Making an album has changed my opinion on music - Music

HazeyTwilight
boyfriend in your wet dreams

Gender: Male
Age: 26
Location: Elmo Knows Where You Live

Definitely a 90s slowcore vibe going on in the music. Sounds pretty good and (I'm sure you're doing this already but) definitely take Hayden's advice because recording and engineering in music is a craft on its own. From my experience knowing students who studied music production, me, a silly musician, working with them on a studio album that we were selling to a broad audience, and who have now recently graduated and are, hopefully, applying that knowledge into their fields have my respect. Hope future endeavours go well.
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carpents

AAL2014 wrote:

This post. I like it. This is a good post.

As a drummer of now a decade, I haven't much dabbled in the recording/engineering aspect until recently. I work at a music shop where lessons are taught and there is a studio upstairs. While the engineering part can be incredibly tedious, it is a necessary evil so to speak. Cool to hear you got some results you liked through non-traditional means and mic placements, no such thing a "right" in music.

I have to say many congratulations to you for finally hammering it out and making your album! This post is coming at a time in which I'm beginning to write heavily with my band and we're planning out our first release. Nothing quite like it is there?

Many thanks! And this is definitely a strange thing to do, but I can't say that I had a choice in it; creative urge is bizarre.

I did have one incident where I rented "studio" space for a couple hours around here. Guy looked at my XLR cables and basically decided that I didn't know anything about recording. When I told him how I mic'ed my guitars, he genuinely was confused why anyone would use more than just one SM57. d'oh!

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carpents

HazeyTwilight wrote:

Definitely a 90s slowcore vibe going on in the music. Sounds pretty good and (I'm sure you're doing this already but) definitely take Hayden's advice because recording and engineering in music is a craft on its own. From my experience knowing students who studied music production, me, a silly musician, working with them on a studio album that we were selling to a broad audience, and who have now recently graduated and are, hopefully, applying that knowledge into their fields have my respect. Hope future endeavours go well.

Thank you! 90s slowcore was exactly what I was going for.

I'm definitely lucky, I fell in love with microphones and recording. I'm still learning, and yeah all the good critical advice I've gotten has really helped.
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Hayden

Location: CDMX

carpents wrote:

I did have one incident where I rented "studio" space for a couple hours around here. Guy looked at my XLR cables and basically decided that I didn't know anything about recording. When I told him how I mic'ed my guitars, he genuinely was confused why anyone would use more than just one SM57. d'oh!

Don't go back there Laughing

And please don't tell me he just stuck a mic infront of your amp.

Also, another tip (which, might not be standard, but I've always preferred it), is that unless you have an amp you really like or an assembly of complex pedals, record electric guitar via direct pre-amp input and deal with distortion/amp plug-ins afterwards. Even basic amp plug-ins aren't anything to shrug off, they usually sound just about right. That way you have the cleanest sound you can get with the most versatility at your disposal. You can double-up and layer things at your whim that way.

And, in general, never only use a single mic when recording acoustic guitar. Micing can be an art, but I feel people ignore the opportunities it presents. Don't let recording engineers dull your creativity with 'standards'. Put six mics on a saxophone, stick a mic inside a tuba, whatever.

craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

Hayden wrote:

carpents wrote:

I did have one incident where I rented "studio" space for a couple hours around here. Guy looked at my XLR cables and basically decided that I didn't know anything about recording. When I told him how I mic'ed my guitars, he genuinely was confused why anyone would use more than just one SM57. d'oh!

Don't go back there Laughing

And please don't tell me he just stuck a mic infront of your amp.

And, in general, never only use a single mic when recording acoustic guitar. Micing can be an art, but I feel people ignore the opportunities it presents. Don't let recording engineers dull your creativity with 'standards'. Put six mics on a saxophone, stick a mic inside a tuba, whatever.

i'm gonna second what hayden said and gripe a bit cause i've had some bad experiences.

a good chunk of recording engineers i've interacted with are just meeting their 9-5 so they can get their paycheck. so they know all the "rules", but they don't know your music the way you do, and they're not too invested in its outcome. there are obviously exceptions to that, but you know how it should sound. don't let them tell you how it should sound unless you want them involved in a more collaborative role.

in general, it's worthwhile to find the sound engineers you want to work with. listen to stuff recorded locally and find what you like. figure out the who did it and where it was done. the worst recordings i have of my old band(s) are the ones that came from the "professionals". literally, the stuff random people in our audiences got on their cell phones sounds better than some of the garbage those guys at W*** R*** Studios pulled out of their ahem. also, the same goes for performing live. you'll play at a dive bar that has their own sound guy, and the TOOL fan is going to mic and amp you up like you're TOOL when you're there to play Beatles covers. and half of those guys are actually deaf from blowing out their hearing, and they amp the frikkin drums in a 200 capacity bar so that the noise level far exceeds anything you do in your rehearsal space, and you can't hear each other, and you can't hear yourself, and you blow out your voice just trying to hear the sound coming out of your face five inches from your ears and you sound like crap and you lose your confidence and the audience doesn't hear you and you walk away thinking your music probably sucks but that clown on the soundboard is just an idiot, and after the show, that clown is your biggest fan and is trying to set up your next gig, which is perhaps the most confusing part of the whole thing.
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craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

ahem, but dude, i enjoyed the album quite a bit and will be revisiting it before the year is out. all the best going forward.
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carpents

craola wrote:

ahem, but dude, i enjoyed the album quite a bit and will be revisiting it before the year is out. all the best going forward.

Wow, this is awesome. I know your taste, and you generally go for work which is more challenging than mine (the latest Julia Holter is a good example) so you made my Tuesday. Thanks a lot, really.

(I actually think you'll like the next album better...I hope...)
_________________
Some New Ordeal (Spotify/iTunes/Deezer)

carpents

Hayden wrote:

Don't go back there Laughing

And please don't tell me he just stuck a mic infront of your amp.

Also, another tip (which, might not be standard, but I've always preferred it), is that unless you have an amp you really like or an assembly of complex pedals, record electric guitar via direct pre-amp input and deal with distortion/amp plug-ins afterwards. Even basic amp plug-ins aren't anything to shrug off, they usually sound just about right. That way you have the cleanest sound you can get with the most versatility at your disposal. You can double-up and layer things at your whim that way.

And, in general, never only use a single mic when recording acoustic guitar. Micing can be an art, but I feel people ignore the opportunities it presents. Don't let recording engineers dull your creativity with 'standards'. Put six mics on a saxophone, stick a mic inside a tuba, whatever.

I'll contrast it with my other experience with a "pro" engineer: The guy who did some of the drums was stoked that I would record in a remote mountain cabin, and urged me just to throw a mic up in the rafters to see what I got.

For guitars, I do have a sound that I love from an amp that I love, so while some of those guitars are DI most of them are from the amp. I also now love ribbon mics, can't get enough of them. I got a deal on a Mesanovic Model 2 that is just perfect for electric guitar, I pair it with a dynamic and blend them together. And, or course, add in a touch of a room mic in the rafters. Very Happy

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dholl

carpents wrote:

Mixing & mastering is a Black Art, I have zero aptitude for it and don't want it either. If you enjoy mixing and mastering, you have a rare talent and should be doing it for money. (In fact, PM me, I am working on another album.)

So, the point: I've become much more understanding of just how difficult it is to create a cohesive album of music. I'll forgive more a cliche'd line in a song, or appreciate the little bits of even simple songs. I'm even more marveled by those bands who can transcend into greatness, because every single step in the whole process is difficult.

Aye, agree with all that...I used to be in a band (electropunk) and recording an album of decent technical quality was honestly too difficult for us back then. Playing live was very fun tho'...great memories, despite the chaos. Nowadays I'm still doing stuff, but only for my own fun and nothing with full instrumentation. Sometimes people online like it and that's brilliant, but yeah as you say it does give you a heightened respect for working musicians to be able to get their shit together and make it work.

dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

I admit I started listening to your album with the first posts you made but stopped listening after three or so songs I suppose I wasn't in the mood.
But now I'm listening to it again and, well, I like it: I love the guitars and the songs while the voice is both the weak and the strong point. The comment is already been made that it's a bit thin but on the other hand I love it. The best comparison that can be made is with the one of Robin Proper-Sheppard of Sophia, one of my personal heroes: if you don't know the band you should certainly give them a try.
Also the music is a bit in the style of Sophia and this is absolutely meant as a compliment. There's many good tracks but to me Breakdown and And You And Me are the highlights: I must say the quality of the album gets better as it goes on (maybe also a reason I stopped listening first).
I can't give you any advice technically but hey: 2018 is for me one of the best years in rock music (have already 118 albums of this year I have scored) and your album is one of them and even better: I put it now at rank 68 of 2018 so it might even earn some points.
Keep up the good work!