alexpopov

Some of you might recognize our amazing (and cute) singer. Aside from playing with our band, she also does solo covers and ultimately we'd like her to be a successful solo artist.

This is just pointless preamble. My real question is this: what is the the best practice for recording her voice and guitar through just one microphone? Her other videos unfortunately used an iPhone, but starting with the one linked here, we've found her a (what I believe to be) decent condenser microphone, specifically, the Zoom Q3 which has dual X/Y configured condenser mics. (whatever the heck that means). Since I do all the mixing, I am also the one to have mixed this. I compressed it slightly to eliminate spikes (low threshold, low ratio but super fast) and I equalized to make her voice sparkle (cut the lows and boosted highs. played around a bit with mids to eliminate the bassiness of her guitar. I also added quite a lot of reverb, giving it a fairly small response time, about 30% volume and set it to 'bright' (however that is quantified). I do my mixing in Garageband (aka, I use a mac). Other questions I have include where to put the mic (distance and orientation to her and the guitar) and if there is a better way of recording guitar and voice which will give me more control over each.

Thanks in advance for your help! I'm self-taught and everything I know about mixing comes pretty much directly from reading other discussions on here You can download/listen to it at a higher quality here: http://snd.sc/Imq8fJ

Or just watch it on YouTube:

Since this isn't our original song, I was averse to posting it under audio-review, especially since we've already recorded a rough demo of this song (we're still working on a studio-grade mix). But since many of you really seemed to take to our singer we thought we'd post a video of us playing the song. There are some errors, and the mix isn't perfect (and 0 video editing was done) but, overall, I think you'll all enjoy the track!



Also, on the off chance that someone wants to download it (I don't see why, we have a better version coming soon) you can do so here: http://cl.ly/FXmc
Enjoy! and tell us whatever you think We're also (still) writing originals and we'll have some demos recorded… soon. Sorry for the lack of input guys, we're working very hard and will be more active soon!
(PS: tell me if the video link doesn't work, I can't view it myself) While I'm figuring out what to write between the youtube tags, here's just a plain old link! http://youtu.be/ejakpIpK6a0

Hi there! This is going to be our first foray into this mysterious land of indie musicians

This is a cover of Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks. There are issues with it (the drums actually weren’t recorded/mixed on their own, they just bleed into other mics. Lame, I know) but ultimately we would love a critique on mixing and the sound in general. Less bass? More Reverb? We’d like to hear it all Got something nice to say to our beautiful singer? I’ll make sure to pass it on.

Feel free to download it. It’s also on SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/turn_me_on/pumped-up-kicks

Hi there!

Is there a general practice for where to pan what instrument and how far? For example, bass slightly right, guitar left, singer down the middle? Are there general rules or interesting arrangements you have found? Please share, always interested in the opinions and expertise of fellow musicians.

I’m new here but looking to get involved in the community.

I apologize if this topic is already out there, but I looked for it and couldn’t find one.

Being a good boy I decided to read the posting rules, and they specifically said ‘NO COVERS’. But when looking through the browse menu there is an entire category reserved for ‘Cover Songs’. I was wondering how to post specifically to that category without angering the RIAA Overlords. Or if the rules are just there as liability protection when the RIAA comes-a-knockin’. Anyway, I hope I get a response because I’d like to start actively participating here, starting with some covers and then posting original stuff

I apologize if this is in the wrong category or something