A-Level pieces.

[argm]

I studied Music Technology as an a-level, AS & A2.
Here are the two recording projects that I was required to do (one per year). These are prety much my first two pieces I've ever recorded/played in a studio & mixed. Guitar, bass, vocals (played/sung by me) & Cajon (courtesy of my Music Tech Teacher Mr Ben Love, played by him).

First year I chose the song 'Never Too Late' by Three Days Grace - as an acoustic version, because my school didn't have a drumkit, but a fully euipped studio... werd, eh? Guitar, bass, vocals (played/sung by me) & Cajon (courtesy of my Music Tech Teacher Mr Ben Love, played by him).
[url="http://soundcloud.com/alecrgmills/alec-1b-retake-songbird"]http://soundcloud.com/alecrgmills/alec-1b-retake-songbird[/url]

Second Year, I learned from mistakes, and I think, I made an overall good mix with the song 'Songbird' by Oasis. Guitar/bass/percussion (played by myself) & vocals (sung by 'Frank', a friend of my teacher).
[url="http://soundcloud.com/alecrgmills/3b-alec-mills-never-too-late"]http://soundcloud.com/alecrgmills/3b-alec-...-never-too-late[/url]


Anyway, how much of a disaster were they?
Obviously here to learn. I can give some good idea as to why the first year was so crappy. A very steep learning curve! I had a little over 3 hours to record everything. Which is why vocals are out of time - not to mention we did have trouble with our patch-bay short circuiting and totally missing out the desk and going straight the the computer.

2nd year sounds a lot better, but I kinda think it sounds a little 'dead' as a whole song. I don't know what it is. However, percussion too loud. but hey maybe my speakers at home, it sounded fine at 'school'.

However, I still do realise that these are still very crappy mixes! xD

Edited August 7, 2011 by argm

[PerfectionBG]

I know this might not be the constructive criticism your after..

but I can download them for my phone? I like them.

All I would say is that the harmonising vocals in the oasis cover might be a little loud, but the percussion levels sound fine. It does seem a little thin though, I'm not sure what you could do there? Possibly if you ever have some time, you could re-mix them and send them to me, I'm quite a fan!

Oh and the links don't match the description in the OP, you got them switched around!

[EdwardHimself]

I wanted to do music tech as an A-level but there weren't enough people doing it so i couldn't

The first one I think really sounded as if you didn't do much to it. I think the recording needed a bit more of an atmosphere, which could have been achieved by dual tracking the guitar and having it in stereo and adding a bit of reverb. I think the echo at the end on the vocals was probably overdoing it a bit though, the feedback could have been reduced. Also i like to make echoes a bit more interesting by utilizing alternating stereo tails and the "megaphone" eq effect.

I thought the oasis sounded a bit better though. As someone mentioned on the website, the vocals were possibly a bit too loud. It's a bit ridiculous that there is no drum kit at the school. It's something they should invest in. Or maybe you should have just bought your own

Edited August 21, 2011 by EdwardHimself

[CraigPlaysBass]

Just got an A for my AS level Music Tech, I'll upload my multitrack now!

[CraigPlaysBass]

Here you go: [url="http://soundcloud.com/craig-cieciura/task-1b-multi-track"]http://soundcloud.com/craig-cieciura/task-1b-multi-track[/url]