My solo stuff

ZV Yoda

I have posted other stuff up here in the past as the Brouhaha (which was a collab with a guitarist/songwriter & a female vocalist). This is my first time to go solo with my own songs. I’m playing everything on these & also warbling the vocal on top too.

Stand
I Want You

I recorded & mixed these at home using Pro Tools. Drums are a played on Roland vKit triggering Superior Drummer. Guitars are mic’d amps blended with DI feeds that I’ve run through Amplitube. Bass guitar is a blend of DI bass/Amplitube + synth bass to beef it up. Mix-wise, I more or less relied exclusively on the Waves Signature plug-ins (JJP, Chris Lord Alge & Maserati)

Aside from the obvious need for singing + guitar lessons, I’d appreciate feedback on the mix & arrangement.

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i think the bass / low end in ' stand' is a little overbearing , and drums bit weak .

dirty guitar a bit out of tune ?



' i want you ' works way better , like that a lot bass seems a bit high there too though

drums busy ( i think we both suffer from that he he )
nice job .,


feckin low end is hard to get right at home though .

i think i like the e-cymbals as well , might start using them again
kinda nice grit in them sample wise


i like TRY as well , nice big sound , vocals are coming across well in all of them .

we should meet up some time , great to see your doing your own , i must finish some of my stuff .

ZV Yoda

Cheers DDT,
Yeah, I struggle mixing the low end. My room is brutal for mixing. I’ve tried all sorts to improve it, but it’s too small/square. I used to spend hours (OK, weeks!) tweaking mixes only to find they sound crap when I listen back the next day.

These days, I spend less time perfecting the mix in the room. Instead, I get a rough mix & then listen back to it on the house hi-fi, in the car, on the laptop and on the iPod. After a few days of that, I find I get a better perspective on the mix. Still not perfect though.

You could be right about the guitar tuning - I've had problems with one of my guitars. It's being repaired at the minute.

Drums too busy? Never!

Re e-cymbals… I’d def consider re-looking at e-cymbals if I were you. Once you get the setup right, you’ll never have to worry about micing/phase etc. I used to have just 2 crashes & found they sounded very repetitive / sampled. I picked up a 3rd crash on adverts a while back. I found it made a big difference – now there’s much a better variety of cymbal sounds / panning on each song. The whole kit sounds more natural.

Yeah, would def be on for hooking up again. Would love to see how you mix Superior Drummer. You’re getting a much beefier sound than I am.