KVR Audio

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Sun Jun 20, 2021 12:07 am

sambombe wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:26 pm Nice work, indeed, the vibe (at least for me) is very 80s, and i love it a lot! Congrats, very well done work - arrangement, melody, instruments, levels, etc.... In another of your songs (Dysfunction City), i felt a reminiscence of New Order or a little of Joy Division, maybe the guitar/bass.... happy i got to know yout work! Gratz again!

Hey, thanks so much for listening and I am beyond thrilled you like it! Yeah, I like a lot of 80's music, especially post punk stuff (and new order, of course). Joy Division was monumental for me in realizing that music didn't have to be super technical/complex to be good (I was going through a huge prog phase when I discovered JD and other post punk like Gang of Four, etc). I was born in '81 so I was exposed to a ton of pop music from that era but didn't discover the really good stuff until almost twenty years later. Thanks again and all the best to you and your own music!

tomtom1 · Post by **tomtom1** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:41 am

that is a really strong track. i wouldn't change anything (structural). for the production quality: for me (but i am a beginner there) it sounds like a professional productions. i heard "worse" from "bigger" artists.

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:27 pm

tomtom1 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:41 am that is a really strong track. i wouldn't change anything (structural). for the production quality: for me (but i am a beginner there) it sounds like a professional productions. i heard "worse" from "bigger" artists.

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:32 pm

goldendeathmusic wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:27 pm
tomtom1 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:41 am that is a really strong track. i wouldn't change anything (structural). for the production quality: for me (but i am a beginner there) it sounds like a professional productions. i heard "worse" from "bigger" artists.

thanks! you should know I did it on very cheap gear. not the worst, but definitely not the best (an aston origin mic and an audient id22 - both great quality for the price, I think). Also, it may be often overlooked but I tend to think using high quality cables (I used mostly canare for this album/song) makes a pretty noticeable difference. if you do think it is well produced, that goes to show that dedication and some talent/experience can trump $$$ and nicer gear when it comes to recording. Of course, it's still a ways off from some of my all time favorite recording quality holy grails, but I will admit it's not the worst thing I've personally ever heard haha. My mind will probably change about that soon enough though...

sambombe · Post by **sambombe** » Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:37 pm

Hey Golden, how do you record voice and acoustic instruments? Any technique that you apply (distance, mic type, effects, etc). Never done that, but i would like to learn that too

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:12 am

sambombe wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:37 pm Hey Golden, how do you record voice and acoustic instruments? Any technique that you apply (distance, mic type, effects, etc). Never done that, but i would like to learn that too

My mic technique for both is pretty lackadaisical actually. I tend not to like pop filters as I swear I can hear them, so I have kind of developed a technique of singing de-emphasizing plosives on the fly. I also like to remove the inner grill on LDC mics if possible, but didn't find it necessary to do so with the Aston Origin I used on this song (swear I'm not a company shill haha).

I usually try to use an LDC on the voice, and a dynamic (sm57 or something) or SDC (oktava mk012) on the acoustic guitar - relatively close mic'd and pointing at the 12th fret. I also like to use a different mic for each source if possible, as I find you need less post-eq to make stuff stand out doing so. Of course, everyone has different techniques that work for them, and this is just what I have fallen into after years of self-recording.

As far as FX are concerned voice chain is pretty much always EQ (ReaEQ)--->Compressor (ReaComp)--->Delay (Dubstation or ECHOES)---> Reverb (SIR impulse reverb with the low end cut and the decay time shortened). I also throw a simple de-esser on there if necessary.

Acoustic guitar is pretty much the same chain as above without the delay and a different, more subtle reverb. Actually, that's pretty much my standard signal chain for anything I'm recording.
Bass is always direct with an amp sim mixed around 70%wet/30%dry. Drums always have Magnetic on the whole bus. Guitar was recorded with an SM57 and a tube amp with minimal compression and EQ done after the fact (already some on the pedal board).

"Mastering" enhancement/excitation is done with Ozone 8, but I normalize/limit the volume in Adobe Audition v1.5
Hope this helps you in some way haha, even if it's to learn what not to do.

sambombe · Post by **sambombe** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 12:36 pm

Man, it helps a lot. Theres so details in music production that it gets overwhelming... Tks a lot for sharing your techniques and experience! (I wont further discuss it here cause itll get too offtopic lol - this one is about your work, even if i still have so many questions...)

tomtom1 · Post by **tomtom1** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:27 pm

goldendeathmusic wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:32 pm it's still a ways off from some of my all time favorite recording quality holy grails

it's always the question what "reference-goal" we have... don't set the bar too high... can be frustrating... but i make the same "mistake" too...

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:32 pm

tomtom1 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:27 pm
goldendeathmusic wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:32 pm it's still a ways off from some of my all time favorite recording quality holy grails
it's always the question what "reference-goal" we have... don't set the bar too high... can be frustrating... but i make the same "mistake" too...

I'm kind of weird in that I don't use reference recordings directly (I definitely should though), but definitely take note of stuff when I'm listening to music. But yeah, I settled for "good enough" long ago haha...it's hard to get to a certain level without million dollar studios.

Local Man · Post by **Local Man** » Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:45 pm

Sounds great! Really nice song.
A nice blend of sounds that are reminiscent of the 60s, 80s, and 90s but overall doesn’t sound too retro. That’s my favorite kind of music, where you synthesize what has come before to sound like something new. It’s not often pulled off this well. Nice work!

goldendeathmusic · Post by **goldendeathmusic** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:36 pm

Local Man wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 8:45 pm Sounds great! Really nice song.
A nice blend of sounds that are reminiscent of the 60s, 80s, and 90s but overall doesn’t sound too retro. That’s my favorite kind of music, where you synthesize what has come before to sound like something new. It’s not often pulled off this well. Nice work!

Thank you so much! This makes me very happy, as I'm always trying to distill all of my influences from all the music I listen to (definitely a lot of stuff from the last 40 years, as you mention) into 3 or 4 minute psuedo-pop songs without it just being a retread of stuff that's already been done. I am incredibly glad you like it and appreciate what I was going for! All the best to you and your own musical endeavors.

Actually a bit proud of this one for once...feel free to rob me of that feeling with your comments though