Please! Help me with my band’s demo.

Hub.

Hi guys. :wave:

A while ago, I posted something here, about my band.

After many months of hardship (among them, finding a new guitar player when the former one left in January) we finally managed to go back (last month) to the recording studio where we went last November.

Better late than never, we finally finished the recording.

Yesterday, we received the first pre-mix for our demo. I listened to it and I wrote down my first impressions. We are to talk about it on our next rehearsal, but even though I found some elements, I’m not sure of what should be changed (effects, tone…). :(

If someone could help me, it would be great.

I really want to improve this demo.

Here's the link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OTWPA6TN

Thanks a lot guys.

Hubert.

Hub.

Wow! Now this is embarrassing.

Is it that bad? There's nothing to save? :(

Claireack

Oh Hub, I'll try and get time to have a listen within the next day or two. Although I'm not very good at saying what needs to be tweaked on music, I just sit and listen to it, so I probably won't be much help.

Thrilla's a good one to ask - unfortunately it's the school holidays so he might be a bit busy.

Claireack

Nipped into the link but haven't got an account or anything, will ask hubby to look when he's around (he's at work this evening).

Hub.

Theorically, you don't need one. You just have to wait for the countdown to end and click on the button we it appears.

Thanks a lot, Claireack.

mccreadyisgod

Sounds okay overall. There are some moments where there are problems staying on beat, sounds like the drummer drops a couple beats, and the band has trouble staying in sync with the rest of the band. Was this recorded one instrument at a time by layers, or live? The instruments just don't seem to be in sync with the drums.

Overall, the guitars are too loud. Not by a huge amount, but at least 3-4 dB. The guitars also sound very dry and sterile, maybe add a bit of room reverb? The leads especially are very dry; you might add some delay to the solos. The bass stuff sounds good, although the bass is currently getting buried a lot by the loud, chunky guitars.

The drums and vocals also sound too dry, I'd love to hear some overall reverb on the drums and maybe some verb or delay on the vocals. The only other thing worth suggesting is to use some doubled vocals or harmonies in certain spots, like the chorus, to beef up the vocal performances. I've heard a few spots where there are harmonies, you might just make those a bit bigger. You can also double-track the harmonies and pan them apart to create some sense of space in the recording.

Obviously, these recordings are also unmastered, which will add overall polish to the finished recordings.

Hub.

Hi mccreadyisgod. :wave:

Thanks a lot for having listened to the first mix.

To answer your question, it was recorded one instrument at a time by layers (with a click track).

Are you sure the drum is out of bit, because I thought it was my guitar (which would be good for me, but not for him)?

Concerning the guitar loudness: good point. That’s what we realized when we first heard the demo. We’ll ask the guy who recorded it to lower them.

About the reverb and delay, good idea. We’ll discuss it tomorrow during the rehearsal: this could really improve the quality.

BTW, what do you mean by "pan apart"? Is it in the sense "create a panoramic"?

You’re right, the demo is, at present time, unmastered. We wanted to fix all the demo problems before doing that, but it’s planned.

Thanks again, that was really nice of you.

If some members want to contibute to the demo's improvement, don't hesitate. :thumbup:

Hubert.

Hub.

Anyone else?

mccreadyisgod

Hub. wrote:

To answer your question, it was recorded one instrument at a time by layers (with a click track).

Are you sure the drum is out of bit, because I thought it was my guitar (which would be good for me, but not for him)?

It had the sound of a layered recording. It's hard to tell what instrument is out of sync, but there are just little moments where the timing of everything gets off, mostly in fills and transitions. I'll be the first to concede that learning how to track layer by layer takes a lot of time. I generally prefer to track as much as I can live (all together), and then just overdub things like vocals and solos. If you recorded on a computer and have the time, you can go into the files on the computer and move things around so they are in perfect time; trust me, I've done a bunch of that, too.

Hub. wrote:

BTW, what do you mean by "pan apart"? Is it in the sense "create a panoramic"?

Panning is when you separate audio by moving them more toward the left or right stereo channel. For instance, when you send the guitar channel to the left speaker, then you are panning left with that channel. What I was suggesting was recording the harmonies twice, singing the exact same parts, and then sending one to the left and one to the right. The subtle differences in the performance will make it sound wider in the stereo image, which makes those parts sound bigger.

Hub.

It was recorded on a computer, but not ours. It was the sound engineer's PC. We'll ask him if he can do something concerning the sync.

Thanks a lot for the clarification on the panning, mccreadyisgod.

Hub.

Anyone else?

Claireack

Bump

Wouldn't let me into there today - first time I've had time to sit and listen, will try again later

Hub.

Thanks a lot.

dimitrispearljam

ok,
1.The Time Machine is fuckin great tune..its the type of music that i like..is any back vocals on it?i think will fit in the refren....i love the way you play it at 2:06 .this turn around..and solo s so good...so agresive!!!

2.What Money Can Buy..another great guitar solo...and like alot the intro..need the lyris for it

3.The Pague Of The Zombies,not a fan of it.but.have nice-kick ass bass,and sound of the guitar..

4.House On Haunted Hill...remind me SG style..awesome...


my favorite is The Time Machine.....

EDIT: THE DRUMMER IS FUCKIN GREAT!!!!!

P.S,,WANT THE LYRICS OF THE SONGS

Hub.

Thanks a lot, D. I'll tell the other others you liked them.

Concerning the lyrics, when I have time (maybe later in the evening), I'll PM you.

dimitrispearljam

Hub. wrote:

Thanks a lot, D. I'll tell the other others you liked them.

Concerning the lyrics, when I have time (maybe later in the evening), I'll PM you.

Hub.

Great news: I was really disappointed our drummer sent us mp3 versions of the songs (we were at least expecting .wav), since he doesn't know how to copy/paste songs from his computer. :shock:

The fact is, he left on holidays for one week. Back from his short break, he emailed us and said he could hop this evening at our bassist's house and bring the cd originally given from the sound engineer.

I know it won't make much difference, but I'd rather listen to this version to make sure of what has to be changed.

dimitrispearljam

bump

Hub.

All right.

Here's the link for the AIFF versions (similar to .wav but for Mac). You can use VLC to read them.

Be careful, it's the exact same pre-mix than the previous one, the quality is just better than mp3's.

I just listened to them once and I didn't hear a huge difference (I was hoping it would be really better). So, there's still a lot of work to do on them.

As said earlier, if some of you want to help improve the demo quality, feel free to give tips here (like mccreadyisgod did earlier), things you would change, thing you would add...

Hub.

Here's the second mix: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AHRHOL3Y

The drummer and I spent the afternoon with the sound engineer, trying to improve it.

We're waiting the bassist and the lead guitar to give their opinion before the mastering.

Unfortunately, we won't re-record what needs to be re-recorded (lack of time and money, especially for a basic demo).

But you're still welcome if you want to give advices and help improve it.