Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 21:45Ok, first rough take of first demo up. Lyrics just repeat second time around.
Working title Hunter, not like killing animals hunter but more like the name Hunter. Has nothing to do with the song really.
Any feedback would be awesome! I'm still so unsure how to better my recording quality/get rid of fuzz. And it sounds pretty empty, need to add bass, maybe some backing guitar, or something.
As soon as I get a new song done, it goes up here.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Oz Squared
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 7
Karma: 1
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:13Ok here is the first song for the Oz Squared album. It's Called 'I've Seen the Light', it was written by BK and I a few years back and I've always wanted to record it. It's still in a rough mix and my son still has to put his electric on it and probably some bass. But it's a good start.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Gumbo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 540
Karma: 12
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:21My poor brain. Do we have two Oz's now? SUrely this is the original OZ (there can be only one!)
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Oz Squared
User Junior Boarder
Posts: 7
Karma: 1
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:27It's me Gumbo. I'm doing one with my son, so thus Oz squared. I just thought I would post under the new listing. Most of my posts will be under Osborne and Hutchison. Sorry didn't mean to confuse anyone.
Oz
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
The sort of noise/fuzz in this track usually shouldn't be a problem with recording into a computer which makes me wonder about what microphone you use and if you use a preamp with it. I remember that your vocalfile last year was very soft as well and then you get a bad signal-to-noise ratio (you have to turn it up to hear it properly and that way you add the lowlevel noise you introduced by, is my guess, a less than ideal microphone setup)
Something goes wrong with getting the sound into the computer. I think if you sort that out you're basically there.
Looking forward to your stuff this year You already have a good start (I recorded the first four "skeletons" of songs this weekend, but it's still too sketchy to post here. Maybe at the end of this week)
Post edited by: Monopoli, at: 2008/02/03 23:30
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Can't wait to hear your music this year! Last year's album was great.
Thanks for writing about my recording - I was going to write you back personally but then thought maybe other amateur recorders like myself might like to hear this.
I don't have a pre-amp, and don't see myself getting one ($) this month. I record through my Roland VS-840 GX mixer. I use a Shure SM57 mic; again, it's the best I have for now, and I'm just recording on GarageBand (I do have Logic Pro 8 but don't know how to use it yet). So, my equipment is pretty limited, but I desperate to make this year's album more 'profess ional' sounding...is there any other way to remove some fuzz other buying more stuff? Or, by buying something cheap? Maybe not...
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
mick
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 944
Karma: 28
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:52Can you give us a sample of the noise / fuzz so we can hear it? Oftne the best way to identify it. Try this.
Start your record and don't play or speak. Give it maybe 10 seconds of silence so capture any noise. Then hold a tone vocally for 10 seconds. f you can generate a sine wave from a synthesizer do that for 10 seconds (flute is often close).
Post that and let us have a hear.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Gumbo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 540
Karma: 12
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:53Oz Squared wrote: It's me Gumbo. I'm doing one with my son, so thus Oz squared. I just thought I would post under the new listing. Most of my posts will be under Osborne and Hutchison. Sorry didn't mean to confuse anyone.
Oz Thank God! My brain is well. My sense of drama is overcooked, but never mind that.
Good luck with your projects, Oz. Listening now.
Drop a harmony vocal in here and there, too. Cool stuff.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Gumbo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 540
Karma: 12
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:55mick wrote: Start your record and don't play or speak. Give it maybe 10 seconds of silence so capture any noise. Then hold a tone vocally for 10 seconds. f you can generate a sine wave from a synthesizer do that for 10 seconds (flute is often close).
Post that and let us have a hear.
Yeah! We'll loop it and use it for percussion. You'll get a galactic ultra-Credit and some smarties for your trouble
oops, sorry I was down the pub this afternoon.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
NeiloMac
User Fresh Boarder
Posts: 2
Karma: 0
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/03 23:57Here's a couple of as-yet-untitled instrumental demos of the first two songs...melodic hard rock, if you will, with some, well, slightly odd prog bits.
Should be really cool once all the proper melodic bits are in, especially in the choruses of song2 - there's going to be a cool octave melody that should give it a lift.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
My Imaginary Life wrote: is there any other way to remove some fuzz other buying more stuff? Or, by buying something cheap? Maybe not...
two things help with noise on my system (MacBook into GarageBand via M-Audio FastTrack)
the first is to set the input level on the M-Audio 'pre-amp' to just short of background noise while monitoring. This means I sometimes have to work a little at my vocals or double them (duplicate tracks and either centre them both or pan them equally left and right) (My vocals often get panned <groan> ) but it means the background noise is quieter.
the other is to unplug the power chord (sorry: power cord) whilst recording so I avoid mains noise. I especially get background if the washing machine or oven are on. Perhaps they are on the same circuit. If you aren't on a laptop then be aware of other appliances and turn off unneccessary ones or record when they aren't active.
Post edited by: Gumbo, at: 2008/02/04 00:05
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Just wanted to say that a mic preamp will make a *world* of difference to your sound. It's the difference between fuzz and no-fuzz! Even a cheap preamp will do the trick - especially with a good mic like the SM57. Here are a couple of examples of good cheap preamps:
I've used the M-Audio one, and it's really excellent. Honestly, it really is worth splashing out on something like this if you can afford it. It'll make you happy
S.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Oh no, you don't have to necassarily have to buy something. That Roland VS-840 GX is already quite an elaborate thing and probably has a preamp (I'm guessing again) and you don't really need a preamp with a dynamic mic like the Shure 57.
The Shure 57 is part of the problem IMO (not concerning the noise though); it's an OK mic for guitaramps and snaredrums and singing live but it's quite boxy sounding so this will put it's mark all over your recordings (but that can give it a lofi-charm. Some people use Shure SM57 deliberately for that reason) If you ever have some extra money I'd shop around for a nice condenser mic.
But the noiseproblem is just a question of setting the levels correctly I think. You have to keep in mind the garbage-in-garbage out principle; you have to set the recordinglevel as loud as possible (or at least louder than you do now, it's actually wise to leave some headroom) but without going over 0 Db. Probably you have an inbuilt limiter in the Roland VS-840 GX that could help with this. From there into Garageband you'll have to do the same thing. If your levels are too low in both cases you end up with more noise later on.
Post edited by: Monopoli, at: 2008/02/04 00:14
Post edited by: Monopoli, at: 2008/02/04 00:17
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
$50 plus a little shipping. Can get it town for maybe $60-$80at Guitarget.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
My Imaginary Life
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 153
Karma: 6
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 00:23Wow, thank you guys for all your feedback! That noise is not going to cut it this year and I'm so appreciate of all the help. I'm going to look into a pre-amp, or at least see if I can figure out if my mixer has one (does anyone know?) The tech side of music is by far my weakest spot, it's not something that comes naturally to me.
I'm listening right now, and you are rocking my effin socks off with this. You have a new fan right now.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
BrokenPromiseKeeper
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 179
Karma: 8
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 01:03My Imaginary Life, I cannot recommend enough scraping together the bucks to get a condenser mic. I got a USB one for this year's Challenge and the results are far superior to what I was able to do before with a mic like yours. My new one was about $30 used on ebay, it's made by Samson. I am cheap, but sometimes you gotta pay for better results.
And, as a smooth segue, you can check out my first uploaded track. Probably not the best song to judge the tonal quality of the new mic, as I was shooting for a rough vocal, as it's what the song asked for.
The song was inspired by my lack of inspiration about the upcoming primary on Tuesday. Lyrics are on my latest blog entry, accessable on the following link:
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Gumbo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 540
Karma: 12
fuzz test opinion 1 - 2008/02/04 01:03My Imaginary Life wrote: Wow, thank you guys for all your feedback! That noise is not going to cut it this year and I'm so appreciate of all the help. I'm going to look into a pre-amp, or at least see if I can figure out if my mixer has one (does anyone know?) The tech side of music is by far my weakest spot, it's not something that comes naturally to me.
Just sounds like you have your 'gain' turned up a little too high trying to get maximum volume. Can I get a witness? Does it change if you diminish your input levels?
As I said I went for an M-Audio FastTrack to plug my mic/guitar into (cheap option) and I still have to work around this, but can get it to be mostly unnoticable. Other input devices would be other options.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
mparker
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 158
Karma: 2
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 01:20mick wrote: Skidoo's got the most of it. Pre-amp means clean sound.
$50 plus a little shipping. Can get it town for maybe $60-$80at Guitarget.
I have one of those as well and for the money it's the dogs testicles. It's not just a pre-amp. It's got a few other features (like 20dB pad, phantom power etc) as well as a lovely glowing 12AX7 tube for that warmth to your sound. I put everything through it, guitar, bass, vocals, the lot. I highly recommend it.
Post edited by: mparker, at: 2008/02/04 02:04
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
skidoo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 73
Karma: 4
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 01:27BrokenPromiseKeeper wrote: My Imaginary Life, I cannot recommend enough scraping together the bucks to get a condenser mic.
I couldn't agree more. Condenser mics are simply beautiful. However, listening to the quality of the vocal recording on My Imaginary Life's track, it sounds really good as it is - the only problem with it is that darn fuzz - which I'm sure is just a recording level problem.
Thing is, the SM57 should do a reasonable job of capturing a vocal. I tried looking for a user guide or spec sheet for the Roland mixer, but couldn't find anything. I'm sure there's probably a preamp on board, but you're probably plugging the mic into a line-in jack socket, rather than an XLR (the big chunky three-pin sockets), which may mean you have to turn the input gain way up in order to get a decent signal. This will inevitably result in fuzz.
Your mic is fine. Get a preamp. You'll not regret it.
Oh, one more thing... if you get a preamp with phantom power (like the M-Audio one I mentioned earlier), then you will still be able to use it if you ever splash out on a condenser!
S.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
My Imaginary Life
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 153
Karma: 6
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 01:30Thanks so much for listening and responding you guys, that was all a huge help. I really appreciate it.
Post edited by: My Imaginary Life, at: 2008/02/04 01:30
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
skidoo
User Platinum Boarder
Posts: 73
Karma: 4
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 01:31P.S. It may be worth noting that the M-Audio preamp has just one control per channel, and is therefore much easier to use. OK, it doesn't have the "tube warmth" of the Behringer, but it does give crystal clear sound, and sometimes it's best to keep things simple...
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
freddiefreelance
User Senior Boarder
Posts: 15
Karma: 0
Re:Post your demo's here. - 2008/02/04 03:38BrokenPromiseKeeper wrote: And, as a smooth segue, you can check out my first uploaded track. Probably not the best song to judge the tonal quality of the new mic, as I was shooting for a rough vocal, as it's what the song asked for.
The song was inspired by my lack of inspiration about the upcoming primary on Tuesday. Lyrics are on my latest blog entry, accessable on the following link:
What say you folks out there? Tell your son not to say that particular quote to the oldies manning the polls on Election Day; one year I had a poll worker try to keep me from voting for saying that while picking up my ballot, and I found my voters registration deleted the next year & had to vote via contested ballot.
| | The administrator has disabled public write access.
You already have a good start (I recorded the first four "skeletons" of songs this weekend, but it's still too sketchy to post here. Maybe at the end of this week)
