My main / initial goal with going to a DAW for recording songs I perform was to be able to control the volume of the different tracks. Previously I was recording both the vocal(s) and guitar using a single XY mic in my Zoom H5. From that perspective I’m quite satisfied with the result.
In every other area it’s a massive learning curve. I had the metronome going and noticed it vanished at times. Yay.
It was recorded outdoors under the awning of our caravan (RV camper) with a slight breeze. I’ve deliberately not used any fx. The only adjustment I made was to the levels of the guitar and vocals. I’m sure in future years I’ll adjust much more along the way.
Well done, Tony. Nice steady beat with alternating bass notes. Congrats on dipping your toe into multitrack/DAW recording. Your relative levels sounded good. I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Lots of success here Tony. Some lovely guitar tones and playing, one of your trump cards. Vocals sit well in the mix. You’ve done good
I know you want to keep the process organic and perhaps raw to capture the live performance feel. However, I wonder if you’d see value in learning how to cut ‘mouth noises’. By that I mean sounds of intrusive breath, dry mouth, swallowing etc.
Some of the guitar notes sound ‘hot’ which in my limited knowledge may mean the gain during recording is turned up too high. I could be completely wrong here, if so I hope a Wise One corrects me. It takes away from the fullness of tone you achieve so beautifully.
What a nice song. Your rhythm seemed rock steady, good guitar tones and the vocals and guitar were matched very well. Look forward to hearing more like this. Brightened up what is a very cold damp morning here in Yorkshire
Tone of both guitar and vocal sound good. The balance sounds good to my ear.
In terms of Maggie’s suggestion, I achieve this by splitting the vocal track and moving the start and end points of each segment so as to exclude any breaths or other noises not wanted.
I think it is also good practice to do that so you eliminate all the areas where there is no sound.
Note that when you split a track and move the end-points that is a non-destructive edit. In other words, you can always delete one of the segments and expand the other segment to include it again.
Thanks Tim. While I do use a metronome on a regular basis to sort out timing issues, I don’t use it as often as possibly I should. I did feel a bit nervous about having the metronome turned on within Reaper given that I had a lot of other new stuff to contend with mentally while recording through Reaper.
I did record the guitar track several times previously and discarded them. One time was mainly because the volume of the metronome within Reaper was too quiet. So I worked out how to increase the metronome volume.
To my pleasant surprise, there were a number of times the vanishing metronome occurred while I was playing. (It’s what happens (as mentioned in a Justin lesson on metronomes) when your timing is so aligned with the metronome that you don’t hear the metronome because the note sounds louder than the metronome, hope that makes sense).
It’s awesome that you’re paying close attention to timing. It’s so critical, and even very simple things sound good and musical when the timing is there. Congrats on getting the “disappearing metronome;” that’s means you’re doing well.
When I first started playing, I tried the metronome several times and it just sucked all the joy out of the experience of playing. As my skills progressed, I kept trying and finally it became a useful tool.
It’s been interesting because I formed a duo with a friend and when we struggled with the tempo of a song, the metronome came out and we both played to the metronome till the tempo started working well.
Funny thing for me is hearing from other muso friends that the suggestion of bringing out a metronome was contentious for some of the groups they performed in.
I remember asking a muso friend if he used a metronome, his response was that he didn’t need to as his timing was generally pretty good. I remember thinking to myself that his view was quite optimistic in that the metronome tells the truth.
So, to cut a long story short… yep, the timing is critical and I’m far too often speeding up during a song.
Oh yeah, me too. However, I don’t worry about that quite as much, as long as it’s not too large a shift. Some variation in the tempo within a song is okay as long as it “feels right.” Drummers often speed up, too. The main thing I try to do is keep the timing “in the pocket” for the tempo of the moment.
@J.W.C - The first time I performed with another guitar player, something like five or so years ago, we rehearsed together for the first time and after we finished the first song, I asked him how it went. He said I was speeding up and he was trying to pull me back. I explained to him I had no idea that’s what he was trying as I’d never played with anyone else before.
So I went away and spent a whole weekend playing that song to the metronome, must have played it probably 50 times. Then we had another rehearsal and I questioned him about my tempo after we played together without giving him any indication of what I’d done. He said my timing was spot on. That certainly vindicated to me the need to play to the metronome more. So I ask myself why don’t I do it much more often. haha.
Enjoyed that immensely Tony, as others have said rock steady and great tones from vox and gtr. If you are recording in Reaper, the are plugins you can get to help with sibilance and breath but I just sat back and enjoyed what I was hearing and did not do much in the way of analysis. Looking forward to hearing more from you.
The “disappearing metronome” thing makes perfect sense Tony. I’ve recently starred practicing the E minor pentatonic scale and i’m trying to achieve the same thing. Occasionally when i really relax I can achieve it. Thanks for the advice
