FatBoy
Ok here goes... I love this song, it's sort of the reason I picked up a guitar in the first place. I am fairly new to guitar and even more of a noob at recording, but ya here is the result of my first bit of tinkering. I need to get used to playing along with a click track and need lots of work on mic technique, guitar and just about everything, but ya we'll get there.
Anywhoo please post any positive criticism you may have.
I will post updated copies of it as I go along on my way to getting it 100% right.
http://www.box.net/shared/v8snx3lc04
Spyke
Very impressive...
1000x better than anything I've posted here. Well done!
Gray
Dude I don't particularly enjoy country but that was actually quite a cool song.
I thought it was a nice choice in song, well played.
My only problem seemed to be the volume leveling it sounds like you're a bit drowned out by the harmonica and the vocalist but maybe thats just my crappy work speakers.
Karmatized (it takes balls to do this and you did it well) ?
FatBoy
Thanks guys! :-[
Ok I'll have a look at the levels, they sound fine on my headphones but when I play it on my work pc it sounds off.
I need to work on my harmonica playing on this one a bit, I been playing mostly Bob Dylan tunes and even though I love this song so much I haven't played it on harmonica often.
Isn't it funny how different your vocals sound when played back? I mean the way I sound to myself when singing is completely different to this.
I am on leave today and tomorrow, been spending lots of time in the studio, will post some of the better ones here if you guys don't mind the country whining lol.
Gray
Wait are you saying you did all of that, the guitar, harmonica and vocals? ?
AlanRatcliffe
Hi Fritz
Not a bad recording at all. Nice resonant voice, well suited to the style - although you must learn to enunciate the words better, you have a tendency to slur them a little. Only Tom Petty can get away with that ?
The harmonica could come down a couple of dB, but I think it's more the stereo placement that's muddying things up. Try moving the harmonica and the guitar out from the middle to either side a bit. Then depending on how that works out I'd probably try EQ the guitar with a bit of a midrange scoop to leave a little more sonic space for the vocal and brighten it up with a high shelving EQ from around 4K up.
Don't mix on headphones, BTW. They're fine for tracking, but give you a false impression of the stereo image and usually make you mix your reverbs too dry.
When you sing, you hear your own voice via your jawbone, which gives you a completely false idea of what your voice sounds like.
FatBoy
Wait are you saying you did all of that, the guitar, harmonica and vocals?
Erm yes :-[ ?
Thanks for the tips Alan. Will work on the slurring thing. Will try your suggestions wrt the mixing a bit later tonight.
Headphones will have to do for now, until I can afford decent monitors, I have these crappy pc speakers at the mo and they sound horrible.
Gray
Not a bad recording at all. Nice resonant voice, well suited to the style - although you must learn to enunciate the words better, you have a tendency to slur them a little. Only Tom Petty can get away with that
The harmonica could come down a couple of dB, but I think it's more the stereo placement that's muddying things up. Try moving the harmonica and the guitar out from the middle to either side a bit. Then depending on how that works out I'd probably try EQ the guitar with a bit of a midrange scoop to leave a little more sonic space for the vocal and brighten it up with a high shelving EQ from around 4K up.
Don't mix on headphones, BTW. They're fine for tracking, but give you a false impression of the stereo image and usually make you mix your reverbs too dry.
When you sing, you hear your own voice via your jawbone, which gives you a completely false idea of what your voice sounds like.
I was just about to say this... all of this almost word for word. ?
Gray
@ Fritz: Dude that is Legend. You're really talented.
AlanRatcliffe
Headphones will have to do for now, until I can afford decent monitors
Ahh - I've been there! I worked for a long time with a pair of Hi-Fi speakers and a pair of Sennheiser HD250 headphones. Mixing with the headphones gave me a dark mix, cos they were so bright and detailed, and mixing with the speakers gave me an overly bright mix. Eventually I learned what to listen for and how to compensate for each.
Given enough experience with any setup, you can learn how to adjust for it when you mix. Just try your mixes everywhere - especially on a car CD player - until you learn how to compensate.
FatBoy
Thanks Gray! Much appreciated, means a lot to me ?
Ok cool Alan, I understand what you are saying even if I don't know all the terms yet, I will try it out everywhere!
Riaan-Combrink
Hi Fritz!
Very impressive. I've never done home recording, so I can't critique the technical stuff, but I really liked your performance. Very dark - kinda what I'd expect Rick Rubin to coax out of a guy! Very nice. Particularly liked your voice after the key change (higher register good for you). hope to hear "sunday morning coming down" soon ... ?
PS: Anybody know of something like box.net where you can host the odd soundfile but without a monthly subscription? Is there such a thing as a free lunch? :-[ Surprised Google hasn't got one (seeing they've got Picassa, Page Creator, Calender, etc).
Riaan C
FatBoy
Thanks Riaan!! Much appreciated, I'll see what I can do about that sunday morning for you.
Box.net is free if you take the Lite package, only one gig storage but that should work fine. It's what I'm using, and I'm not paying anything. Works great so far, and it has the media player thingy so its all I need for now.
Riaan
Hey Fritz, hats of to you! That's really cool, and sounds good. Well done!
sepheritoh
I loved it. A real favourite of mine and you did it good service. Really made me grab my guitar and played along.
Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work. Please let's hear more.
Attila
too cool Fritz, good one
I especially like the version done by Janice Joplin, kinda spacey and out of it
FatBoy
Thanks again guys! :-[ Yea Atilla Janice's version is awesome, a lot of power in her vocals, and yes very spacey!
