New Music

[tbmills]

This is our first real attempt at recording.
What do yall think?
Here (http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=860926)

I Keep Waiting
(Ford/Mills/Mills)
Curt Ford - Vocals
Jackson Mills - Electric and Acoustic Guitars
Taylor Mills - Drums and Percussion, Vocals
Drew Taylor - Bass Guitar

Big League
(Gutridge/Mills/Mills)
Daraius Gutridge - Vocals
Jackson Mills - Electric, Acoustic, and Bass Guitars
Taylor Mills - Drums and Percussion

Bread
(Ford/Mills/Mills/Taylor)
Curt Ford - Vocals
Jackson Mills - Electric and Acoustic Guitars
Taylor Mills - Drums and Percussion

48 Hours
(Gutridge/Mills/Mills)
Daraius Gutridge - Vocals
Jackson Mills - Electric, Acoustic, and Bass Guitars
Taylor Mills - Drums and Percussion

[Supermann]

That's cool, not what I usually listen to, but I actually liked it a lot. Espescially I Keep Waiting and Bread. keep on rocking man!

[tbmills]

thanks man
what do you usually listen to?

[Micael Öberg]

I liked Bread.....lots of energy...........



Rock on Dude!!!

[AlexM]

Thought the stuff sounded great all though the treble and mid-range in your mix melted my ear drums.

Get a little mastering done, and it would be a little easier to listen too I think...

Just my .02 ...

[tbmills]

Thought the stuff sounded great all though the treble and mid-range in your mix melted my ear drums.

Get a little mastering done, and it would be a little easier to listen too I think...

Just my .02 ...

i agree, do you wanna pay for it?

[Supermann]

thanks man
what do you usually listen to?
Well, that's a lot of stuff actually, Nirvana, Queens Of The Stone Age, Lamb Of God, Slayer, Kingston Wall, Led Zeppelin and a norwegian band called Ida Maria, they totally rule ;-) (and much much more, it just takes too long time to write them all down)
So it's very mixed as you see, but I do think your band could get a place amongst all these! Any place I can buy a cd or something?

[tbmills]

Any place I can buy a cd or something?

haha no, this is just some mess around stuff. ill let you know if anything happens.
this is just my cover band but i live with my brother and we really like doing this stuff.
i would love to do something like this for a living.

a boy can dream right?

[tolgapala]

hey there!

great songs. especially i keep waiting is my favorite among the four. bread is very nice also. nice job. i would like to make a suggestion about the overall mix if that is ok with you. AlexM already have pointed out about the hi and mid ranges being ear exhausting, but there is more to it than just the frequencies.

the good thing is that you had pretty much nailed a lot of issues regarding your remark that this is your first ever real attempt to record. the instruments are played and recorded clean, nice and crisp. i loved the soft tone in the drumset. couldn't say the same about the hats though. :) i had a hard time trying to hear the bass. drums are too high and vocals are very low compared to the instruments. i don't know if that was on purpose to demonstrate us your playing but i could suggest lowering the drums so that the vocals could be better presented and enabling the drums to provide a solid basis for the song. this hears like a drummer's monitor with balances set up for a live performance. and forgive me that i am asking but do you push or pull slightly every once in a while? do you use a click track? (especially asked for i keep waiting)

don't get me wrong, i am only making comments about the overall balances and drums, not the mixing/mastering not the tones or any other stuff. the songs are really nice and well performed. keep up the nice work. as far as the mixing/mastering goes it is a whole different universe so i won't go there. it's a whole different profession, a sound engineer is not necessarily a good engineer in mastering.

again very solid work. like the vocals. thanks for sharing.

cheers.

[tbmills]

thanks man.

i appreciate the help. our biggest limitations were mics. we were using a samson mic pack on the drums, $50 cad overheads, with a 57 snare top /i5 res. we didnt use a hihat mic
(the pencil condensor that came with the mic pack was very harsh and grity) i have also found that my once amazing hihats no longer fit with my set up. i play 13" a custom ms /avedis ms and they are very loud and bright. id really like to get something softer with more wash.

we now easily see many problems that stand out with the mix. hindsight is 20/20... at the time we didnt have any good monitors (some bose headphones) and the bass was last to be added. our bass player was out of town all summer. we did these songs for a independent study at the university of alabama and the project was due. id really like to set some time aside to redo the mix with the proper monitors and this new knowledge. strangely, my brother, the guitarist, did most of the mixing. the major choices on the main mixes are his, so, i suppose he likes me to be loud...

lastly, all of these songs were recorded without click. ive heard that doing this makes for a more lively sound... we recorded my tracks first with my brother on acoustic unrecorded. (i watch his hands and eyes for arrangement changes. he counts while i keep check on my sound and speed) all of the songs have the original drum track except for i keep waiting. the original drum tracks had some weird sounds pop up in the snare and bass mics that we couldnt get rid of. i had trouble syncing with the song when we rerecorded. i really should have bought some isolation headphones because the bose ones werent quiet or loud enough. plus, im not the best with click, but im getting there. due to time constraints we had to "settle" for the off time drum track.

thanks for the compliments and critiques.
we are really having fun with this and will keep your suggestions in mind on our next songs.

thanks,
Taylor

[tolgapala]

i have also found that my once amazing hihats no longer fit with my set up. i play 13" a custom ms /avedis ms and they are very loud and bright. id really like to get something softer with more wash.


hello taylor,

i am glad to be of any assistance if i could. a lot of things made sense when you delicately have put all the constraints and difficulties you have faced during recording sessions. i am familiar with those mics. those drum mic packs could be useful for mediocre performances in live sessions but definitely weren't meant for recording in my opinion.

may i suggest istanbul mehmets as hat choice and 14" would be the size that i would go for. turkish cymbals are well known for their darker (sometimes even softer) sounds with more wash just as you have mentioned. probably cause they are hand hammered and lathing process and alloy is different.

anyway. hope to hear your future performances and the revised mix of these also.

keep rockin'. cheers!

[Coprock22]

Very nice, especially given the limitations you mentioned. Great clean sound. I'd love to hear more of your stuff!

[tbmills]

may i suggest istanbul mehmets as hat choice and 14" would be the size that i would go for. turkish cymbals are well known for their darker (sometimes even softer) sounds with more wash just as you have mentioned. probably cause they are hand hammered and lathing process and alloy is different.

would those go well with what i already have?

whats setup
20" avedis ping ride
20" k custom dark ride (crash)
19" k custom hybrid crash

whats left
17" a custom crash
16" a custom proj crash
18" oriental china
10" a custom splash

you can see that i have been moving from the bright a custom sound to a darker big sound.

i heard a pair of used 13" new beats a while back and they were amazing. i also liked some 14" istanbul mehmet nostalgia hats on cymbal cellar, but honestly, im a little purist and would like to get some zildjian hats. i would really like to find a nice 14" or 15" pair because i love how heavy my cymbals are. i can really dig into their weight.


EDIT: oh thanks alot coprock.

[tolgapala]

hello again taylor!

i know i would seem a bit queasy saying this but it is so personal. it would be wrong to say this is better than that. it was a humble suggestion to use istanbul mehmet hats but among the ones you have listed i would choose

20" avedis ping ride
16" a custom proj crash
18" oriental china
10" a custom splash

i am not quite sure if istanbul mehmet samatya and radiant series are available out there but i am so fond of especially the samatya series. i use a samatya 14" hats at the moment and they sound very nice. i would recommend (if they are available) to have a test drive somewhere of the 14" mehmet's. see hand made cymbals do tend to differ soundwise even if they are from a same series. trying and hearing for yourself probably is the best way to decide.

cheers.