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Dear Everyone


AKMartin

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honest opinion: the drums sound too dry for my liking and the guitar too - its probably what you were after but its all a bit to thin for the song imho, the bass playing is a bit shakey and drums arent terribly tight but i do like the guitar parts (although i'm no fan of the panning) and the voice and lyrics are good.

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snare sounds awful, kit isn't great in general.

i like the vocals, but they're too low in the mix for my liking.

if i was mixing to my tastes i probably would have pulled the guitars in a bit more to the center, as by having them so far out the bass tends to dominate, even over the drum kit.

i quite like the song, the start is good, and it ambles along nicely, though for some reason the bass line that scales down the fretboard in a sometimes major key really annoys me. i really like the way the song sounds buzzy and very electrifying at the start.

how long did you spend recording this? did you record other stuff whilst at the byre?

i expected a much better kit sound from the byre. who was your engineer?

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Hooray, opinions at last.

I'm not sure what constitues "dry" drums (as opposed to "wet"?) or "shakey" bass playing so maybe you could be a bit more specific?

Keilan : I think --->this <--- is the only Kordoba song that runs under 4 minutes...recorded in a hurry last year!

for some reason the bass line that scales down the fretboard in a sometimes major key really annoys me

I think it's pretty sweet. Opinions, etc.

how long did you spend recording this? did you record other stuff whilst at the byre?

We spent two days at the Byre, the first day was a bit of a screw up because we tried to record guide tracks, which isn't something we're very proficient at, especially after not practicing together for 3 weeks. We recorded two other songs - one of which isn't on the web yet, and the other of which is on our site but I think is terrible so I won't link to it. It's fairly easy to find if you're keen...

Our engineer was Andrew Graeme, a bit of a legend.

cheers for all comments so far.

AKM

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i know this may sound like a strange question, but can you tell me what you think of the track? did it turn out how you had hoped before going into the studio? what do you feel are the weaknesses and strengths in the track? is there anything you'd have changed looking back on the recording time, or given more time to record?

also, despite hindsight being wonderful and all that, practising loads before going to a recording session is something i would consider essential, and something we've always done - probably more for the money aspect of things in terms of recording time! however, one band's meat is another band's poison.

speaking more generally, some bands seem to go for a loose is better approach to recording which i think can sound great, but loose doesn't have to sound out of time or clumsy; tight musicianship coupled with a thought-out sense of dynamics from all concerned is how i'd go about trying to create more organic sounding recordings.

p.s. who is Andrew Graeme and/or what has he done? I haven't heard of him (that's not saying much though!)

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Andrew Graeme

Andrew is Studio Manager and began his studio career in 1977 at TTR Studios in Germany. In 1979 he opened his own studio in Germany called Eifel Audio. A year later a live audio branch was founded that concentrated on corporate events and PA work for live television. In 1990 Andrew founded the technical and trade news agency GTI that soon moved into media research. In 2000, planning began for The Byre and the studio opened in 2002. He is a complete petrol-head and spends his spare time fiddling with his 53 Armstrong Siddeley and a 1970 MGB.

:D

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ok dokey, what i mean when i say the drums sound dry means the drums sound lifeless, dull thuds, no ambience to bring to the track (which is rarely good imho - i would prefer to hear bright, sharp and crisp drums on a track like this), not criticising the playing which is good overall

As for the bass player - he/she just doesnt nail it, as in his/her performance was off the mark, unless of course you were going for the rough sounding "just stepped out of the pub into the studio/we dont care" sound, which is of course, fine.

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i know this may sound like a strange question, but can you tell me what you think of the track? did it turn out how you had hoped before going into the studio? what do you feel are the weaknesses and strengths in the track? is there anything you'd have changed looking back on the recording time, or given more time to record?

Personally speaking, I really like the track. I was pleased that a song that I usually consider quite flat and over-long turned out with a sense of depth and an eerie quality that we didn't anticipate. I think the drum SOUNDS aren't quite what we'd have hoped for...but I think we as a band expect too much from our recording sessions, so we don't leave enough time to fix everything. Given the chance to do it over again, we'd have probably just focussed on one or two tracks at the most, so we could do each of them in depth and getting every detail right, rather than hurrying through three tracks. But this is certainly the track that I was most happy about.

the drums sound lifeless, dull thuds, no ambience to bring to the track (which is rarely good imho - i would prefer to hear bright, sharp and crisp drums on a track like this),

Drum sounds (along with guitar sound and vocal effects) are the things most often criticised about recorded music. Personally I know very little about drum sounds, and what sounds are considered good/shite. I'm guessing it's something that can only be learned over time and with experience.

not criticising the playing which is good overall...

As for the bass player - he/she just doesnt nail it, as in his/her performance was off the mark

Ironically enough our drummer is the weakest musician in our band, which is fair comment considering he doesn't have his own kit, only started playing around Dec 04, and only gets a chance to practice once a week!

in contrast our bass player is the most talented member of the band and his mistakes are like hen's teeth.

once again I say - opinions, etc...

but it DID take four hours to fix the drum tracks and iron out the missed beats and kicks...

thanks again for comments.

one more thing - aside from the technical stuff - what did y'all think of the SONG? Good? Weak? Who does it sound like?

AKM

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but it DID take four hours to fix the drum tracks and iron out the missed beats and kicks...

This might be why they just don't groove....

What was the platform? Radar or soundscape? I know nothing about their editing capabilities (the manuals aren't giving away much information despite me reading them cover to cover) but nuendo (which I believe The Byre also have) can very quickly quantize audio, I guess you need to know the groove of the song to edit this quickly but the time warping features in it speed up this process....I couldn't be fucking assed sitting in a studio for four hours trying to fix drums....you would be aswell doing another 60 takes :D

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Guest Neubeatz

Well, aside what everyone else thinks, I think you are at least trying to go places with it, and thats a plus, erm I think you could easily develop further what you have there,

How ever,

I think in the current form the song almost loses interest before it gets going,

I think it needs a little bit here and there, but full marks for doing it.:)

I got reminded of your Barry Grant track and how quick and catchy it is, :up:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Didn't want to start a whole 'nuther thread for just one more song:

Here's the second song we recorded at the Byre: Narcissus<-----

Personally I think the vocals are pretty dreadful, and the guitars sound a tad out of tune.

But I will say this. I love the last 30 seconds more than pretty much anything else we've recorded.

Thoughts?

AKMartin

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Guest five years
Didn't want to start a whole 'nuther thread for just one more song:

Here's the second song we recorded at the Byre: Narcissus<-----

Personally I think the vocals are pretty dreadful' date=' and the guitars sound a tad out of tune.

But I will say this. I love the last 30 seconds more than pretty much anything else we've recorded.

Thoughts?

AKMartin[/quote']

admittedly i haven't listened to the track, can't cuz i'm at work...but HOW THE FUCK CAN GUITARS BE OUT OF TUNE?!

you're spending money recording (quite a lot by the looks of the byre's pricing policy) and you can't even be arsed to practice for 3 weeks before recording and can't be arsed making sure guitars are in tune either?

are you fucking kidding?!

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you're spending money recording (quite a lot by the looks of the byre's pricing policy) and you can't even be arsed to practice for 3 weeks before recording and can't be arsed making sure guitars are in tune either?

It wasn't a case of "couldn't be arsed practicing" - the only slot we could fit in at the Byre was 2-3 January, so the band members had all either been working or were away home for the holidays. Insch, Aberdeen, Inverness, Caithness and Stornoway? Quite hard to practice at those distances.

And the guitars sounded ok on the guide tracks and the initial recording, but one of the over-dubbed guitars sounds slightly off-key. We're pretty inexperienced and usually work in a hurry so we don't often notice these things til it's too late. All part of the learning curve.

AKM

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