My Gearslutz Coming Out : How Do My Live Jazz & Hip-Hop Recordings Sound?

[over-man]

First, I have to admit that I've mainly been lurking for the past few months since I discovered Gearslutz. Hopefully as I learn more I can contribute in the future. I quit grad school a year ago, halfway through, dissatisfied and ready to get back to music. I started a small studio with a focus on live recordings, along with some project studio work as well. I've learned a lot and finally have what I believe to be a stable rig (details below), a little in debt, and barely able to pay the bills, but I feel like I'm headed in the right direction.

I've posted a few sample recordings on a test site that will replace our existing website soon. They are from the same band, Liquid Bounce, a jazzy hip-hop group from the Univ of North Texas. They were recorded at two different venues, one song is fusion (nice open club, high ceiling), one rock/hip-hop (8 ft ceiling, small, cramped). Very diverse group, talented musicians, but am I capturing and mixing them well? I really appreciate any type of critique and honest evaluation of any aspect of the recording. I'm great at taking constructive criticism, just here to learn.


Here is the gear I used to make the recordings:

24 ch snake splitter w/ iso transformers
ADAT hd24 (XR is on the way!)
3 Presonus Firepods (just for the pres, our old, unreliable FW interface....)
UA610 (but only on the vox that introduce "It Happens", the jazz tune)

Vox: 58
Kick:D112 & Sub-Kick
Snare: 57
Overheads: SM81s
Toms: 57s
Bass: 421 & Radial J48 DI
Rhodes & Organ: Radial D2 Passive DI & 57 (different mic on amp for Omar's Lament)
Sax: 57
Synth:J48 DI
House Mics: 2 Oktava MC012s in ORTF (I know, total crap, but its whats left over; that or audix f15s) & PZM

Mixed ITB, Logic Pro 7. No great outboard gear to speak of, other than the 610, which I love. The house mics just provide ambience, but it still helps a lot. I would love to upgrade with some nice house mics that could provide a more substantial portion of the sound for nice venues. Have to make some money first I guess...

Considering they are primarily a hip-hop band, i have the mixes leaning heavy on the kick and bass. The keys could probably come up a notch, but they tend to like them mixed back. "Omar's Lament" doesn't sound as nice because of the room, do you typically sweeten them with a nice reverb? I'm sending some of the drier tracks to a reverb bus w/ the "music club" setting from Space Designer. Other than that, just channel eq and compression in Logic. No bus compression, no mastering attempt, peaks should sit under -3, mainly. The levels are pretty low.

Am I on the right track? What level would you rate these mixes(i.e., total amateur hack job to pro)? How much should a full set of this quality go for? I realize that rates are highly variable by region, etc., but if anyone is willing to throw out an estimate, that would be great.

Again, I appreciate what everyone contributes to the forum, thanks in advance for your honest evaluation.

Here is the link to the website:

http://www.sq1studios.com/test/websitev2/Site/Home.html

[over-man]

Are they that bad, or is this the wrong place to post something like this?

[Remoteness]

If you want to post about live recording and such, this IS the place.

[over-man]

Ha, so they're that bad?

[valleysound]

I got a listen and they sound great on my computer speakers! If that's any consolation!!

[petsematary]

I love the music but can't comment on the technical stuff - I'm not good enough to tell. But I like listening to it and it sounds good to my ears so I guess it's good. But like I said, I can't give you any advice like "cut the kick at 56hz and compress this-and-that much to avoid boxiness..." and stuff like that.

Damn, this music reminds me of the movie Fritz The Cat.

[over-man]

Thanks guys! I love the band, every song sounds different and original, and I wouldn't say these two represent their overall sound the best. I've heard a few people refer to it as "boutique music", whatever that means.

I'd never heard of Fritz the Cat before, but the movie looks pretty interesting, definitely added to my rent list.

I'm kind of surprised that more people haven't commented so far, not sure how to interpret that. If you want to hear more of their songs, go to

http://www.myspace.com/liquidbounce

[Beauarts]

The sax is too hot. I want to hear the bass a little punchier, at least in the quiet section.

[over-man]

Originally Posted by Beauarts

The sax is too hot. I want to hear the bass a little punchier, at least in the quiet section.

Bass is probably the instrument I have the most trouble with, part of that is not having enough bass traps in my mix room, the other is just lack of experience and skill. When you say punchier, what process would you use in this situation (compression, eq, etc.)?

[Beauarts]

Originally Posted by over-man

Bass is probably the instrument I have the most trouble with, part of that is not having enough bass traps in my mix room, the other is just lack of experience and skill. When you say punchier, what process would you use in this situation (compression, eq, etc.)?

I just want to hear a bit more of it and a little less room in it. The only instrument that sounds close-miced is the sax.

[over-man]

Originally Posted by Beauarts

I just want to hear a bit more of it and a little less room in it. The only instrument that sounds close-miced is the sax.

I think the bass could be a little more present, I'll have to bump up the DI channel since the amp was a little noisey. I didn't catch it until it was too late.

I'm struggling to find that sweet mix of ambient vs. direct mics, but right now, this mix actually relies more heavily on close mics. The house mics are just tucked under for ambience.