Advice on Demo Tracks

[[email protected]]

Hi folks,

I've recorded some demo tracks for a film project, to see what works
and what doesn't. There will be narration over most of it, hence the
sparse arrangements. The guitar and piano were first-takes and may not
make the final arrangements.


http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track2.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track4.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track5.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track6.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track7.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track9.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track10.wma
http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track11.wma


1. I'd like the actual tracks to sound like they were recorded in 1970
and recently dug up from the Sesame Street garden - what post-
processing would achieve this? I'm thinking limited bandwidth and
judicious EQ? The Bitches Brew CD would be a good audio reference.

2. The bass is a DIed Precision with the tone pot rolled all the way
down - will it cut through a mix enough? Some of the tracks will be
just rhythm section so the bass needs to have a personality.

3. The drums have been mixed so much they sound like a drum machine to
me - the raw tracks sounded much better! With the overall effect I'm
going for, is it even worth recording live drums? I can program a midi
drum track better than I can play live, but will I lose too much of
the realistic instrument sounds?

Any suggestions welcome,

Cheers,

Tony

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:28:36 -0700 (PDT), "
> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>
>I've recorded some demo tracks for a film project, to see what works
>and what doesn't. There will be narration over most of it, hence the
>sparse arrangements. The guitar and piano were first-takes and may not
>make the final arrangements.
>
>
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track2.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track4.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track5.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track6.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track7.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track9.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track10.wma
>http://www.lyingdown.co.uk/Track11.wma
>

Unless you WANT track 9 to illustrate a knock-kneed donkey with a
wooden leg I'd re-record the drums with something closer to a real
Latin groove :-) You ignore/modify the clave rhythm at your peril in
this sort of thing.

[Scott Dorsey]

> wrote:
>
>1. I'd like the actual tracks to sound like they were recorded in 1970
>and recently dug up from the Sesame Street garden - what post-
>processing would achieve this? I'm thinking limited bandwidth and
>judicious EQ? The Bitches Brew CD would be a good audio reference.

I hate to tell you this, but they don't sound like they were miked that
way, or in that kind of room.

>3. The drums have been mixed so much they sound like a drum machine to
>me - the raw tracks sounded much better! With the overall effect I'm
>going for, is it even worth recording live drums? I can program a midi
>drum track better than I can play live, but will I lose too much of
>the realistic instrument sounds?

I would always recommend live drums, but in a pinch you can try adding
real cymbals to a drum machine track. It can help things a whole lot
without much effort.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

On Jun 18, 2:58*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> I hate to tell you this, but they don't sound like they were miked that
> way, or in that kind of room.

Aye that's fine, these are just scratch tracks, everything will be re-
recorded for the final film. How would you re-mic the drums? I think
the engineer tried to get rid of all ambience/noise on the drums.

And as for the clave - well, it IS a donkeyumentary...

T

[Scott Dorsey]

> wrote:
>On Jun 18, 2:58=A0pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
>> I hate to tell you this, but they don't sound like they were miked that
>> way, or in that kind of room.
>
>Aye that's fine, these are just scratch tracks, everything will be re-
>recorded for the final film. How would you re-mic the drums? I think
>the engineer tried to get rid of all ambience/noise on the drums.

That's more eighties than seventies. Put the drums in a dead room, add
overheads, spot on the snare, spot on the kick. Move the overheads until
everything balances right. Add cheesy fake reverb... EMT if you have
money, spring reverb if you don't.

The early seventies were still an age where people were recording bands
together, but by the late seventies everything was all about isolation
and using the deadest possible rooms to get track separation at all cost.
In the case of drums, it means adding fake reverb in order to get any sense
of space at all, and sadly the fake reverb of the seventies wasn't quite up
to what we have today. So the EMT sound is a lot of the drum character for
many albums in that era. For the Ventures sound, compress the hell out of
the overheads after the reverb... for a similar but drier sound, compress
it before the reverb.

The Sony DPS V-77 digital "EMT" emulation isn't bad and you won't injure
your fingers tightening down those damn clips.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."