Question about creating Dynamics in a recording

[Goat Punishment]

Hey there, Haven't posted too much on these forums.

I recently finished recording my first album. I did all of the tracking myself with garageband in my apartment. I'm pretty happy with the results and the performances. My friend who is an experienced mixer is doing the mixes. He gave me the "almost-final" product and I'm very happy with what I hear, however there are some things that I hear that I'm not sure how to approach.

There are a few songs that require quieter verses, and louder, more "epic" sounding choruses (drums and bass kick in, background vocals, maybe an electric guitar sweeping on the ones). When recording these songs, I added more instrumentation and played louder, more passionately, more energized during the bigger choruses, thinking that this would convey that big energy shift, but in the "almost-final" product, these songs seem to lack the dynamics that I was going for. The verses seem to flow right into the chorus without any big notable jump in volume or dynamic. There is also a song or two that has louder verses and quieter more articulate choruses.

For the most part, these songs have maybe just vocals and guitar in the verses, and the rest of the band jumps in during the choruses. The sound I was hoping to achieve was the Decemberists "Infanta" or "Tain" thunder-rolling-in style. Or maybe the Sufjan Stevens "Come on Feel the Illinoise" Style quiet-to-loud dynamic.

I guess my question is this:
Does my problem stem from an issue with the way the songs were arranged and performed, or with how the levels have been handled in the post production process?

A friend of mine put out a record a few years ago that was an indie folk pop type thing. It had big gang vocals, horns, and thundery drums on some parts but still seemed to lack the "epic" powerful vibe that I think he was going for. I'll also note that his record was mixed by a very notable and talented guy who has done some truly "epic" sounding famous records.

Would it behoove me to ask my mixing engineer to compress the quieter parts and let it all hang out on the louder parts? Is that how it works? Or am I stuck with how that sounds because of my recordings?

Thanks!

[Rick Sanchez]

This is really a question for the music forum, and not being able to hear your music, it's impossible to say, but as a rule, music, the song, arrangement and how the instruments are voiced are 90% of the battle.

The Decemberists sound in Infata uses a very airy and roomy drum recording, fairly in your face vocals and a variety of techniques for voicing the guitars, organ, etc. One common trick to getting a big sound in arranging is to use two different voiceings of the same guitar chord. An example would be one track open voicing and another using a capo. One of Pete Townsend's tricks in the big ringy guitar sound is to remove the third. Lots of octaves and fifths. Too much layering can actually make things sound smaller, so be careful when doubling things up.

Garage band is fairly restricted in it's signal processing capabilities tending more towards presets. Heavy compression and limiting, can be very touchy, often taking the life out of music along with the dynamic range, though a great arrangement married to a good mixer and mastering engineer can enhance that wall of sound technique ala Nine Inch Nails

[BasementRecords]

Originally Posted by Goat Punishment

Hey there, Haven't posted too much on these forums.

I recently finished recording my first album. I did all of the tracking myself with garageband in my apartment. I'm pretty happy with the results and the performances. My friend who is an experienced mixer is doing the mixes. He gave me the "almost-final" product and I'm very happy with what I hear, however there are some things that I hear that I'm not sure how to approach.

There are a few songs that require quieter verses, and louder, more "epic" sounding choruses (drums and bass kick in, background vocals, maybe an electric guitar sweeping on the ones). When recording these songs, I added more instrumentation and played louder, more passionately, more energized during the bigger choruses, thinking that this would convey that big energy shift, but in the "almost-final" product, these songs seem to lack the dynamics that I was going for. The verses seem to flow right into the chorus without any big notable jump in volume or dynamic. There is also a song or two that has louder verses and quieter more articulate choruses.

For the most part, these songs have maybe just vocals and guitar in the verses, and the rest of the band jumps in during the choruses. The sound I was hoping to achieve was the Decemberists "Infanta" or "Tain" thunder-rolling-in style. Or maybe the Sufjan Stevens "Come on Feel the Illinoise" Style quiet-to-loud dynamic.

I guess my question is this:
Does my problem stem from an issue with the way the songs were arranged and performed, or with how the levels have been handled in the post production process?

A friend of mine put out a record a few years ago that was an indie folk pop type thing. It had big gang vocals, horns, and thundery drums on some parts but still seemed to lack the "epic" powerful vibe that I think he was going for. I'll also note that his record was mixed by a very notable and talented guy who has done some truly "epic" sounding famous records.

Would it behoove me to ask my mixing engineer to compress the quieter parts and let it all hang out on the louder parts? Is that how it works? Or am I stuck with how that sounds because of my recordings?

Thanks!

To get a bigger bang in your vocals the best thing I would recommend is to do double ups, such as record your voice once than again straight over another track the same exact way and add background singing, and using different octaves to make the mix fuller.

Let me know if this helps.

Basement Records Studio

[api2500]

I agree with Goat Punishment ().

Was it mixed in Garageband?

Automation could have helped too.