Recording - January 2012 - 58

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Seriously, though, as evidenced by the hard panned electric guitar at 27secs. Tracy is aware of the stereo field. We advise him to return to his mix and readjust his sound sources: kick drum, bass, and lead vocal in the center, everything else out to the sides according to taste. Need guidance? There are many great Recording articles on panning for maximum effect, including a couple of very good ones in November 2011 and in this issue; check them out.
Summary: “Into the great wide open”!
Contact: Tracy Towns, townstra@yahoo.com

Mitchell W. Gearner
Equipment: Roland VS-1824CD Digital Workstation, Yamaha MG166cx 16-channel mixer. Mics: RØDE K2 large-diaphragm tube condenser mic (vocals, percussion), RØDE NT5 condenser mics (overheads), Shure KSM109 condenser mic (inside kick), Shure SM57 (toms and snare). PreSonus Eureka channel strip (for RØDE K2), preamps for drum mics were from the Yamaha MG166cx. TASCAM CD-RW900 CD recorder (for mastering mix to CD), Polk Audio TSi200 passive monitors, Alesis QS8.2 keyboard (piano, bass, organ), Pacific CX series drums, Zildjian Acustom cymbals, Fender Telecaster (American), LP shaker.

Tracy Towns
Equipment: PC with Roland OCTA-CAPTURE audio interface running Cakewalk SONAR to record, Cockos Reaper to mix and master. Sigma acoustic guitar, Squire electric bass. Mics and mic positioning (thanks for giving us this info, Tracy!): Audio-Technica AT4040 and MXL 990 on the acoustic guitar soundhole, Shure SM57 at the head of the guitar pointed down the fretboard at the left hand, AKG D112 on the Squier bass’s amp, AT4040 with a pop filter for the vocals.

Music: “Upside Down” is a male vocal “metal” song. Tracy wrote, performed and recorded the track in his home studio, playing guitar, bass, and vocals. Recording: Our overriding impression of Tracy’s recording is that it fails to take advantage of the stereo spectrum in any real sense. With the exception of one very loud left to right guitar “whip” at approximately 27secs. into the tune, the majority of sound sources are placed dead center in the mix. Sadly, the result of this “piling on” is frequency masking in the low mids, along with a general inability to distinguish parts effectively. Bottom line, there may be a good thing going on somewhere in here... but we won’t know for sure until we get things to open up a bit. Suggestions: While many fine and famous recordings have been done in mono, the metal genre is not exactly rife with examples. Therefore, we offer up this slogan for Tracy to consider; “embrace the space, embrace the space”. Now say that ten times quickly!
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RECORDING JANUARY 2012

Music: “Crossroads” is a male vocal rock song. Mitchell wrote the song, sang the vocals, and played all the instruments, with help from his son Kent, who played the guitars on the track. Mitchell describes the process for us: “Recorded click track, then recorded instruments in this order : piano, drums, bass, organ, shaker, guitars. Then recorded lead vocal, harmony vocals (2 tracks—same part), then backing vocals (3-part “Ooo’s”, doubled for 6 total tracks). Effects : reverb, delay and room ambience (using the onboard algorithms of the Roland VS-1824).” Recording: A pretty fine job overall here. Mitchell has presented a singer/songwriter style music bed a la the Eagles or late period Bob Seger, and shows some skill and taste with his performances. We were impressed with both the piano and (particularly) the organ sounds that Mitchell coaxed from his Alesis QS8.2 keyboard, and the kick drum and toms were full and articulate, befitting the genre. Michael also did a superb job with the Henley, Frey and Schmitt-sounding backing vocals; they are as convincing and well recorded as any that we’ve heard. As for areas of concern, we would liked to have heard a bit more brightness and a tad less volume on the sidestick hits, and the keyboard-generated bass falls a little flat in comparison to a part from an actual bass guitar. Additionally, the tom fills would have benefited from some wider panning in our opinion. That said, these are minor issues and Mitchell and Kent acquitted themselves nicely here. Suggestions: Minor fixes will be all that’s required to perfect this great track, and kudos to Mitchell for including his son on the project—he did great, and it’s heartening to see the generations coming together with music as a bridge.
Summary: We hope you both keep at it!
Contact: Mitchell W. Gearner, mwgearner@yahoo.com

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Recording - January 2012

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