution all over the world though... :S

supafly · Feb 17, 2010, 07:24 AM

not really my style of music but i wish you all the best with fortune and fame.

BAdD0gg · Apr 5, 2010, 08:04 PM

Good first go man. Couple of critiques. I agree about the low end, mp3 is murder on that though. A boost around 120-250hz can fix that for the mp3 mix. As far as the clipping goes... even if the band thinks it sounds good its not the way to go. Get good solid levels when you record and then throw a limiter on your master fader and set it to -2db. That will make it louder and prevent clipping. Compression is a fickle beast but when used right it can make your mix. The problem is when you clip on the way in you hear it. When you clip your mix when you master you loose definition. There is a balancing act when you are the engineer. You have to keep the band happy without giving them full control. It is really hard recording/mixing your own stuff too. You dont have an objective ear and that tends to bite you. I'm afraid to open a huge can of worms so thats as far as I will go.

Good work though on your first recording. The tones you got were good. What mics did you use? Did you use any triggers for the drums? My first session didnt sound that good and I ended up re-recording drums and guitar. Keep at it and you're gonna get it. I am finishing up my bachelors in audio design and technology so if you have any questions I will be glad to help. Keep it up and keep em coming.

Dude111 · Apr 7, 2010, 08:16 AM

Not bad at all!!!!!!

Thank you for sharing

Jul 17, 2009, 01:18 PM	#1
GigaWatt Now In Color :D Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Macedonia, Skopje Posts: 2,116 Rep Power: 81 System Specs	My First Recording... :D ok guys, this is my firs recording with the band... ... the name of the band is Beyond The Horizon... the style is black/death/melodic (don't think many of you will dig the style LOL ). the EP should be released in the near future, don't know when exactly, but the label manager said that i could post 2 songs from the EP in mp3 @128kbps on the net... so, here they are... Rainfall Reign Of The Unholy Stars the recording was done in my apartment, so the sound is not really great, besides the guitars and the bass guitar was recorded with direct input, so they sound kinda "clean". oh well, that's life... Used equipment: Software: Window Server 2003 EE SP2, Cubase SX 3, ezdrummer + drum kit from hell, Reverb A plugin, Roomworks plugin, Double Delay plugin, Waves L3-LL MultiMaximizer VTS plugin, Omicide VST pugin, EQs, etc. Recording Hardware: Lexicon Omega USB connected sound card + Ploytec USB ASIO driver, Behringer Vamp 2 guitar processor. PS: about the clipped signal, the rest of the band wnated it like that, so it was 3 against 1... LOL __________________ It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

Jul 17, 2009, 04:40 PM	#2
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,469 Rep Power: 339 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D Nice job , man. __________________

Jul 18, 2009, 03:25 AM	#3
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D The style I don't mind but a bit too repetitive for me on it. Great job on the recording well done __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Jul 18, 2009, 12:33 PM	Thread Starter #4
GigaWatt Now In Color :D Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Macedonia, Skopje Posts: 2,116 Rep Power: 81 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D yeah, i know it's kinda repetitive, but most of the songs were written by the lead guitarist, so in a way it's more his work than than the rest of the bands... and thanks on the opinion about the recording, in a way, that's all i needed, cuz it's my first recording and i really needed an opinion about the production... __________________ It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

Jul 18, 2009, 06:54 PM	Thread Starter #8
GigaWatt Now In Color :D Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Macedonia, Skopje Posts: 2,116 Rep Power: 81 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D actually, i thought that the mix was too wide (LOL )... try hearing them on headphones... ... actually, most of the mastering work was done on headphones cuz one of my tweeters fried a couple of days before i started to mix the songs... :S... anyway, i only mixed the mid and high on the headphones (cuz of the fried tweater, i couldn't really distinguish how wide the mix was... :S), while i did the lower ones on the speakers (both of the mid-bass speakers where fine... ) will try to do better next time... ... there is another band (i'm not a member of it) that wants to record their first EP in my "studio"... so, a lot of the mistakes that were made during this recodring will not be made again... ... but hey, if you don't practice, you'll never get good at it... hahahaha anyway, just wanted to say thanks on the opinion, really means a lot... __________________ It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

Jul 18, 2009, 07:06 PM	#9
DJ BIG T DH FaN BoY Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: ORLANDO,FL Posts: 930 Rep Power: 69 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D hey i like it did a good job recording it...i might be a dj but i listen to all types of music i have 2 brothers that listen to this plus i grew up with rick ross from death... __________________

Jul 18, 2009, 08:27 PM	#12
Mac Daddy DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 7,950 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D Same here Ty on recording we can never too many ears Bro __________________ "My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Jul 19, 2009, 10:09 AM	#14
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	Re: My First Recording... :D it will definitely have to be played at full volume. I dont perosnally listen to music of this style, so I played it for my son, who has his death and speed metal collection, he immediately tried to find it on ITUNES to download it..LOL My son likes it, and that is saying a great deal becasue of his age (21) and the gamers he hangs out with listen to the same thing, AT FULL VOLUME! __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Jul 19, 2009, 06:48 PM	#16
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	Re: My First Recording... :D forgive me, but my son wanted to know if you all were planning a signature song. Something that would make it different from the music he listens to. I know lots of bands slow things down a bit to capture a niche in the market, do you all plan to do that? __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Jul 20, 2009, 03:06 PM	#18
Asmoday Demonic Join Date: May 2002 Location: In the cold, dark north... Posts: 5,198 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D Not bad man...not bad... __________________ How You can help Hardwareheaven by using Digg

Feb 17, 2010, 07:24 AM	#21
supafly HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Botswana Posts: 227 Rep Power: 43	Re: My First Recording... :D not really my style of music but i wish you all the best with fortune and fame. __________________ YO YO YO Waaaazaaaap Its Supafly

Apr 5, 2010, 08:04 PM	#22
BAdD0gg HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Seattle Washington Posts: 54 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: My First Recording... :D Good first go man. Couple of critiques. I agree about the low end, mp3 is murder on that though. A boost around 120-250hz can fix that for the mp3 mix. As far as the clipping goes... even if the band thinks it sounds good its not the way to go. Get good solid levels when you record and then throw a limiter on your master fader and set it to -2db. That will make it louder and prevent clipping. Compression is a fickle beast but when used right it can make your mix. The problem is when you clip on the way in you hear it. When you clip your mix when you master you loose definition. There is a balancing act when you are the engineer. You have to keep the band happy without giving them full control. It is really hard recording/mixing your own stuff too. You dont have an objective ear and that tends to bite you. I'm afraid to open a huge can of worms so thats as far as I will go. Good work though on your first recording. The tones you got were good. What mics did you use? Did you use any triggers for the drums? My first session didnt sound that good and I ended up re-recording drums and guitar. Keep at it and you're gonna get it. I am finishing up my bachelors in audio design and technology so if you have any questions I will be glad to help. Keep it up and keep em coming.

Apr 7, 2010, 08:16 AM	#23
Dude111 An Awesome Dude Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 425 Rep Power: 61	Not bad at all!!!!!! Thank you for sharing