Hey folks hope you are all well. First post of the OBS magic; doing a one take (there were a couple one takes) and bringing in vocal, guitar and Justin’s Songs App backing track into one video recording. This is the same setup I used for the April Open Mic Tribute except this time I just hit Record in OBS and trimmed the beginning and the end of the output and boom! Very happy with this recording set up vs the old iPhone in in upper corner of my sound room. As always feedback is appreciated and thanks to anyone who clicks and watches any of it! …Rod
Oh yeah, that was great, Rod (from North Carolina).
Guitar sounded rhythmically in the groove, though could have been a little louder in the mix level wise I think to stand out a little more. As an overall production it all sounded good, so I think you did fine on that mix but from a guitar learning point of view, I think amplifying the guitar perhaps more than you might otherwise if just producing a multi-instrument cover is a good idea.
Loved the vocal performance. Great feel and delivery.
Are REM from your part of the States, relatively speaking. I think they are from Georgia (if I recall correct) but have no idea if that makes them neighbours, and if it helped you with timbre and phrasing to sound as in keeping with the original as it did to me.
As I said to Bytron when he took a run at this, I dig REM, in their heyday I think they were awesome, among the best in the business.
Great performance there Rod, both guitar and vocals. Good rhythm too. Enjoyed it alot.
I’ll leave the sound mix advice to the audiophiles, but sounded pretty good to me - maybe a little on the trebly side, but minor
Well done.
Great stuff Rod. That was really good, I enjoyed your version of this classic song. You nailed the feel and the timing and your vocal was excellent.
You’ve certainly got all the recording techniques sorted out now. I’m no tone expert but it sounded pretty good to me. Perhaps a little more bass would help?
On a technical note, keep an eye on that fretting index finger. It flies a bit.
Well done over there in North Carolina. I’m always so jealous of accents like yours. You’re halfway there before you begin!
Good performance, and great to see how easy you talk, with a great accent as said
Greetings (uit nijkerk), and the Dutch have to laugh now because that really doesn’t sound cool )
Hi Rod, this is One I Luv!
You’ve done a great job but you might try bringing up the guitar a tad. Otherwise, all good. Liked the vocal, guitar and video.
That was excellent, Rod
Solid rhythm guitar and vocals spot on here.
As David says your accent reminds strongly of the original Stipe vibe.
I loved this band in my college years and got to see them on their first major (Green) tour in Dublin.
They played 12 encores until they finally ran out of songs to play.
Only suggestion for improvement:
Some heavy black eye-liner/black paint across the face at eye-level and maybe a closer shave
Sounded good there Rod, definitely open mic worthy material! I would also put up the volume of your guitar in the original mix next time to make it sound more in front. On top of that two things: perhaps your mic sensitivity a bit down in order to prevent your strings sound bleeding into the mic and to master track. And if you sing louder bits either your head could go a bit towards the back to keep the vox volume consistent. Alternatively play around in DAW after it is recorded with vox volume envelope.
Overall great job, hopefully next on the list will be Man on the moon!
That was a great performance Rod. Your progressing really well and its great to follow you on your guitar journey. Keep on doing what your doing fella. Look forward to the next one.
Many thanks to the views and comments. I’m still getting the setup mix figured out but this one was a little tricky with the vocal being a little “hot” I actually turned that down a bit as it was clipping and I was going big or going home with “FIRE”. I can control the gain on the mic by itself as its on Channel 1 through the Focusrite 2i2. Sounds like I might need to take it a little further down on these bigger vocal songs. The guitar and the backing track are both coming in on Channel 2 via the headphone jack coming out of the Spark Amp. Any gain changes on the Focusrite boosts or cuts both, and I need to hear the backing track loud enough to help me keep time. BTW all three audio streams are monitored through my headphones as they go into OBS directly from the Focusrite, there is no DAW in this setup. I believe my solution to putting the guitar more “upfront” is the volume control on the guitar and bump it up a couple notches which I will try on the next one. Yes, there will be more as y’all have got me hooked on this AVYOP stuff. I need to be careful not to overstay my welcome in this category!
I probably should have been introducing myself as “coming from NC” as I’m a recent transplant (where my grandkids live and retirement decision was go where the kids are while we are still relevant) work life was 34 years in GA. REM are from Athens which is about 60 miles from where I lived in GA. I’m a 60s, 70s, 80s Classic Rock guy and these guys caught my attention well beyond the 80s. I’m about 400+ miles from there now.
The Spark amp has a reputation for being heavy on bass and I’m using a patch where I have brightened the tone up might have gone a little far there.
You talking about my signature move! That seems to be more prominent with my two finger G chord, nowhere for that guy to go I guess and you aren’t the first to notice.
If I tried a native Scottish tune you would be scrambling to turn the volume off! However, I can attest that the “other half” to doing this a NOT the easy half!
I’m a recent transplant close to Raleigh. Small world!
Well, the inside scoop that only a blue wigged guy would know!
Nothing wrong with that, incredibly easy way to get it done and the result is really pretty effective especially if the room is treated well. I’m only going this far because I already had all this stuff from my voice over hobby and the OBS software that does all the magic is free. which reminds me, I need to make a donation to those guys!
Very kind!
I haven’t decided if I should spend $100 bucks and go with a dynamic mic as this is a large diaphragm condenser. Probably will need to do that for keen eared folk. I’ll fiddle with the mic gain to see if that helps any. When I quit leaning so heavy on the song app and memorize the guitar part and the lyrics of these songs I think that will take care of itself on the mic technique but I’m aware of it. Right now I’m trying to not look so much at my fretting hand but I’m tied to the song app for a lot of the chords and lyrics but that is getting better. But I am aware that with that mic (or any mic) that if I turn directly to it that will make the vocal hotter. Appreciate the technique and mix feedback for sure!
Thanks again for the kind words and the specific feedback folks!..Rod
That was very good Rod and really enjoyed that cover. Thought you did an excellent job.
Production wise I’d always steer towards a dynamic mic if you’re recording vocals and electric (given you’re recording your electric on a separate channel). That will eliminate any background noise, which unfortunately is tricky to do with a condenser mic.
The mix between the guitar and backing did sound a little muddy. I wonder if there is another option for to bring the backing track into OBS? Could you not plug your phone directly into the soundcard input on your laptop/PC and then have that as another audio input into OBS? that would then leave just your electric guitar coming through the spark…your backing track would then play through your PC. You can definitely add multiple audio tracks >> Wiki - Advanced Recording Guide With Multi Track Audio | OBS but whether that is just another technical overhead I’m not sure.
Thanks @Rossco01 i think there is a lot of opportunity to work the guitar and backing track mix with this set up although i realize that a headphone out is not optimal for both of them but it keeps me from having to post process which I’m really not keen to do. The backing track coming out of my iPad into obs via pc is interesting but I’m not sure how i hear it maybe plug my headphones into the pc and now I’m monitoring everything coming into obs? I guess there is a iphone plug to usb cable that would support that. I’m thinking the next big improvement from this setup from what I’ve heard from the group is bring up the guitar (with maybe a bit more bass on my patch) slight cut on mic and switch out the mic to a dynamic one. However i really appreciate the link on Advanced obs stuff. I think my new production skills have somewhat eclipsed my playing and singing . Need to focus on the main thing more! Thanks again…Rod
I have nothing negative to say here. You did fantastic and I think you are ready to perform public. I am just starting on level 3 and no where near at your level of playing-very impressed. I still have lots of work to do in timing and you see to keep time flawlessly, which is impressive. I saw REM in concert back in 1995-song brings back memories and it looks fairly easy to play. Thanks for sharing
…Rod
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That seems to be more prominent with my two finger G chord, nowhere for that guy to go I guess and you aren’t the first to notice. 
. Need to focus on the main thing more! Thanks again…Rod