Feedback on acoustic track & drums

Niall - Dahlia

Roysh, about time I quit lurking and put something up for a bit of criticism!

Two things actually. First is an acoustic track I recorded two weeks ago, the band's name has slipped my mind but I'll credit it when I find out later!

Two acoustics recorded together in the same room (Loop). One close miked XY with NT5 stereo pair, about 7 inches from the body. The second guitar (panned right) was recorded with a single NT2A, about 7 inches from the body. Vocals overdubbed separately (NT2A again). Recorded 3 tracks in total but this came out the best I think. Any advice or feedback on the recording and mix would be great.

http://www.hoboaudio.net/alok.mp3



Second is a recording I did over the weekend for a band called Short Notice. We spent a session (again in Loop) just doing drums and bass, so I'd like to post up a sample of the drums for some feedback on them.

The drums and bass were recorded together in the same room so there's a little bit of spill into the drum mics but it's not too bad. NT5 overheads a couple of feet apart, D112 inside the kick about 4 inches from the beater skin and pointing slightly away from the beater. SM57s on the snare and toms about 2 inch from the outer rim of the skin. The snare was a nightmare, it sounded terrible and we couldn't get a replacement.

First is the drums as they were recorded, second is with compression and EQ (probably too much cymbal on that one but I find it hard to mix the kit without the rest of the band...which we haven't recorded yet ). Let me know what you think, cheers!

http://www.hoboaudio.net/drum_sample.mp3

http://www.hoboaudio.net/drum_sample(compressed).mp3

cornbb

Had a listen to the first track, I'll give the rest a go when I get home from work... wow! Very nicely produced! My ears are by no means highly trained or anything but I thought that sounded great - very clean and well-balanced. If you want one little bit of feedback I'd say ease back on the compression the tiniest little bit - but thats really only personal taste.

I'll be recording a similar ensemble the weekend after next btw so I might be stealing your techniques

booooonzo

Ditto on the compression. its probably just set a bit wrong.
Also the guitar is a bit thin with the vocals (strummed guitar). but then again im listing on crap headphone at work or it could be the style your looking for.

Try Drumagog for the kit. espically the snare as you pointed out.
dunno about the mix but the hats are maybe a bit bright and crashs a too dull.

maybe try some samples to beef it up. also try the new york compression thing (buss drums to a comp and return to a pair of inputs) im sure its on google.

TelePaul

I assume the compression is what's bring up the kinda pcik scrapes when the piece gets a bit more up tempo?

Niall - Dahlia

cornbb wrote:

If you want one little bit of feedback I'd say ease back on the compression the tiniest little bit - but thats really only personal taste.

booooonzo wrote:

Ditto on the compression. its probably just set a bit wrong.

Cheers guys. Compression is something I'm definitely still in the early stages of learning. I'm really still just using it to control peaks rather than shaping the sound. I held back alot on the compression in this track compared to past attempts (which make me cringe), but obviously not enough...hopefully I can look back in a few months at this track and cringe again, and hear what you guys hear.

TelePaul wrote:

I assume the compression is what's bring up the kinda pcik scrapes when the piece gets a bit more up tempo?

That and the amount of gain I had to use at the recording stage to pick up even the slightest signal. The 2nd guitarist (the one panned right) played unbelieveably quietly. I wasn't sure whether to tell him to play louder, I guess it was his style, but it made his track extremely noisey, with lots of scrapes and creaks. Sometimes I find it hard to judge the line between giving good advice that's going to help the recording, and feeling that I'm hindering on a player's technique and style, if you get me.

booooonzo wrote:

Try Drumagog for the kit. espically the snare as you pointed out.
dunno about the mix but the hats are maybe a bit bright and crashs a too dull.

maybe try some samples to beef it up. also try the new york compression thing (buss drums to a comp and return to a pair of inputs) im sure its on google.

Excellent, thanks for the NY compression tip booooonzo, I'll definitely give that a shot, love finding out little tricks. Found a description of it here for anybody else interested http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=1019432 Cheers for that dude.

frobisher

booooonzo wrote:

maybe try some samples to beef it up. also try the new york compression thing (buss drums to a comp and return to a pair of inputs) im sure its on google.

In Europe we call it parrallel compression. Or is it the other way round?! A good trick though. Useful on alot more than drums and with computer DAW's its a peice of piddle to do. I've had good use with it on acoustic guitar and vocals.