hi all,

well since i asked some questions back in Jan this year about the best
way to setup my recording rig i've worked really hard and recorded 9
tracks on the struggling Athlon 1.4!

all have since been mastered and CDs are freely available if anyone
likes the stuff.

its a metal/electronic crossover type sound but still got a raw edge
which i was aiming for. i'd be interested to hear any feedback.

http://www.recursor.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=hear

all the gear is way less than pro (list on the site), but i feel i've
accomplished what i set out to do which was to make a semi-pro mini
album at home.

i did post this to alt.music.home-studio but got zero response...

be interested in any feedback.

thanks,

Luke (aka Recursor)

Since things seem to stay a bit quiet here too, let me do the kickoff.
I'll try to be objective. Feel free to kick me as appropriate.

First thing I noticed was a strong Nine Inch Nails influence (and do I
hear a hint of the first Matrix album there?) Your voice fits the style
well, so does the sampling technique used on the guitars. I personally
might have gone for a guitar sound with a bit more body (mainly in the
first track it seems a bit rough on the highs), but this might be a
matter of taste- it does give you the jagged edges NIN is known for.

There's something interesting about the very retro bleeps and bloops.
Personally I wouldn't have dared doing that, but have gone for slightly
more complex synth sounds. I must admit though that it does make your
sound distinguishable

As for the recording, it seems pretty OK, but I feel 'something' still
seems to be lacking. Are you by any chance recording exclusively in
mono (1 mic at a time? if not, I stand corrected) Using 2 mics instead
of 1 can really help adding 'air' and depth to your recordings. If
you're stuck with 1 mic, get another one. If you really can't get
another one, an alternative is to fake stereo by copying a track and
delaying/equalizing it slightly compared to the original (try it!)

I read you used a UB1202, got one myself, cute little thing it is. Nice
to see other people are also putting it to good use Nobody will be
able to tell by the recordings made with such simple means, but it does
pretty much limits you to stereo (except if you use FX sends, like that
you can record 3 individual channels at a time- useful for a drumset
where you have 2 overheads and 1 kick - of course this is only useful
if you can record 3 channels simultaneously too).

Well so much for my comments, I guess I better shut up now...

"kleinebre" wrote:

an alternative is to fake stereo by copying a track and
delaying/equalizing it slightly compared to the original (try it!)



No, DON'T. It sounds fine if left in stereo, but will turn into a mess
of comb-filtered rat **** when summed to mono.

Bad idea.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

hi Kleinebre,

thanks very much for taking the time to have a listen and leaving the
interesting comments. glad you noticed the NIN influence... i do like
them, just dont feel theres enough industrial/noisey stuff on the radio
(esp in the UK) so thought i'd do something about it

the jagged adges of which you speak in the first track sort of 'grew',
i did have big 'mudyness' problems and was experimenting quite a bit
with each track... but the nasally raw sound worked (for me for that
one) in the end.

as for the bleeps and bloops... half the plan was to get some really
****ty sounding samples in there and see how they'd work against the
standard sounds of instruments. theres even an old dial-phone dialling
sound looped on track 6's verses which isnt noticable until its pointed
out... and to be honest, this was my first real venture into anything
remotely midi, again experimenting was at the front of it and what i
'liked' got left.

the guitars are completely simulated from the v-amp, theres no micing -
i guess thats probably what your ears are (or aren't!) hearing... in
some instances i even turned off the cab simulation and went direct
which gives this great cheap zoom type pedal sound from early 90s
(thanks Trent...)

interesting to read u have a UB1202, its fine for me at the mo, but one
little niggle is mine won't lay flat - its like the chassis is bent or
something!!! *grrrr*

thanks for your comments, with a bit of luck i'll record some more
stuff with a new PC i've just purchased... fingers crossed for
'real-time' mixing of more tracks instead of mixing down everytime i
wanted to change a level... hahah, damn the amount of time i spent
watching progress bars on this project.

take care,

Luke

My bad. I was assuming Luke was using a single mic and the most spatial
sound you can get like that is by simulating (faking) stereo- but I'm
well aware it destroys mono compatibility, which I should've mentioned.
I stand corrected.

hi Kleinebre,

don't worry about that! i was a bit confused with Lorin's comment - but
only because i kinda read that he was talking about making the signal
*back* to mono which i *didnt* read ur's as saying.

basically, i recorded the guitar parts usually twice and panned each
fairly hard left and right, so even though its the same part in mono -
i got that natural margin of error where my timing wasn't identical
which gives it a stereo feel.



cheers!

Luke

"LuKeNuKuM" wrote in message

[...] i was a bit confused with Lorin's comment - but
only because i kinda read that he was talking about making the signal
*back* to mono which i *didnt* read ur's as saying.



The point is that once the product leaves your hands, you no longer have
any control over how it's heard. In many cases, it may wind up in mono
(car radios with auto-blend, TV stories that have been through even one
stage of editing, transfers that the operator forgot to pan, mp3
converters with the mono bit set, etc. etc. etc.). Thus, you try not to
do things that will sound bad in mono. Time-based stereo simulations
fall into that category.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

thanks Lorin - i see what ur saying now, cheers for clearing that one
up!

Luke