General Music Chat

Lynard I kinda like DWI, it has this Jerry Lee Lewis feel on the piano.

I think when you record a song think about what you want to dominate the mix, be it drums, guitar or vocals, of course for any commercial type songs I think vocals should be front and center.

What you might try on some of your mixes with a piano and a rythym guitar is put on to the right and one to the left in the mix, it will open it up some. make sure your vocals are close to dead center, if you lay down backing vocals pan one track hard right and another hard left.

Im old school and love to hear things panned, so thats just me.

Your guitar tones are almost too dirty to my ears for the feel of the music, sometime when you do a song, record a solo with your normal sound and them maybe lay another one down with less gain on your amp, sometimes a tone with less gain just cuts thru a lot more and all that distortion takes up a lot of sonic space for other instruments.

It seems to my ears that you just turn it on and leave all the instruments at the same level in the mix, one trick is to have your guitar a little lower in the first verse, and then turn it up a bit for the next verse it kinda builds tension in the mix.

I also like to lay down multiple tracks for the chorus's in things I do, that way I can thicken up the guitar when it hits a chorus, I also sometimes just put a wah wash in there, or some sound effect on my guitar on its on track, just to punch it up.

As I said I like DWI, sounds like something i would love to jam on.

Keep On Rockin!

Thanks JW, I really haven't got a clue, what
I'm doing, I've always been a live performer.
I got no idea about left right or center, I kinda
understand what your saying about the guitar setups,
and your right each guitar track is set and not changed.
I'm currently recording another song and trying to
work on my sound levels, but will see.

I was kinda thinking these tracks I'm doing now are
"scratch" tracks to take to a pro studio and let them know
kinda what I'm thinking.

Thanks for the compliment on DWI, it's kinda my Keith
Richards lead guitar stylings. You know chord it on the
IV, and the V, and then fall into the blues scale on the tonic.

This time next year I'm hoping to have recorded a quality
record.

Dane bring your recorder and your recording knowledge down
here to my house and I'll rock your phukkin socks off.lol

Hey JW thanks for the piano compliment,
I've been playing for two years now come
April. I've always been a guitar player/singer,
but since I quit the bar bands 2 years ago( 2
years, wow time flies when your having fun),
I took up piano and really started studying theory.
I didn't know what I was doing, but was trying
to get a Jerry Lee sound, if I keep practicing at
everything I'll get better.

Lynard if you are recording two guitars even on demos, maybe change the setting between the two, when I speak of spreading the guitar right and left, I just mean in the stereo mix, it gives them some seperation to where they arent clashing with each other.

Im a rocker and Led Zep is my favorite band, and a lot of it is the production. Listen to groups like that and the way they blend the instruments, when you really listen the guitars arent as hot in the mix as you thing, in fact some classic Zep songs have a rather thin sounding tone with a lot less gain than you think. This allows the bass to stand out, they arent drowning each other out, plus they leave a lot of open space in songs to where you really hear the drums.

If you are recording at home, just play with your mixes. Drop a guitar totally out of the mix, to where its just drums, bass, and vocals, then bring the guitars up and see if the frequencys of the guitar are taking away from the sonic space of the vocals.

I havent been doing much recording lately and talking about it makes me want to get the recorder out and do something.

Thanks maybe you are giving me the push I need to get back at it!

Have a Great Day, just keep doing it, practice makes perfect, both as a player and as a producer. It will only get easier the more you do it.