Comments on the quality of the recording

[Jkob]

Hey guys.

I'm thinking of creating a few samples of me singing and playing for promotional purposes (easier to get live performances when I can give the pub owner a cd or direct them to my website to listen)

What do you think of the quality of this sample I made this evening? I used Studio Projects B1 mic for singing and guitar, M-Audio's FT Pro is the soundcard.
Guitar is Yamaha's LL16. DAW is Reaper.

I'm not satisfied with this, I'd like it to have some more bass and my voice sounds even more crappier than I thought. The playing is a bit sloppy and singing is out of tune in some parts but that's something I need to work with myself.

https://soundcloud.com/samu-jaakkola/sample

the songs are Born to Run (in finnish), Born to be my Baby (Bon Jovi) and These Days (Bon Jovi)

Thanks for advance
- Samu

[mutantrock]

You can try recording the guitar part twice and then panning the two tracks left and right and you will achieve a bigger sound. For the vocals you can try singing facing a corner and treat that corner with some pillow or some sound deadening stuff and you will remove the room sound to some degree. Finally, apply some EQ and lower the mid between 200-800 a few db.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by Jkob

Hey guys.

I'm thinking of creating a few samples of me singing and playing for promotional purposes (easier to get live performances when I can give the pub owner a cd or direct them to my website to listen)

What do you think of the quality of this sample I made this evening? I used Studio Projects B1 mic for singing and guitar, M-Audio's FT Pro is the soundcard.
Guitar is Yamaha's LL16. DAW is Reaper.

I'm not satisfied with this, I'd like it to have some more bass and my voice sounds even more crappier than I thought. The playing is a bit sloppy and singing is out of tune in some parts but that's something I need to work with myself.

https://soundcloud.com/samu-jaakkola/sample

the songs are Born to Run (in finnish), Born to be my Baby (Bon Jovi) and These Days (Bon Jovi)

Thanks for advance
- Samu

Good playing and singing. A very good performance.

Your room sucks.

[Tarekith]

For just getting some pub gigs at smaller places, I think it's fine. More than anything it just sounds like you had the mic too far away, you sound distant and thin as a result. Try playing with your back to a corner, preferably one that isn't bright with lots of hard surfaces. Put the Mic a little closer too, if you don't have a good room to record in, don't record so much of the room

[Jkob]

Originally Posted by mutantrock

You can try recording the guitar part twice and then panning the two tracks left and right and you will achieve a bigger sound. For the vocals you can try singing facing a corner and treat that corner with some pillow or some sound deadening stuff and you will remove the room sound to some degree. Finally, apply some EQ and lower the mid between 200-800 a few db.

Originally Posted by Tarekith

For just getting some pub gigs at smaller places, I think it's fine. More than anything it just sounds like you had the mic too far away, you sound distant and thin as a result. Try playing with your back to a corner, preferably one that isn't bright with lots of hard surfaces. Put the Mic a little closer too, if you don't have a good room to record in, don't record so much of the room

Thanks guys. I need to try those. The room really is crappy. Some reflection filter might also help in this case?

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

Good playing and singing. A very good performance.

Your room sucks.

Haha.. thanks.. all hope is not yet lost

[YamaYairi]

The first 2 you were too far from the mic. The third is much better. Listening on Sony MDR-V6 headphones, you have enough bass. If you get closer to the mic you will get a warmer sound anyway.
Work on supporting your voice with your diaphragm. Lay down on your back and breath with your hand on your belly. You will feel your belly rise when you breath in and fall when you breath out. This is what it should be doing when you stand up and sing. When you breath out, your stomach muscles should tense up to give you extra support.

[Ty Ford]

As others and you have said, wonky room. I can almost see the walls and ceiling. 8x10 or 10x12. Your guitar sounds louder than you do. Maybe try to pull back on the guitar and get closer to the mic.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Thanks, hearing Springsteen in Finnish is a hoot. I thought you were going for a "Born" theme and was expecting "Born To Be Wild."

[Jkob]

Originally Posted by YamaYairi

The first 2 you were too far from the mic. The third is much better. Listening on Sony MDR-V6 headphones, you have enough bass. If you get closer to the mic you will get a warmer sound anyway.
Work on supporting your voice with your diaphragm. Lay down on your back and breath with your hand on your belly. You will feel your belly rise when you breath in and fall when you breath out. This is what it should be doing when you stand up and sing. When you breath out, your stomach muscles should tense up to give you extra support.

Thanks for the tips. I'm really not satisfied with my singing, any advice will be noted :-) I'm taking some lessons and it's taking a turn to better, slowly.

I chose those songs because of the high notes and they are not the easiest to sing. If I can make them sound decent, I guess the easier songs will too.. Pure genious. And I thought you might want to listen to english songs instead of finnish :-)

[Jkob]

Originally Posted by Ty Ford

As others and you have said, wonky room. I can almost see the walls and ceiling. 8x10 or 10x12. Your guitar sounds louder than you do. Maybe try to pull back on the guitar and get closer to the mic.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Thanks, hearing Springsteen in Finnish is a hoot. I thought you were going for a "Born" theme and was expecting "Born To Be Wild."

Heh, no themes, sorry. I thought it would be nicer for you to listen to english and Springsteen in finnish. It's actually translated almost 100% accuracy. Record company wanted to read the translation (yes, first you translate the text in finnish and then you need to translate the translation into english) so the translator sent back the original lyrics. You can listen it from Youtube or Spotify under the name Synnyimme Lähtemään.

And you are right about the room
Corners are filled with tables or cabins so I need to ask my wife if we should do some decorations

[YamaYairi]

Originally Posted by Jkob

Thanks for the tips. I'm really not satisfied with my singing, any advice will be noted :-) I'm taking some lessons and it's taking a turn to better, slowly.

I chose those songs because of the high notes and they are not the easiest to sing. If I can make them sound decent, I guess the easier songs will too.. Pure genious. And I thought you might want to listen to english songs instead of finnish :-)

Your vocal production is in pretty good shape, your voice does not sound throaty or strained. You just need to work on support and those high notes will come easy, you'll see!

[Jkob]

Hmm.. do you think it would help if I turned the microphone facing ME, instead of 3 meters of empty space?

Didn't realize that SP B1 had a front side and a backside.. Well.. you learn something new almost every day

[Ty Ford]

Here's some help for your redecoration......

A nice area rug to reduce floor bounce.

A large cloth wall hanging on at least one wall. On either wall that's 90 degrees from that wall, put another cloth wall hanging or a large (6 foot tall, 4 foot wide) book case with lots of books.

The cloth will absorb. The books will diffuse.

If you really want to go for it, consider the ceiling. Install 3-4 parallel rods about 4-5 feet long and drape more material through them to reduce ceiling bounce.

This works in Finland and everywhere else.

About the one mic. Put it on a stand with a boom arm and position it about where the top of your head is and angle it down so it hears your voice and your guitar. Experiment with positioning and how close you get to it until you find a balance point where voice and guitar sound right. You will probably find you don't need to play as hard.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Jkob]

Thanks Ty.

recording corner

not a very good photo, sorry about that.
I just put the micstand on the corner. On the recording it was in the middle of the room so it should be in a better place

How thick the cloth should be? I guess my old Manowar (lol) band picture is not thick enough

[ADK]

I'll second Ty's advice, Jkob, and wanted to mention I'm a big Springsteen fan -- it's so cool to hear it sung in Finnish. My grandfather came to the US from Finland when he was 19.

Onnea!

[Ty Ford]

jkob,

This morning I'm thinking, playing into a corner is pretty limiting and teh live side of the mic is still facing the entire room.

Try setting up in the middle of the room and see what happens.

Regards,

Ty Ford