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Signals Without Sound - Music

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  • Rhinokey
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    Rhinokey polycounter lvl 18
    great stuff jason,, i'm totaly envious of your singing, that is my biggest weak spot with writing and recording songs currentlyi'm trying to learn to stay in key better, but i have tons of problems with it
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Side Effect - Micing directly into my computer and using Peavey ReVavler for my digital amp selection... its nice :) I'm using just the Creative Sound Blaster Platnium card... or Fidelty card, can't remember... either way it came with a 1 channel interface which has been serving its purpose for a solid 3 - 4 years now.

    I am looking into getting a M-Audio Delta 2 channel interface soon though.

    Rhinokey - Hey man, if you are "envious" of my singing, than I am damn sure I am envious of your guys style of music, and I think your vocals serve well too it, I really dig those songs man.

    Gonna hopefully finish up the vocals today... sadly my throat is a little sore, and this is the last day I have the house to mai self (makes a difference) so Imma see what I can pump out.

    Thanks again all... updates are coming.
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    OK, I'm back home and listening on my proper monitors, the cymbals are definitely still way too high in the mix. Also the bass and mids don't really sound strong enough, everything seems pretty treble-heavy. How are you doing the bass for this track?

    That said, this is sounding really good already. I think your vocal style is great, reminds of Matthew Good a little here and there (not a bad thing!), and if you can just keep a few of the wobbly notes in check here and there then it'll be perfect. The vocal recording sounds really clean and clear, which is great.

    Keep it up, this should be an awesome song. I wanna do a guitar solo! ;)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Well Matt Good is my number 1 inspiration... so that defiantly makes me blush man.

    I still haven't touched the cymbals, gonna wait until everything else is laid down and then really dig deep into the mixing stage.

    I defiantly know what you mean about the bass... I did a direct in recording, and it always loses some punch even though I play with a more punchy tone... it always sounds messy, do you know ways to help bring it forward as well as take the muddy out of it?

    One thing I do notice is ALL my songs are high end heavy... and I missing key Mids... as well as missing lows entirely, I don't have the background to know what I need to do to fix that, and I have been reading up.... but its almost like I would need someone with experience to mix a song for me, so I can "visually" hear it (if that makes sense).

    Thanks Mop... if you have time record a solo that you think may fit over it, I would defiantly consider putting it in man :)

    Edit - What monitors do you have MoP? I use shitty ass computer speakers... and now a days this is making mixing harder and harder. (i usually start with headphones though).
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Did you actually record the bass on a bass guitar? I don't have a bass guitar here so I just sample everything for bass, I've tried faking it on a regular guitar and it really doesn't work :)

    At home I've got a pair of KRK Rokit 5 powered monitors, I got them last year off Ebay and I love them. I used to use computer speakers too but these are just so much clearer and richer. Now I need to upgrade my sound card to match (you've got a proper sound card, mine's still crappy onboard mobo stuff).

    I did a quick pass here with FL Studio's Parametric EQ and I think even just a very quick tweak to knock the high end down and bring up some of the lower frequencies really helps to make it sound fuller and more pro, IMHO. Shame you don't have better hardware because you're a better musician than me, you could make better use of it :)
  • alexk
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    alexk polycounter lvl 12
    Cool stuff! I think you did pretty great with your current setup. My only gripe is you have a effect on your vocals that pushes it a little too far back into the mix. Almost sounds like a telephone effect. Would be cool to go with effect during verses, and then less effect during chorus or vice versa, so its not all the same throughout the song.

    Using shitty cpu speakers will give you the problem of not able to get the right amount of highs, mid, lows :)

    I also would of loved to have the guitars more stereo panned. I THINK I hear one on the right side but the one in the center is very dominant. Which is cool, but when they both come in on rhythm, would have enjoyed them panned more stereo (hard left, hard right) and will give you more more room for the bass to be heard. Right now, guitars are very center dominant.

    But overall, the performance is fantastic! Very impressive!
  • SideEffect
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    SideEffect polycounter lvl 19
    Definitely get some studio monitors man. In my experience when I try to mix with headphones it winds up sounding terrible through any speakers. Usually sounds a lot bassier.
    I think it also helps to burn a copy and listen to it the next time you're in the car.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Alritghy all... bigger update with mixing and some vocal work done

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/echoes-2

    Let me know what you think.
  • alexk
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    alexk polycounter lvl 12
    Sounds more stereo than before, cool. But theres a really odd and distracting compresser/limiter pumping effect going on during the choruses. I dont remember what the drums was like before, but this mix, the drums are kinda drowned out. But anyways, don't worry too much about mixing because you're an ARTIST! :) And theres tons of people out there that can mix for cheap or even free.

    One tip I'd like to suggest when mixing though, if you're not already doing it, load up a track of a pro mixed song thats similar to this and use it as a reference and try to make your mix sound like the pro one. This can help a bit when using plain computer speakers and can help with instrument panning placement and volume settings.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks alex for the tips man :)

    I definatly do the "listen to a song that has the same kinda tone" and see if I can match it, I also do that for drums as well... its just right now I'm training my ear to hear those little nuances, and now its just trying to transfer that into my own recordings... I still need to really read up on frequency ranges etc. I think that is the key right now...

    I messed around with it with my guitars and bass, where I would give certain frequencies to the bass, and subtract those frequencies from the guitars, and it worked pretty well... as I heard the bass a bit more... but then I think i furked it up a bit :P

    Either way thanks for the help... I really need some good studio monitors, meeehh!
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Bump bump!

    Alrighty so I had a good friend (and old band mate) record drums for me for Echoes, and here is how it turned out -

    http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/echoes-2
  • rolfness
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    rolfness polycounter lvl 18
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
  • Chipmunkzors
    Wow wow wow. This is Great!!! Downloaded the whole album.

    Minor Crit, the distorted guitar in Echoes lies too far in the top end of the spectrum in my opinion and seems to lack any real body.

    But awesome job!

    edit: I think it'd be great if in some places instead of that hi hat counting you use a kick instead. It'd add the punch. I think the timing goes out at 2:57 or it sounds like it skips.
    I adore the snare reverb!
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    Awesome! I think this turned out really well.

    I agree that the mix and recording quality is not quite perfect, but it's good enough to carry the song, I think. I love your singing though, the vocals sound great! :)
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks all :)

    My mixing chops absolutely suck, I had a friend give some crits for mixing it better (hes a producer) and I MAY go back and fix it up... but I think for now Echoes is going in the "well that was fun... on to something new" pile.

    Thanks mop for all the help :) I'm glad you like the vocals, It's always my most favourite part of the song writing process, when i can finally sit down, write... and then sing.

    Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who's posted in the thread, it's a good booster to keep on writing :)

    Really appreciate it!
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Hey all!!

    I've been inspired by alot of you great musicians on Polycount recently, and I thought I'd take out some time today and record a song I've had stuck in my head for a couple days now.

    You can listen to it here - http://signalswithoutsound.bandcamp.com/track/astronaut-wintersleep-cover

    I did a cover of Wintersleep's "Astronaut" (found here - [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOVEKfw2ITk[/ame])
  • undoz
    Wow, awesome stuff dude! I don't think that you'll be doing 3d in a couple of years. Your voice and compositions sounds great!

    My only crit is that it feels like every song was mixed and mastered by a different person. Echoes and the acoustic stuff sounds pretty good, but Absent Minds is very hard to listen. The highs are piercing on my Sennheiser HD600 (which are a bit laid back).

    You should definitely invest some money onto a pair of good monitors/headphones and try to keep a consistent setup between the songs for your instruments, fx, mixing, levels, compression etc.
    Also, try to bring the vocals a bit more forwards and make them drier.
  • JasonLavoie
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    JasonLavoie polycounter lvl 18
    Thanks man.

    Well... sadly these mixes are literally demonstrating me learning new stuff each song, so echoes would probably have the best mixing job to this point, while astronauts its just kinda (do less and get more) thing.

    Once I get a job and get some cash flow coming in, I would LOVE to buy some nice Monitors, its been on my wish list for a couple years now.
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