First Trial Recording In Studio One....Advice Appreciated.

[Robkay]

Just working through Presonus Studio One, works a dream for me after using Sonar.
Just been playing around with a bit of recording and trying to put it all together......did this track as a trial and not sure of my monitors or room, need to get a smaller pair of computer monitors to do some comparisons...
Singer needs shooting but as shes my misses i can't do that, perhaps the guitarist wants shooting too
Drum loops are from ebay, the rest was played....so go give it some critic and let me know how i can improve it.....we're thick skinned so don't be afraid

http://snd.sc/lOycRz

Thanks
Rob(uk)

[String Tree]

First of all, the thing that is at the TOP of my list is you have a nice song.
Well written, well played, well sang, well recorded.

I like the way the arrangement builds the song.
I would lose the Tambourine at 1:54. To my ears, it is being overplayed.
Adding a harmony or two would be nice.

Your Misses has a wonderful voice!

Sometimes, bringing the guitar, high hat and snare down about 3db when the singing starts can clean things up.

[woodman]

Agree with Tree on losing the tambourine and adding some harmony vocals.

To my ears (on my monitors), the acoustic, hat and snare seem to be crowding the upper mids, a critical range for the vocal. I would back off the hat a little, then EQ some beef into the snare and some warmth into the acoustic by attenuating the 2-5K range and finding sweet spots for them lower down the frequency band. Personally I like a fatter bass, but in traditional country the bass is often mixed low. A good start for your initial effort! Try making a CD and playing it on other systems outside the studio.

[FirstBassman]

Boy, I'm the last person to give recording device but ...

I agree, ya got a good song and a good vocal to start with.

I love a "live" sound and hate "over produced" tracks but the first part of the song sounds like it was recorded in a living room jam setting or something.
The vocal needs to have a little "fuller" sound to it (reverb, compressor, something) and the instruments need to be brought up just a tiny bit more.

When the lead guitar came in I jumped in my chair.
Not sure why but it seemed to just come out of nowhere.
Know what I mean?

The over all depth of the sound sounded better to me after about 1:48.

And, yeah, that tamborine is too way out there.

But, yes, a very nice track. Enjoyed it.

[Robkay]

Great thanks for your thoughts and ideas, tambourine is gone. I've readjusted the eq on the bass and taken the harshness out the acoustic a wee bit.....not sure about the lead break in the middle....i think i over compessed it
Here's version 2, will add some harmony next few days.
http://snd.sc/lXFtHB
Any ideas keep em coming....
Rob

[LightninMike]

levels are good..... the general areas to look at, IMHO, are the effects and a few specific eq's.... listen to the sound through a set of small speakers and then through a decent stereo system..... listening to the mix in several environments with different sized speakers/quality levels

acoustic is decent, but listen to an acoustic in a room and then listen to the recording.... match them ... you will notice the acoustic has a bit more low end in the natural room.... a nicely matched reverb will help this

the snare doesn't suit me, and i actually prefer it with the "clap" over top of it.... if you started the track with the clap and then brought the snare in as filler it would have a nice affect on the track....

the vocals need the same type of effect as the acoustic.... again, listen to her sing in a room that isn't deadened.... then listen to the recording.... in between the two is where i would put it

[woodman]

The acoustic would benefit by reducing the 2-5 KHz range and increasing the 250-350 Hz range, IMO ... sweep your equalizer to find the spots. That would make it warmer and less tinny (more natural, as Mike said above).

[Robkay]

Thanks for you help and advise, will put a link with the final version before long.....
Rob