First tune with new Portico preamp

eweise · 18th November 2005, 05:28 PM

Just bought a portico 5012 and recorded this tune. Most of my equipment is low end so I noticed a big improvement with the portico. I'm an amateur at recording so please let me know how I could improve this mix.

http://www.slipperypeople.com/music/...e/diamonds.mp3

thanks
Eric

eweise · 19th November 2005, 01:14 AM

anyone?

gumplunger · 19th November 2005, 05:18 AM

Not the style of stuff I'm used to but I listened and here's what I thought.

Guitars are nice and warm, as is the bass. The drums could use a lot of work. It sounds to me like your hi-hat is panned hard right, or close to it; I'd pan it more towards the center. The kick and the snare don't have any umph to them either.

The vocals also don't seem to be sitting in the mix quite right, a little dry and thin, if you ask me. I'd throw a bit of verb on em and maybe do something else to thicken em up a bit.

But overall, it sounds pretty good.

eweise · 19th November 2005, 07:33 AM

thanks for the feedback and for listening. I'll give those suggestions a try.

Beauarts · 19th November 2005, 05:09 PM

more guitar, voice, and songwriting lessons.

>>so please let me know how I could improve this mix.<<

eweise · 20th November 2005, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beauarts

more guitar, voice, and songwriting lessons.

>>so please let me know how I could improve this mix.<<

Whatever dude, I don't do this for a living. I was looking for constructive criticism of the actual recording mix so If all you can offer is some condescending BS response, don't bother posting.

john caldwell · 20th November 2005, 11:09 PM

Eric,

Your guitars and bass have decent warmth and body. Not much cutting through in the bed of guitars, possibly by your intent. The phrase starting at 1:08 might shine (cut) through a bit more than it now does, I believe. It would also create some separation between the song phrases in doing so.

Most lacking are the drums. Are they real or sampled? I believe the raw drum sounds are tracked thin, but making matters much worse is the reverb patch on the drums, I feel. It suggests an inexpensive soft reverb than can easliy be improved upon.

The vocal sound is in the middle of the quality picture. While the voice lacks the body and texture of your guiatrs, it's easily supeior to the drum sounds. Here again, I'm attracted to the effects attached to the voice as a culprit. As a general principle, I'd also consider bringing the voice forward in the mix.

Keep working here, Eric. Don't be too discouraged when a respondent points out their preference for a different style in song writing or song structure. It's better that you get this work posted, and benefit from the criticism offered. You deserve credit for exposing your work as you have here.

Best,

John-

AtlantaPowerPop · 21st November 2005, 12:33 AM

Eric,
I like the tune, the arrangement of the guitars, and the sound that you are going for. I hate drum machines, so I'd try at least getting some loops, for a more realistic sound. Also, it seems like there is reverb on the bass drum. I'd stay away from that. I'm no genius engineer, but I'd eq the guitars so they don't take up quite as much space as they do, and fix the drums so they have more body. For the vocals, it could be a little beefier and more up front, keeping it relatively dry. (I think it would probably sound best with no reverb. No reverb is a cool effect, since everybody seems to like to crank knobs so they can hear all their toys in action.) As far as the song goes, like I said, I like it and have listened to it several times. Don't let Beauarts get ya down. Hey, Beauarts! How about posting one of your tunes here so we can hear what a "real" song sounds like?

eweise · 21st November 2005, 01:29 AM

Thanks guys for the feedback and encouragement. I'm using Reason for the drums and I've really struggled with them since they don't sound very real. I'm using the reverb in Reason but I think I'll try switching to loops. You guys gave me a lot of things to work on which I really appreciate. I've written better tunes and much worse tunes and while I realize that this is not great song, its nice to hear someone say that it doesn't completely suck either.

simonv · 26th November 2005, 12:56 AM

Hey man, I really like the sound of your guitars. I listened to the song in the living room in a non-studio environment, and your guitars really came out professional.

What did you use to get that sound? (Guitar, Amp, Mic, convertor?)

I will most probably get a Portico soon too. Do you have some tracks of your guitars before the Portico? I'd be curious to compare.

For the rest of the song: I agree with the others that you could get some loops instead of reason for the drums. I personnaly wasted 2 years trying to achieve realistic drum tracks with a drum machine, and man, its always better with a loop, or a real drummer.

The only usefulness of fake drum tracks is that it makes you record all your other tracks on tempo. Eventually, you can call up a session drummer and make him play over the song, and with a bit of editing it'll be just perfect.

eweise · 27th November 2005, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simvez

Hey man, I really like the sound of your guitars. I listened to the song in the living room in a non-studio environment, and your guitars really came out professional.

What did you use to get that sound? (Guitar, Amp, Mic, convertor?)

I will most probably get a Portico soon too. Do you have some tracks of your guitars before the Portico? I'd be curious to compare.

Thanks. My guitar is a telecaster with a symour duncan 59 in the bridge. I used the bridge pickup for most of the song except the breakdown at the end I think.

The amp is a mesa boogie dc-3, the mic is a sm-57 and the converter is a presonus firebox. I'll see if I can find an equivalent sounding guitar recorded directly into the firebox for comparison.

I've been really happy with the portico. I can't really tell the difference between preamps from the postings at thelisteningsessions.com but there was an obvious difference to me between the firebox mic preamps and the portico.

Here's the link to the portico in a preamp comparison
http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/session10.htm

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18th November 2005, 05:28 PM	#1
eweise Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 110	First tune with new Portico preamp Just bought a portico 5012 and recorded this tune. Most of my equipment is low end so I noticed a big improvement with the portico. I'm an amateur at recording so please let me know how I could improve this mix. http://www.slipperypeople.com/music/...e/diamonds.mp3 thanks Eric

26th November 2005, 12:56 AM	#10
simonv Gear addict Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Montreal Posts: 475	Hey man, I really like the sound of your guitars. I listened to the song in the living room in a non-studio environment, and your guitars really came out professional. What did you use to get that sound? (Guitar, Amp, Mic, convertor?) I will most probably get a Portico soon too. Do you have some tracks of your guitars before the Portico? I'd be curious to compare. For the rest of the song: I agree with the others that you could get some loops instead of reason for the drums. I personnaly wasted 2 years trying to achieve realistic drum tracks with a drum machine, and man, its always better with a loop, or a real drummer. The only usefulness of fake drum tracks is that it makes you record all your other tracks on tempo. Eventually, you can call up a session drummer and make him play over the song, and with a bit of editing it'll be just perfect. __________________ -- www.allamps.com www.myspace.com/simonvezina

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19th November 2005, 01:14 AM	#2
eweise Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 110	anyone?

19th November 2005, 05:18 AM	#3
gumplunger Gear interested Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 4	Not the style of stuff I'm used to but I listened and here's what I thought. Guitars are nice and warm, as is the bass. The drums could use a lot of work. It sounds to me like your hi-hat is panned hard right, or close to it; I'd pan it more towards the center. The kick and the snare don't have any umph to them either. The vocals also don't seem to be sitting in the mix quite right, a little dry and thin, if you ask me. I'd throw a bit of verb on em and maybe do something else to thicken em up a bit. But overall, it sounds pretty good.

19th November 2005, 07:33 AM	#4
eweise Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 110	thanks for the feedback and for listening. I'll give those suggestions a try.

19th November 2005, 05:09 PM	#5
Beauarts Gear addict Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 346	more guitar, voice, and songwriting lessons. >>so please let me know how I could improve this mix.<<

20th November 2005, 11:09 PM	#7
john caldwell Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 502	Eric, Your guitars and bass have decent warmth and body. Not much cutting through in the bed of guitars, possibly by your intent. The phrase starting at 1:08 might shine (cut) through a bit more than it now does, I believe. It would also create some separation between the song phrases in doing so. Most lacking are the drums. Are they real or sampled? I believe the raw drum sounds are tracked thin, but making matters much worse is the reverb patch on the drums, I feel. It suggests an inexpensive soft reverb than can easliy be improved upon. The vocal sound is in the middle of the quality picture. While the voice lacks the body and texture of your guiatrs, it's easily supeior to the drum sounds. Here again, I'm attracted to the effects attached to the voice as a culprit. As a general principle, I'd also consider bringing the voice forward in the mix. Keep working here, Eric. Don't be too discouraged when a respondent points out their preference for a different style in song writing or song structure. It's better that you get this work posted, and benefit from the criticism offered. You deserve credit for exposing your work as you have here. Best, John-

21st November 2005, 12:33 AM	#8
AtlantaPowerPop Gear nut Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 112	Eric, I like the tune, the arrangement of the guitars, and the sound that you are going for. I hate drum machines, so I'd try at least getting some loops, for a more realistic sound. Also, it seems like there is reverb on the bass drum. I'd stay away from that. I'm no genius engineer, but I'd eq the guitars so they don't take up quite as much space as they do, and fix the drums so they have more body. For the vocals, it could be a little beefier and more up front, keeping it relatively dry. (I think it would probably sound best with no reverb. No reverb is a cool effect, since everybody seems to like to crank knobs so they can hear all their toys in action.) As far as the song goes, like I said, I like it and have listened to it several times. Don't let Beauarts get ya down. Hey, Beauarts! How about posting one of your tunes here so we can hear what a "real" song sounds like?

21st November 2005, 01:29 AM	#9
eweise Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 110	Thanks guys for the feedback and encouragement. I'm using Reason for the drums and I've really struggled with them since they don't sound very real. I'm using the reverb in Reason but I think I'll try switching to loops. You guys gave me a lot of things to work on which I really appreciate. I've written better tunes and much worse tunes and while I realize that this is not great song, its nice to hear someone say that it doesn't completely suck either.