Me Tunes, like.

[lintfromgodspocket]

hey I'm Sam, I've been doing a bit of home recording over the past few weeks,recorded 7 songs all together but the ones on purevolume are probably the best ones.. any input would be cool. The vocals are a bit shoddy I must admit but I'm still pretty proud of them.

www.purevolume.com/samhorgan
www.myspace.com/samhorgan

:chug:

[Lexluthor]

Im listening to Homesick.

Doesnt seem like you tried at all to get a good recording, whats with the computer noises at the end? :confused:

Here are some tips. You sound like your singing under water at times. You should use more effects and stuff to clean up some of the sounds. There is nothing wrong with a bit of reverb.

And work on getting a better mix. Bring down some of those backing vocals.

Musically its fine, the timing of the guitars at the start was a bit iffy, but nothing massivly wrong. The vocals are MUCH better than I thought they would be, a few off notes in the backing but your a pretty good singer in comparison to some you get on here. I do like the harmonys you have created. Nice song! Just clean it up.

[lintfromgodspocket]

cool thanks, yeah it was recorded on the built in mic on my dad's powerbook, and yeah I dunno what to say bout the fumbling round at the end..

but thanks for the input, i appreciate it.

id love to hear what people think of the other songs too..hinthint :)

[Vood]

umm yea the fumbling around ... that's a little weird O_o hahahah

listened to Homesick ... and yea the recording quality was crap. the laptop mics are the hardest to work with :\

listening to Keep that Smile now ... this recording is WAY better ... hahah however that sound effect you used to replace the word "boner" (i think?).. the synth cat whistle ... that's a little loud and too echoey and too long ... but kinda funny...

I like the song! it's much easier to listen to than Homesick.. the lead guitar is really nice ...

the vocals remind me of the Cat Emipre...

But, speaking from the point of view of having a relatively professional-sounding recording (which is pretty easy to do with a little know-how), I've got some tips for you

In this guy's thread (http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=446789) I made a post about the same sort of stuff. I don't know what kind of mic you're using but it sounds like the same advice could help you. :)

Listening to the Orange Army now ... DAMN!! i LOVE that opening guitar sound :D
The vocals need to be pointed at the mic and mixed louder.
And this song would be great with drums o_o

Don't Wanna Be Alone has a pretty good relationship between the guitar and strings ... actually the strings could be quieter .. but great tones o_o

you gotta get rid of that computer noise though man ... read my other post on that.

yea the strings are definitely too loud.

Generally your vocals need to be recorded more cleanly (are you singing and playing guitar at the same time? sounds like you're not facing the mic) and EQ'ed to be hotter in the high end, and you really need a pop filter (to get rid of the bass thumps on your B's and P's etc) and a low cut. if you're confused just read my other post :thumb:

good luck man!
great songs!

-david

[lintfromgodspocket]

cool thanks :)

yeah the mic is quite shoddy alright, I'm gonna save up and buy a good one.. I'd say it would make a huge difference.

On Keep That Smile etc., I recorded it a friend's home studio, hence the vast improvement in sound quality,
Nah I recorded the Vocals and Guitar tracks separately, but I agree with it sounding like I'm not facing the mic.. again, I blame that on the mic.

In The Orange Army, The Guitar was recorded with a, would you believe, an acoustic guitar! Not even a semi-acoustic, Garageband has a tonne of nifty effects.

EQ'ed to be hotter in the high end, and you really need a pop filter (to get rid of the bass thumps on your B's and P's etc) and a low cut

That kinda went over my head to be honest...

But thanks again, I've learned a lot!

[Vood]

not sure what you're unclear about ... do you know what EQing is? Basically what I mean is put more trebble frequencies in your vocals. That's done with an EQ process

A pop filter is soemthing to block strong air puffs from hitting your mic. Did you read my post in the other thread? It's pretty detailed in how to fix up a makeshift pop filter, among other things.

and a "low cut" is another EQing term. basically it means to mute or reduce the bass frequencies in a track, to also help erase things like wind pops and bumping the mic

as for saving up to get a better mic, since you're just getting your "sea legs" for the recording world, i'd start out simple ...

you could go for something like this mic (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Microphones/Wireless?sku=277048) ... which is a cheap condenser, and would work pretty dang well for everything you're doing, and save you money and allow you to experiment with setting up your own simple home studio (which is simpler than people think .. believe me i've spent 9 years dickin around with this stuff :) )

thing is, with a microphone you'll need a mic cable (here's a really cheap one (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/General/Accessories/Cables?netp=1&sku=338001) but you might want to go with a nicer one (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/General/Accessories/Cables?sku=339029)), and a microphone preamp.

A preamp is where you'll end up sinking a little money, because they're not really cheap. Condensers need preamps to work. you can get a mic that doesn't need a preamp to work, but if you don't use a preamp it'll be a pain in the neck getting a good clear signal to record.

Here's a pretty good preamp (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Signal/Processors?sku=484020) ... It's relatively inexpensive ($40 USD) and is a very good starting point.

You'll also need a microphone stand (here's a cheap one (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Parts/Accessories?sku=452061)) and a mic holder or "clip" to mount the mic onto the stand (here's a cheap one (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Parts/Accessories?netp=1&sku=276010))

if you want to go SUPER SUPER cheap, here's a package (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Microphones/Wireless?sku=270619) that contains a dynamic (non-condenser) mic, a mic cable, and a mic stand, all on sale for $20 USD :| ... a little frightening ...

But even with the godawful cheap stuff I would still get a preamp. It'll help everything sound good.


Beyond that, what you would need is a cable to get the signal into your computer. Since your computer has a 1/8" stereo input (you'll be using the Line input, assuming your computer has one... if it doesn't let me know and i'll help you figure out somethign else), you'll need a 1/8" stereo or mono cable to plug into it. The preamp has a 1/4" mono output. Thus, you'll need an adapter to go from 1/4" to 1/8" .. there are a variety of ways to do this. Mine's a little complicated.

... actually ... I'm late for work :eek: .. let me know what you think of all this so far, and later I'll continue this tutorial for you...

If you doubt the working capacity of a setup like this, well my friend just listen to my recordings (http://www.myspace.com/davidjmurphy). They sound nearly pro-studio quality, and what I've described here is more or less my recording method. Seriously, all you need is to know what you're doing. :)

ok... talk to you later today or somethin.

good luck!
-david

[hawkstr12]

As for recording, I think the other comments are sufficient. Listen to them, because it's difficult to sit through a poor recording no matter how good the performance actually is.

You should use a metronome to keep your rhythym on guitar. I like your vocals, though, aside from the off notes.

[lintfromgodspocket]

NEW SONG YEAH WOO

input would be appreciated :)

[lintfromgodspocket]

bump..

[lintfromgodspocket]

please?