No More Advice Needed - Thanks all

[Oggy]

[size=5]Thank you Chaps for giving me some very helpful advice, appreciated.

Oggy[/size]

Edited May 20, 2011 by Oggy

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='Oggy' post='1235663' date='May 18 2011, 01:28 PM']Question: Is it OK to upload .WAV files (each +/- 40,000KB) and how is this done?

Thanks in advance

Oggy [/quote]
Wotcha,

40MB?! No, No, No, No & No to uploading WAVs... that 40MB/file will crucify most peoples' bandwidth. They need compressing to MP3 which ought to bring them down to around 5MB each depending on how much compression you apply.

A couple of freeware converters that I'd recommend:

[url="http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/"]CDeX[/url] will convert WAV to all sorts of flavours of MP3
[url="http://www.formatoz.com/"]Format Factory[/url] will convert almost anything into anything (Youtube Flash to MP3 no problem).

Of the two, CDeX is the better featured as it allows you to choose between Constant Bit Rate (CBR) & Variable Bit Rate (VBR) - VBR is probably the best compromise as the compression level varies according to how 'busy' the audio is. That said, Format Factory is by far the easier one to use - if you go for this, set the bitrate to either 192Kb/s or 256 Kb/s (the default is 128). 192 will probably be more than adequate, but 256 will have a better bass response.

As for actually uploading the files... if you're a Hotmail user, you already have a Windows Live account that gives access to SkyDrive & 25GB of free online storage. If, however, you detest all things Micro$oft, there's a free service called Dropbox that gives around 2GB free (it's kind of like Imageshack or Photobucket but for any file type). PM me if you want to go for the Dropbox option, as it's mutually beneficial if done via personal recommendation.

Pete.

[Oggy]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1235767' date='May 18 2011, 02:35 PM']Wotcha,

40MB?! No, No, No, No & No to uploading WAVs... that 40MB/file will crucify most peoples' bandwidth. They need compressing to MP3 which ought to bring them down to around 5MB each depending on how much compression you apply.

A couple of freeware converters that I'd recommend:

[url="http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/"]CDeX[/url] will convert WAV to all sorts of flavours of MP3
[url="http://www.formatoz.com/"]Format Factory[/url] will convert almost anything into anything (Youtube Flash to MP3 no problem).

Of the two, CDeX is the better featured as it allows you to choose between Constant Bit Rate (CBR) & Variable Bit Rate (VBR) - VBR is probably the best compromise as the compression level varies according to how 'busy' the audio is. That said, Format Factory is by far the easier one to use - if you go for this, set the bitrate to either 192Kb/s or 256 Kb/s (the default is 128). 192 will probably be more than adequate, but 256 will have a better bass response.

As for actually uploading the files... if you're a Hotmail user, you already have a Windows Live account that gives access to SkyDrive & 25GB of free online storage. If, however, you detest all things Micro$oft, there's a free service called Dropbox that gives around 2GB free (it's kind of like Imageshack or Photobucket but for any file type). PM me if you want to go for the Dropbox option, as it's mutually beneficial if done via personal recommendation.

Pete.[/quote]

Hi Pete,

How the Devil are you? Thanks for the reply, appreciated.

I have a Mac at home with iTunes on it so something that will convert the files for a Mac would be good and allow me to convert the .WAV to .MP3 for Mac and posting on this site – sorry for being so techie ignorant . I don’t want to do any mixing or enhancing, it’d be better just to get opinions on how they are now and recommendations on what to ask the recording engineer to do to make them sound OK.

Look forward to hearing from you – just hope the boss doesn’t catch me .

Oggy

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='Oggy' post='1235797' date='May 18 2011, 02:58 PM']Hi Pete,

How the Devil are you? Thanks for the reply, appreciated.

I have a Mac at home with iTunes on it so something that will convert the files for a Mac would be good and allow me to convert the .WAV to .MP3 for Mac and posting on this site – sorry for being so techie ignorant . I don’t want to do any mixing or enhancing, it’d be better just to get opinions on how they are now and recommendations on what to ask the recording engineer to do to make them sound OK.

Look forward to hearing from you – just hope the boss doesn’t catch me .

Oggy [/quote]
Surviving.

Ah. Didn't realise you were a Mac-hippy ,

Try this:

[url="http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-convert-wav-file-into-mp3-file-with-itunes/"]http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-con...le-with-itunes/[/url]

but don't bother with the 'Custom Setting' bit, just go for 160kbps or 192kbps. Have a go with both settings & see what the resulting file size is.

P.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Bloodaxe

[Oggy]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1235810' date='May 18 2011, 03:08 PM']Surviving.

Ah. Didn't realise you were a Mac-hippy ,

Try this:

[url="http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-convert-wav-file-into-mp3-file-with-itunes/"]http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-con...le-with-itunes/[/url]

but don't bother with the 'Custom Setting' bit, just go for 160kbps or 192kbps. Have a go with both settings & see what the resulting file size is.

P.[/quote]

Thanks Pete. I'll be giving it a go this evening, once I've negotiated the M4 and M25 - Aghhhhhh

If it works out I'll load them up this evening and await the abuse with bated breath.

Oggy

PS. The only reason I have a Mac is that I thought it'd be easier to use that a Windows PC, it's not a big posh one just a standard small footprint desk top.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1235767' date='May 18 2011, 02:35 PM']As for actually uploading the files... if you're a Hotmail user, you already have a Windows Live account that gives access to SkyDrive & 25GB of free online storage. If, however, you detest all things Micro$oft, there's a free service called Dropbox that gives around 2GB free (it's kind of like Imageshack or Photobucket but for any file type). PM me if you want to go for the Dropbox option, as it's mutually beneficial if done via personal recommendation.[/quote]

I believe you can just upload the Mp3 as an attachment from your desktop or Hard drive or whatever in your post.




Garry

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='lowdown' post='1236131' date='May 18 2011, 07:00 PM']I believe you can just upload the Mp3 as an attachment from your desktop or Hard drive or whatever in your post.

Garry[/quote]
Quite true, but you're restricted to a maximum of 20MB per post, plus the owners/mods are a little concerned about the current volume of attachments across the board as a whole [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126658"](more details here)[/url]. Uploading to an external host such as Skydrive/Dropbox/Putfile/Imageshack/Photobucket etc. removes the burden on BC's server entirely as all you're posting is a link.

Back on-topic...

Tim, I agree about the reverb, but it still needs [i]some[/i] & maybe leave it on one or two - they put me in mind of early Feelgoods or Count Bishops (& that ain't no bad thing). Apart from that nothing leaped out & screamed for attention... with one exception...

Levels. They're a bit on the high side & you're very close to clipping. Could be an artefact caused by iTunes, but I'd check with the studio. Knock 3dB off it.



Overall I'd leave well alone on the mix at this stage (apart from the 'verb & levels) - what you've got should be more than adequate for punting around venues & putting on your website.

My one criticism (& it's probably entirely unfounded), is that the finished article needs more variation. The three tracks you've posted up are quite similar in vibe. I seem to recall you did a cracking version of "I'm Your Witchdoctor" - if you've taped that it really needs to go in. A promo CD needs to mirror a gig in a way... start with a bang, ease back a bit, then take it down, & finally... blow the bloody doors off

Pete.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Bloodaxe

[Oggy]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1236564' date='May 19 2011, 06:18 AM']Quite true, but you're restricted to a maximum of 20MB per post, plus the owners/mods are a little concerned about the current volume of attachments across the board as a whole [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=126658"](more details here)[/url]. Uploading to an external host such as Skydrive/Dropbox/Putfile/Imageshack/Photobucket etc. removes the burden on BC's server entirely as all you're posting is a link.

Back on-topic...

Tim, I agree about the reverb, but it still needs [i]some[/i] & maybe leave it on one or two - they put me in mind of early Feelgoods or Count Bishops (& that ain't no bad thing). Apart from that nothing leaped out & screamed for attention... with one exception...

Levels. They're a bit on the high side & you're very close to clipping. Could be an artefact caused by iTunes, but I'd check with the studio. Knock 3dB off it.



Overall I'd leave well alone on the mix at this stage (apart from the 'verb & levels) - what you've got should be more than adequate for punting around venues & putting on your website.

My one criticism (& it's probably entirely unfounded), is that the finished article needs more variation. The three tracks you've posted up are quite similar in vibe. I seem to recall you did a cracking version of "I'm Your Witchdoctor" - if you've taped that it really needs to go in. A promo CD needs to mirror a gig in a way... start with a bang, ease back a bit, then take it down, & finally... blow the bloody doors off

Pete.[/quote]

Hi Pete

Thanks for the feedback, I’m making notes and I’ll try and print up your screenshot for the benefit of the engines-ear at the studio. Being compared to early Dr Feelgood is a compliment in my book – Yardbirds / Feelgood / Bluesbreakes / and all those early British R&B bands are what I was brought up on – love em to bits.

Sorry about the three tracks all being of a similar vibe, the missing two are Walk In My Shadow and Coin Operated Love, I didn’t know I was going to run out of space until I did – I can take down these three and add the other two or, better still use one of those hosting sites you mentioned, which one would you recommend? – Ease of use being the main criteria.

We’ll be recording another 5 tracks, when we have this first five sorted out – I’ll try and get the other two to agree that I’m Your Witchdoctor will be one of them.

Oggy

[51m0n]

I can hear what he's trying to do with the slap back, its not a bad plan IMO, it's fairly authentic, but its too pristine, the echo needs to have degraded and been filtered to sound more authentic.

Backing it off by a couple of dB and taking off some top and bottom, even running it through a bit of dirt (just the echo this!) would all help it out a lot. It really needs to sound more like an old knackered tape delay IMO.

To be honest for a demo the mix sounds fine, the playing is fine, the sound is pretty natural (other than the nifty slapback). So for that purpose its pretty much good to go IMO.

However, if I were looking for a release off this, and my mantra is always treat every tracking session, mix session and mastering session like it'll be your last (its definitely the last one anyone will remember) I'd be wanting a bit more energy off the drums, maybe some parallel compression on the tubs to get a bit more oomph, I'd work on the snare to get it sounding fatter (eq) and bit crackier (compression) at the same time, the kick is a bit tubby (for my liking), I'd treat it differently eq-wise.

The bass is good, a bit quiet, I'd give it a bit more punch, but I'd do some wee tricks to keep the kick really clear when it plays alongside the bass, nothing you'd know on hearing it, but it would still be there.

I'd look to making the guitar a bit wider, send a reverb or subtle delay to the other side of the stereo field to get it wider, leaving a big whole in the middle for vocals.

I'd also do some magicy stuff to the vocal, its fine as it is, but it could be a bit more 'wow', so I'd spend a lot of time on getting it to sound a bit swisher, taking the reverb and sending it super wide, very very careful choice of up to three reverbs to make the final sound is my normal modus operandi on a lead vocal (1 ambience, 1 plate, 1 room/hall). Not that you'd hear it very much, but it all helps make a vocal sound like its in a believable space. Careful compression, and more often than not some sidechain compression on the extreme top end, not to mention de-essing so that all that added clarity is not overpowering. Usually some careful automation is required to dip the breath noise after that compression but thats not hard these days, although it takes a while.

The backing vox get similar attention, plus a darker (or less hyped) eq, no sidechain compression, and longer predelays on the reverb to help sit them in the background.

Everything is grouped up, all the different groups are glued together with just a bit of the right buss compression, end result is you get a mix with plenty of dynamics and very high RMS levels compared to the peaks, which is very good for mastering. In fact it ends up sounding pretty much mastered out of the box.

Of course all of that would make this sound less of a demo and more of a release (without it sounding over produced) which may seem counter productive, but people, whether they like it or even realise it or not, are bombarded with music with exaclty this sort of attention to detail in the mix literally every day, and if they get a band turn up with a similarly pro sounding demo they are far more likely to book you for a better fee.

You simply sound better. After all this stuff is always just an illusion anyway.

Unfortunately this kind of treatment takes time, and that costs money, you would be looking at something like 12 to 15 hours work per song to mix to that level. On the plus side I would try and get the project off of the engineer, it may cost a bit to get him to run off the stems, but at a later date you could take those to any decent mix engineer and have them turned into a release, the tracking certainly sounds good enough to me.

[51m0n]

Oh and one last thing about those levels, this looks to have been run into a brickwall limiter (Waves Ultramaximiser or similar), if you cant hear any distortion I wouldn't worry too much, he's using it to get a higher RMS to peak level, or in ocmmon parlance, he's making the mix louder.

If you can hear it at all in terms of artiofacts then get him to back it off.

Also make sure he sets the output level at about -0.4dB, some CD players cannot cope with higher output than that, and it is utterly irrelevant extra level.

[Oggy]

[quote name='51m0n' post='1236706' date='May 19 2011, 10:15 AM']Oh and one last thing about those levels, this looks to have been run into a brickwall limiter (Waves Ultramaximiser or similar), if you cant hear any distortion I wouldn't worry too much, he's using it to get a higher RMS to peak level, or in ocmmon parlance, he's making the mix louder.

If you can hear it at all in terms of artiofacts then get him to back it off.

Also make sure he sets the output level at about -0.4dB, some CD players cannot cope with higher output than that, and it is utterly irrelevant extra level.[/quote]

Thanks for your last two post's, just sent you a PM.

Oggy

[Skol303]

I can't really add much more to what's already been said - and the folks above certainly know their onions better than I do!...

All I'll say is that the current mix sounds a wee bit bunched up in the middle - i.e. some of the sounds appear to be fighting for space in the middle of the mix. There might be scope here to create a bit more space by either EQ'ing some of the instruments (filtering out the unwanted upper/lower frequencies of each, so they don't blur) or perhaps panning some of them further off-centre (L/R). But don't take this as gospel... I'm just some guy who tinkers around at home and there's a very good chance I don't know what I'm doing!

Other than that, they sound fine to me and certainly fit for the purpose you need them for.

Good luck with it.