The Watering Hole

We couldn't wait for the rehearsal room session so we just tossed this off this morning in Oliver's bedroom.

This is my son Oliver (age 15) on drums (singing at the same time as playing drums too, hence off tune a bit here and there  :) )

Drums recorded with just a stereo pair (the onboard mic's of the zoom r16).

I'm playing guitar and bass and attempted backing vocals.   Guitar direct out of hotplate into R16 and then added cabinet in Reaper.

Drums, vocals, guitar all recorded "live" into zoom R16 then transferred the wave stems to reaper to add bass guitar and mix down.

Unfortunately mix down is always my "let down" and I did this with headphones so results may vary  ;D

Anyway, it is what it is, and was damn good fun and the results are not too shabby I think....not bad for a first go anyway.

Edit:  see later in this thread for the final mix....

this is so totally awesome!

the coolest thing to do with dad ever! cheers to you guys, that sounded like a blast!!

vocals are great

wow, just great!

(mix could use some (a lot of ;)) work... but whatever, that's still just fantastic)

Very nice results. Surprisingly excellent recording capability.

ironsheep — Aug 23, 2013this is so totally awesome!

the coolest thing to do with dad ever! cheers to you guys, that sounded like a blast!!

vocals are great

wow, just great!

(mix could use some (a lot of ;)) work... but whatever, that's still just fantastic)

Thanks. Honestly this is definitely one of the best things to do with your kids.   I'm really pleased that he actually likes doing this with his old man and is proud to tell his friends etc.   One of his friends recently said "your dad's really cool, wish mine was like that"  -  made me swell with pride !

If you can't find a drummer, grow your own like I did  ;D

much improved! critique follows:

cymbals/highs are much better but maybe still a little loud at times, guitar is encroaching a bit in that space (could use some high end roll-off) - bass guitar is kinda dominating the mix - more volume on the vocal/less on the guitar during vocal sections - kick vanishes when bass guitar is going.

that said, the mix doesn't really factor in to how much I like it. :)

ironsheep — Aug 24, 2013much improved! critique follows:

cymbals/highs are much better but maybe still a little loud at times, guitar is encroaching a bit in that space (could use some high end roll-off) - bass guitar is kinda dominating the mix - more volume on the vocal/less on the guitar during vocal sections - kick vanishes when bass guitar is going.

that said, the mix doesn't really factor in to how much I like it. :)

Yeah, I just played it on the main system in the house and I see/hear exactly what you mean.  Obviously my science didnt' really work at all :)  I seem to have introduced some nastly boominess to it now. Most of the problem is mixing on headphones (and me of course being a major mix factor).  Sounds fine when I'm mixing it on headphones but doesn't translate well to anything else, plus of course my headphones are not that brilliant either.  

All useful info thanks. I will have another go in a minute.

kick is better for level (maybe a little high) but needs some clarity eq (bump up in the 2.5k (ish) area)... sounds kinda dead.

bass level is better.

the guitar sounds oddly separate on the lead parts, not just louder but... something - it fits in well on the rhythm parts.

vocal might be a tad high now (better though... just a hair out of balance with the rest).

the cymbals (overheads) need some comp/limit or something - toward the end, they get kinda loud for a bit... other times they're not so forward... but they're contributing to this next thing --

the highs are kinda overpowering the mids throughout... will be interesting to hear what you think when you've heard it on something with full range and air... :)

I think it's probably a case of over tweaking/cooking the mix... I'd go back to the basic tracks and start with just comps on everything and work the levels out. there's a lot more high end information off real cymbals apparently... more challenging to get that balanced.

no need to jump in a lake... unless your monitors are in there! ;)

anyway, just my opinions - I've produced mixes that not only have all the problems I'm complaining about but were even more severe... I remember killing all the bass on tracks for a while and then finding out my subwoofer was broken and always going full blast... lol.

I agree with just about everything you said there.  Just listened on the main system and sounds like crap.  I think you are right, strip it all back to basics and start again for the mixing.  The main problem with the drums is that I recorded that just with 2 room mics, so there's no way to eq the kick or the cymbals separately etc, although I might try a multiband compressor on the drums and see if that is useful.

I will report back once my ears have recovered tomorrow !

and a final bit of turd polishing  ;D

shiny!

sounds like it's all in one room, thumbs up!


so, you've probably got some mic GAS now?  ;) :)

I think you are a mind reader  ;D  Yep, a few mics are needed now.  The best thing that I like about the R16 is that it can also run on batteries. Great for just taking into another room to do your recording, then back to the pc to simply copy the wav files directly from the unit to your favourite DAW.   It's that simple, no need for any software at all as it when you plug it in via usb it can be seen simply as a USB disk, or you can use it as a control surface for your DAW.

Best gadget I've bought in a very long time. Highly recommended for the fun factor alone, and very good price wise, you get a lot for your money.

Very cool indeed.  This mix sounds a lot better than the first one.