My friend and I recorded some music

iammattpleevee

Tell me how bad it sucks.

http://firstnamelastname.bandcamp.com

Grifter

The recording levels aren't very good. Sounds like the guitar has too much volume/bass. I can barely hear the banjo, if that's what's being played. And the singer goes from being nearly inaudible to peaking out every other line.

iammattpleevee

There is a bass guitar in the songs so maybe you hear that? Also it was recorded with a really old computer mic and audacity so yeah it sounds pretty shitty. Also, the singer has a bit of a slur to the way he sings but it's intentional, I don't really hear the peaking you are talking about.

ninjai

3 things,

1: have everyone practice TOGETHER with a metronome. There's intentionally sloppy playing to add emphasis and a raw, live, or emotive feel to a track, and then there's lazy sloppy. Bob Dylan "Times They Are a Changin" is a good example of how this should be properly executed.

2: Folk does better with alternate chord voicing, not bar, open, and power chords. This makes your "folk" come across alternative rock, blur and the like, or acoustic rock/punk.

3: Find some other way to get everyone on tempo than starting every song with a count. Either that, or cut it in mixing effects during recording.

I think the mic adds a lot of character to the sound, but yeah thats probably something you're going to want to upgrade. Behringer makes a great compressor mic that has that raw sound to it. The "Peakings" he's talking about, I don't know what they're called, but its when the microphone is saturated with volume and does the "speaker fart" that you hear with shitty speakers in the back of someone's car, but for the microphone.

:22 of "Something that you've lost" is a good example of what he's talking about. Not much you can do about it though with a pc mic.


Here's a good metronome
http://flic.kr/p/31W4AW

acadia

As to the sound quality, I agree with everyone else. The laptop microphone ain't cuttin it. When they say it 'Peaks' that means essentially the sound is too loud for the microphone to reliably pick up, so it just outputs noise. Any time you sang something louder than normal and you heard the distortion, that's the peaking. The music itself, I actually quite liked. I had it going in the background while I cleaned my apartment, and I enjoyed it. It could obviously be a little cleaner and you guys could tighten it up a bit, but I see definite potential.

Mayday

I actually enjoyed this, which is unusual considering what a progsnob I am. So yeah, it would be great if you guys could record it on some better equipment.

teg5511

Everything everybody else said regarding tempo/recording,

but wow! This is pretty good. I dig.

If you ever want something easier to use and more powerful than audacity, try "mixcraft", its super slick and easy, but is at least as powerful as acid pro or similar for garage band recording purposes.

ninjai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EopF0dP67A

this is a good example of sloppy being done intentionally well.