Stuck in a Box!!!

[wadewalbrun]

Thanks Jast and Lunkhead!! That was very useful.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I prefer to use amps, because I am in a location where can use them, and they still sound better to me. But you probably also can't have 45 amps to pick and choose from. I do have a POD rack-mount that I use while writing, then fire up the amps to record. Hard to argue against the simulation thing, though, when at the touch of a button you have stacks of amps, cabinets, microphones, and all that to choose from. Great tool. It sounds like, Wade, that something like that might be a good fit for you. But if all you have right now is direct-in electric, perhaps use it as more of an accent to the acoustic. Say, a little back in the mix, picking the notes of the chords you strum acoustically.

Effects: I agree with both Lunkhead and Jast. I tend to chase tone first, but I love effects, usually in the extreme although I don't use them every song, by any means. But you need to know your way around the knobs first like Jast said. Not an advertisement, really, but on the bridge of my song this week for the Lurker, the guitars all have a maxed out phase shifter on them. Then back to straight guitar to amp tone. Eh. A good way to add some color, I dare say. Doesn't mean the song or playing are good, but not the point!

Again, I suggest this: Practice and improve your vocal/microphone technique, start experimenting with mic'ing the acoustic, and if time allows, try complementing the acoustic with the electric. Should keep you busy as you move forward.

[Kevin Mellows]

Kevin, I have looked at Guitar Rig myself and was intrigued. I'm curious if you consider them on par with other amp simulators, or better and definitely worth the extra dollars. Some free amp simulator plugins I have downloaded sounded worse than the native ones in Mixcraft, like they were underwater, so I'm a bit weary.

I won't comment on the quality of the sims you got, because I'm not familiar free plugins or how they compare to Mixcraft. But I can imagine free sims not sounding as good as the stuff you pay for.

Check out the demos for Guitar Rig 5 and Amplitube Custom shop. They're free and give you a sampling of what's possible. There's always a huge debate as to which one is better, but they're both great. Personally I like Guitar Rig 5 more because you can easily setup your FX chain in any order. This makes GR good for not just guitar, but processing all kinds of stuff.

Guitar Rig Demo: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/pr ... -5-player/

Amplitube Demo: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitubecs/

-Kevin

[Billy's Little Trip]

Burnzi, I re-mixed your suitcase song to see where your boxiness was that you were talking about.
1. I just used the stereo mp3 that was posted here at SF, so not a great mix, just a tester.
2. Your main issue is mid-range. If you'd singer closer to the mic, it would take the bad room ambiance out of the mix. It's easier to mix in good ambiance than it is to take out bad.
3. I had to separate and treat the chorus on it's own. Your verse tracks were good to work with. The chorus, not so much.
4. I had to over use upward compression and reverb to pull it all back together. I normally wouldn't if I had the individual track.
5. The highs are a little essy, but this is just a quicky to see where your problems were.

Here it is. Take a listen next to your submitted track to hear what I did. It can help you with your future mixes.
Your original: http://www.songfight.org/music/suitcase ... itcase.mp3
My re-mix: https://soundcloud.com/william-l-tripow ... -by-burnzi

[wadewalbrun]

Billy's L.T. - Hey, that's really nice of you to remix my song! I greatly appreciate it. So are you suggesting a combination of taking out the bad room ambience and beefing up the midrange as possible remedies to improve my sound? I noticed you added more compression and reverb too. Are those areas that I should look to enhance more in the future?

[Billy's Little Trip]

The added reverb/ambiance was to make up for the natural room ambiance I tried to remove. I had to start that way with subtractive EQ, then add back in a more pleasing (to me) ambiance. The over use was more of a band-aid in this case. I like your mix, in a simple approach way. With just a subtle reverb it could be just fine. It's the chorus treatment that messes it up. Again, my mix is over produced as a test. Not how I personally would finish it.
If I had a clean guitar track and vocal track in mono, I could make a perfect mix. I was working from your stereo MP3 file. Not good, lol.

No, don't drop out your midrange. Although the mid-range is where I found your boxiness. Again, I started by lowering 2.something db in the 3k'ish and 2k'ish range (not looking at it right now). Then after I had it pretty flat to get started, I bumped the EQ a couple db in the 120k area and 1 or 2 db in the 10k range. After listening again, I bumped the upper range too much.

Then because I separated the choruses from the verses, they both got separate treatment with chorus, reverb, compression, EQ.

Then on the mix down, everything was stereo widened, a mix down compression to glue it all together and a limiter just to trim off those peaks that were randomly stabbing the ceiling. Which allowed me to bring the whole mix up without hurting the dynamics.

Like I said, it was a quickie just to see where your problem areas are. Probably over production, on my part to squeeze out a little more. Truth is, the verses were clean and easy to work with. It's the treatment you did to the choruses that screwed it all up. Trying to get the mix right with the choruses played havoc on everything. That's why I separated them in the mix and treated them separately from the verses.

My advice:
1. Use a dynamic mic if recording in the room you did suitcase. Get in close to the mic to eliminate room ambiance. Just keep the gain low, use a foam cover and use your voice more. You have a good voice. Other than the flat notes on long extended syllables. We all suffer from that, some way more than others. (looks in the mirror) Practice obviously makes perfect. The only time I practice is as I'm recording a song to submit. And it shows, lol.

2. If using a condenser mic, (I can't remember which mic you mentioned) again keep the gain low and get up on the mic. With a condenser, you'll need a pop screen, foam cover and/or just really watch the pops. I will belt out my vocals and not worry about pops. When you are pouring your heart and balls out into a microphone, you shouldn't be thinking about Rice Krispies mascots. Then go back and punch in popless retakes on just the popped word. It's a dirty trick, but works great.

3. Stay out of the red. You can always give presence in the mix later. But you can't take away the cracks. Well, you can take away cracks with dirty tricks, but it hurts 99% of the time. A clean recording at all costs. Then worry about dirtying it up later, if need be.

4. ????

5. Profit!

[wadewalbrun]

BLT - Thanks for the advice!! I really appreciate it.