Home Recording Project

briang-telkomsa-net · 2015-04-29T22:10:36+00:00

For those who may be interested in 1. Following my progress 2. Offering any comments (did I say "any" - I have a thick skin) I have embarked on a "budget" home recording project. Why? Because I have 12 original acoustic guitar instrumental songs that need to be recorded. Don't they? Hopefully I will also learn a few things along the way. How? At home, in my bedroom, using the following widgets; Sigma 6-String acoustic guitar Samson C01 condenser mic (the SM58 and Dean Markley pick up didn't really work and "budget" is my only option) Allen&Heath FX10 as audio interface Laptop Reaper GuitarPro6 (for drums and bass - not optimal but will have to do for now! Benefit of this is that I am forced to score the songs which is probably a good thing?) So leave was put in this week in order to get the project off the ground - Below is a "Progress List" and each song's progress is measured as follows; (Drums, Bass, Gtr Rhythm, Gtr Melody, Mixed) - Comments Song Title - (Progress) Spanish Stallion - (Drums, Bass, Gtr Rhythm, Gtr Melody....) - My alternate picking technique could not handle one of the faster passages without a "click" when crossing to an adjacent string (16th notes @ 130 b.p.m.) and I "discovered" the "inside" technique which helped to sort out the timing - not sure that this is a good technique to follow but it works! Strumming The Line - (Bass...) - As I have to score the Bass on GP6 I managed to simplify what I had done previously and to a large extent "cleaned up" the bars that required odd time signatures i.e. 6/4 and 3/4 in a 4/4 tune Think Quick - (Drums W.I.P....) - no comment I hope to have these three tunes recorded and mixed by the time work beckons on Monday (I can't wait!). Mixed songs to be posted Soundcloud as a "draft"? The remaining nine tunes will be worked on as time permits. I have not got it clear in my mind what a reasonable time frame could be to complete all twelve into a list of mastered tunes. At the rate things are going a deadline for a mastered set of tunes by September 30 2015 may be achievable - so will keep that as a deadline. I am doing this as a solo project so have only myself to blame if things do not get done and the deadline has to be changed! For those who are interested, follow me on my journey, and I look forward to any comments you may make.

briang-telkomsa-net

studmissile wrote
TokyoP0P wrote Train of Revival sounds a bit like an unreleased Skid Row song. Love it. I also dug the ending with the train.

Train of Revival - I really like that!

Thanks chaps! ?
Got some ideas for lyrics for this one - next project

briang-telkomsa-net

There we have it - 12 recorded songs!
For those that are still listening the 12th and final track for this project is at

the other tracks are at

What I have learned
>the importance of gain staging aka levels settings to minimizing hiss
(special thanks to those offering advice on this one - see this post http://www.guitarforum.co.za/recordings/that-hissing-aaaargh/#sthash.vxr7e0eI.dpuf)
>know your songs before recording them - it just saves so much time
>there's a LOT of music out there that the wants to be listened to!
>the tracks that I like the most are not going to be the ones that everyone else seems to like
>keep the processing minimal when mixing i.e. if it does not improve the sound you don't need to use it
>you're never going to get it perfect so go for it and the best with what you have - else you will never get anything done

So now on to the mixing phase - without decent monitoring this is going to be challenging but the literature advises that using reference tracks helps, in fact is essential.
The original soft deadline of 30 September for mixed and mastered is going to be tight?

TokyoP0P

The new track is nice and very catchy with some rad runs in there.

briang wrote
>the tracks that I like the most are not going to be the ones that everyone else seems to like

So which are the songs you liked the most that others seemed to like less?

briang-telkomsa-net

TokyoP0P wrote The new track is nice and very catchy with some rad runs in there.

briang wrote
>the tracks that I like the most are not going to be the ones that everyone else seems to like
So which are the songs you liked the most that others seemed to like less?

Based on the number of plays the most liked are Now That I Need You and Strumming The Line
I had positive feedback from more than one individual on Spanish Stallion and Train Of Revival ?
As they are my "babies" I like them all - My favorites are Strumming The Line and When You're Alone ?
The "release" order obviously also has an impact on how many plays one gets
- people possibly more enthusiastic to listen to earlier releases than later ones, or is the quality not captivating enough?
So, with this vast store of data, I have something that can help with ordering songs for an album ?

List: Number of plays, positive feedback ?, and my favorites ?
1. Strumming The Line 94 ?
2. Spanish Stallion 51 ?
3. Think Quick 42
4. Oh, Its Blue 24
5. Jay Is Gone 23
6. Canary's Shoes 25
7. You Capture My Imagination 39
8. Now That I Need You 99
9. I am Invisible 27
10. A Short Journey 38
11. Train of Revival 21 ?
12. When You're Alone 16 ?

briang-telkomsa-net

So with the recording side of things done, final mixing phase is underway and......

My experience so far is that this is difficult, very difficult, depressingly difficult, and, some shortcomings are now apparent:
>timing and subsequent alignment to the grid, for the song and between tracks, on some recordings, leaves something to be desired
>the above point is hampering editing on the effected recordings (necessitating a re-recording of said songs!)
>so I thought I had the mic in the right place to get the sound I wanted....well, not always
>sound treatment of the room used for recording is also essential (wish list item#1)
>adequate monitoring is absolutely essential for the mix down process - I do not own studio monitors (wish list item#2!)so have to make do with what I have at the moment and while not ideal there are ways "around" this (e.g. reference tracks)

Notwithstanding the above I am further along the learning curve than I was four months ago and the goal for this project, as it should be for any endeavor, is to "be finished, not perfect". So will forge ahead with the layman's mix-down and "mastering" phases.

To those who have so far followed my progress, listened to the draft tracks and provided feedback, encouragement and suggestions, very much appreciated - thank you.

briang-telkomsa-net

So I have tried my hand at editing/mixing the songs in this project -
new respect gained for mixing and mastering engineers!!

Those who would like to can take a listen can do so here;

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