First Recording (Authority of Truth)

serven

First bedroom recording me and a friend did:

http://www.enslaved.za.net/AuthorityOfTruth20130714.mp3

Lyrics and Vocals by friend
Composition, guitars by me

Heads up: We're untrained and uneducated hobbyists - not experienced musicians, only been at this on and off on weekends a few months, considering getting some proper training now for the both of us :-[

Anyway, would appreciate any feedback or advice please!

Thank you

PS: Yes I know the one guitar disappears at the end, and I can probably clean up the mix slightly but planning to record this again later when more comfortable with it after some comments from other people

21Fretter

Reminded me of Power Pirate, http://powerpirate.com/

FruitarGeek

Ok. For Newbies this is very impressive. But as you asked for feedback/advice, that is what you gonna get:

Firstly, again, a great tune, loads of potential. The guitars sound great, and tight! Drums also sound okay, but you could bring them louder in the mix, the guitars are overpowering the other instrument quite a bit.

Now, the main issue I have with the song is the Vocals. I can hear that the vocalist knows how to sing and hold a pitch, buuuut, she doesn't sound as if she is getting into it. The Vox are WAY too quite for starters. Vocals are 9/10 the most important part of any song. Its the first thing the listener identify's with. So again, the guitars completely overshadow her. There are also a few times where she holds a note and goes off key. She should work on her endurance. So yes, vocals where the main issue, but as you said you are 'newbies' I can forgive. Just work on that a bit, try again, and lets see how it sounds from there.

*Oh, the song is also very repetitive, which could bore the listener, try think of adding new things in each verse or whatever to keep the listener listening.

serven

Thanks Adrian, much appreciated

For now I will definitely look at the composition - also thought it's a bit repetitive.

As for the guitars overpowering everything else, I need to mess with the mix. For some reason depending on which speakers/device/headphones I play it on, it sounds completely (not just a little) different.

DrGonzo

Hey Serven

cool not bad, not bad i like the tune. its just mixing that needs work which im sure everyone will say to any persons first attempt or first couple hundred of attempts ? - its a tough nut to crack and I certainly don't pretend to be a master. there are just general balance issues (guitars too loud, drums a bit buried and vocal a bit unclear.

what i suggest for a track like this which is quite a driving sound start with the drums- take absolutely everything down - all faders to zero and then start from the drums and then bring up the guitars and bass (one at a time) in relation to the drums. so that they are balanced in relation to eachother - remember that is the key
Once you have the guitars sitting nicely around the drums, then balance the vocals to sit nicely on top of everything...
After that - all other elements, keys are arbitrary and can be placed around to a level you find appropriate.

Its all about defining what the main/most important elements are and getting them in balance with eachoter,

hope that helps - what i suggest is listening to another song in a similar genre, and making a note of these main elements and how they are in relation to eachother and then applying those ideas to your own song!

Do u have the multi-tracked files? If you want - you could send me the files i could do a mock mix for you as an example and then tell you a little bit about what I did, - it could serve as a cool practical example for you and anyone else who is interested and struggling with mixing.