Broke in my new drum triggers and my recorder this weekend !

[sam(otacon28)]

I just added a new song to my myspace page today and figured I'd share it with people online . This is an idea for a song that popped into my head yesterday and this morning I recorded it .

I have just recently became an endorsed drummer for Blaster acoustic drum triggers and I'm using a set of these on this recording .... The drums & cymbals on this song are all electronic and are samples that I have currently loaded into my ddrum3 turbo , ddrum4SE drum modules . There's no external sampling being used and I'm just blown away at the level of quality to the sound samples on ddrum's modules .


I wrote the parts and recorded all the additional instruments on this recording , and they were recorded using an Alesis QS6.1 keyboard into my Yamaha AW4416 recording console .


Take a listen if you'd like and let me know what you think . I'm by no means a sound engineer but for a real quick mix down it didn't turn out to bad . If anyone has any good tips for me on home recording drums stuff I'm all ears



You can check the song out if you'd like at this page :

www.myspace.com/otacon28music


^ It's the first song on the player " O28 symphonic escape "





sam(otacon28)

[CaTaPulT]

Hi Sam.
I just listened to the song you mentioned above.
Pretty darned good. I loved the keyboard sounds, is kinda like a string section with horns, loved it and the drumming and drum sounds were spot on. The mix was also quite good.
Way to go! :)
Take care

Regards: >>>> Jack <<<<

[WildWes]

Ditto Jack! I just came off Sam's MySpace site and listened to the track also. Very impressive skills you have there Sam. Wes

[sam(otacon28)]

You guys are to kind , thanks for checking it out Jack & Wes :cool:


Yeah I recorded 2 seperate strings tracks that kind of work a harmony with each other . The program patch on the Alesis QS6 is named " Huge Strings " and they sound amazing through my studio monitors . I kind of had an ochestra sound in my head for this tune and as soon as I found that sample on the keyboard it just felt right for it . I have a bit more tunes that I'm working on so I'll be putting up some more real soon on my music player on there .


I'm still learning my way around the whole mixing thing and everything but this recorder has some nice features that you can master the recording right from it and write it a cd with the internal writer .


I've got everything almost where I want it to be set up at and then I'll put some pics up of the gear I'm recording with .



sam(otacon28)

[BobbyMck2]

Not able to listen to the song as I'm at work. The AW4416 is a good machine. I use two AW16G's (the 4416's baby brother) linked together optically and midi'd, in my home studio

[Scorch Whammin]

Sounds cool Sam!...definitely like the snare you're using here...I'm assuming that it is a Ddrum snare......if so what's it named/called?...and are you able to layer drum sounds on that module?:)

[sam(otacon28)]

Sounds cool Sam!...definitely like the snare you're using here...I'm assuming that it is a Ddrum snare......if so what's it named/called?...and are you able to layer drum sounds on that module?:)

Hey Scott ,

Thanks for checking the tune out yeah the snare sound sample is from my ddrum3 module and it's the sample ( RMDSR43 ) . I added a little effect to it but not much as I liked the sound it allready has to it . Yeah there's all kinds of layering options on the ddrum3 module and a bit on the ddrum4 too . The ddrum3 module just has quite a bit more expansion on what you can do with a sample . I actually built that kit that I used on the song by finding sounds within the ddrum3 module that I thought sounded good together for this . I wanted a tight sounding kick but one with some body to it too . The cymbals are all samples from the ddrum4SE module and I really didn't tweak them much at all ( just really volume levels and sensitivity more than anything ) .


sam(otacon28)

[Guinness]

I thought it was quite good, and mixed well. I'm not a fan of synth music per se, but I enjoyed it. Nicely done!

[sam(otacon28)]

I thought it was quite good, and mixed well. I'm not a fan of synth music per se, but I enjoyed it. Nicely done!


Thanks for checking it out Guiness and for the compliment as well .


I actually ran this song past a few musicians I'm doing some jamming with on a funk/groove project and they heard a couple other ideas that I have that are similar and liked them too . One even told me I should put some of these together on a cd when I'm done with them :redface:


All I know so far is I'm really having alot of fun with it and it really reminds me of how much fun it is to record when there's not alot of drama involved . I'm also discovering that it opens you up to what else is going on within songs and music in general and how things fit together as you're building a song a track at a time .


sam(otacon28)

[BobbyMck2]

Sam, not taking anything away but when asked to listen to something I get hyper-critical. In the recording you are getting a hum from somewhere and I distinctly hear a compressor kicking in and out. As you have mentioned we are all on a learning curve, so don't read too much into my comments

[dschrammie]

Myspace = blocked. :(

[WildWes]

Sam, not taking anything away but when asked to listen to something I get hyper-critical. In the recording you are getting a hum from somewhere and I distinctly hear a compressor kicking in and out. As you have mentioned we are all on a learning curve, so don't read too much into my comments

Damn Bobby. Those are some sensitive ears you have there. I didn't hear any of that (yeah, I know.......I'm older).

[sam(otacon28)]

Sam, not taking anything away but when asked to listen to something I get hyper-critical. In the recording you are getting a hum from somewhere and I distinctly hear a compressor kicking in and out. As you have mentioned we are all on a learning curve, so don't read too much into my comments



You know I just listened to the song again from the myspace page and yeah I hear what you're talking about ( I can hear it pretty good right in the beginning and and at the break in the middle but it's there throughout the entire song ) . I listened to it with my Beyer Dynamics DT770 Pro headphones on and I could definately hear it . I think it may have been from my desktop computer being on when I was recording because now that you mention it I don't believe I shut it down when I was recording although I have known about doing that whenever possible .


By all means feel free to share your thoughts really , the way I look at it is it's things like this that I can learn to look for early on that will only will help make a better experience learning my way through this as I go . I'd rather hear things like this now and correct my approach than have a bunch of ideas recorded with buzzing and popping in the songs . I'm wondering if a power filter or conditioner would help with the hum ? I think the compressor kicking in and out might be either my fan on my PC or maybe it's from my furnace . My furnace is on the other side of my big apartment in a seperate room , and it's on a designated breaker in the circuit panel box . Not sure if they even make a special breaker that could be installed in the panel box that would help reduce that hum from the outlets in my drum room if it may be coming from the furnace .



sam(otacon28)

[BobbyMck2]

Sam, I'm so glad you have taken what I said with the intention it was meant. I often get into trouble or at least frowned upon for being honest. I know from experience how difficult eliminating hums, pops, crackles and indistinguishable background noise is, especially with condenser mic's cranked up

[sam(otacon28)]

Sam, I'm so glad you have taken what I said with the intention it was meant. I often get into trouble or at least frowned upon for being honest. I know from experience how difficult eliminating hums, pops, crackles and indistinguishable background noise is, especially with condenser mic's cranked up


No doubt ,


Actually that is more of the reason behind why I posted the link than really showing the song itself . As I said it was just an idea that popped in my head and it was alot of fun to see the parts coming together as I was recording the different tracks . I have seen a few discussions on here about recording techniques with drums and just in general . Some good advice has been given and helped people have a better experience with what they are trying to do with recording . I also figured this can only help make the experience I'm having learning as I go that much better with gaining more knowledge along the way . I'm pretty much approaching this as I do playing drums and that is with as open of a mind as possible . I've always been one to take advice constructively and not confrontationally .

So again thanks for the input and taking the time to check it out ,


sam(otacon28)

[by_tor]

Cool stuff,

Sounds great, Kepp it up :-D

[dschrammie]

haven't heard the recording, so I don't know what the extent of the hum is. If it is a 60Hz (or harmonic of) hum, then it is most likely a ground loop which is the most common cause of hum in sound systems and recordings. A ground loop is simply when multiple components in a system have multiple paths to ground...so simply, some pieces of the system are connected to different circuits. Little did I know that another common cause of ground loops in homes/residences is Cable TV.
If it is a ground loop hum, then you should also hear it through your monitors. First thing to do to see if it's the Cable TV is simple...unplug the cable TV. If that's not it then you'll need to go through isolating one component at a time to determine where the loop is occurring.
Also, don't have any studio equipment plugged into a circuit that's shared with any high-draw electronics, appliances, or anything that uses dimmers.
These are just things that are off the top of my head...stuff that we always put in our specs for performance theatres and studios. It's not always possible to really isolate the ground in a home, but there are lots of solutions available to fix a ground loop.
Oh, and a conditioner won't solve a ground loop...just FYI.

[sam(otacon28)]

haven't heard the recording, so I don't know what the extent of the hum is. If it is a 60Hz (or harmonic of) hum, then it is most likely a ground loop which is the most common cause of hum in sound systems and recordings. A ground loop is simply when multiple components in a system have multiple paths to ground...so simply, some pieces of the system are connected to different circuits. Little did I know that another common cause of ground loops in homes/residences is Cable TV.
If it is a ground loop hum, then you should also hear it through your monitors. First thing to do to see if it's the Cable TV is simple...unplug the cable TV. If that's not it then you'll need to go through isolating one component at a time to determine where the loop is occurring.
Also, don't have any studio equipment plugged into a circuit that's shared with any high-draw electronics, appliances, or anything that uses dimmers.
These are just things that are off the top of my head...stuff that we always put in our specs for performance theatres and studios. It's not always possible to really isolate the ground in a home, but there are lots of solutions available to fix a ground loop.
Oh, and a conditioner won't solve a ground loop...just FYI.




Not sure if this will help but I uploaded on Reverb Nation's site as well . There's a player right on the page and the song is posted in my song section of my profile page .


http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_3476986#/samotacon28


Ps. thanks for those tips , I honestly would have never thought of checking the cable tv feed for interferience (sp) .



sam(otacon28)

[sam(otacon28)]

Put another song up on the music player too . Just another idea that just popped into my head . I'm having some fun with these synth and string samples . The reverb nation ones sound like the audio quality is a little better than that of myspace .




www.myspace.com/otacon28music


http://www.reverbnation.com/samotacon28


sam(otacon28)

[BobbyMck2]

Sam

You can hear some of the stuff I've recorded if you go to this sites homepage and click on RusticFvckBucket, in the left hand column

[sam(otacon28)]

I'll be putting up a few more little jams this weekend on the pages . I also am finalizing a time when I can get a jam together at my house with a few friends locally , so there will probably be some tunes coming from that too .


sam(otacon28)