My first dub album...."Dub The Nation"

[Lyonhard]

Hi!
I'm new here, and i want to present to you my first dub album, called "Dub The Nation". I love dub music, expecially Scientist and Prince Jammy.

All the samples (except some bass, hammond and trumpets parts) were taken from a collection of a friend, but we don't know the name of it, sorry
For this album i've used Reaper as my multitrack audio editor, with some useful VST, such as Dub Tal Delay, Broomstick Bass, B4, Softube Spring Reverb, and others....
I hope you'll enjoy the album, and of course give me your feedback, advice and thought about it.
The album is located for free downloading here: http://www.lastfm.it/music/The+Lyonhard

Thanks, Lyonhard

[Lyonhard]

No one?

[Neil C]

I only heard the snatches on LastFM.

There are some nice aspects - but -


I think you need to have a really accomplished product to present a collection of tracks as an album.

Having reverb on the whole drum mix is weird.
The relative levels of elements in the mixes seems wrong to me, and relative levels of fundamental things like bass and drums vary between tracks, which is something you don't usually hear on an album (unless it is for a deliberate musical effect).
The bass overrides everything else and doesn't sound well integrated into the mix, and this is your choice but it doesn't go low enough to give real oomph.

I think you need a better monitoring system.

[Lyonhard]

First of all thanks for your thoughts

These are my firsts tracks and i now that i'm a beginner, but i must admit with your points:
-I knew that adding spring reverb all over the entire drum mix is wrong, but i had only the drum mix, not the separate parts (hats, kicks, snares..). But, i'll start doing a new track soon, in which i'll make the drums part (using a drum machine), so every part will have his own reverb (which drum parts do you think need reverbs? And which dont?) or effects.
-Drums and basses volumes vary between tracks? Yes, i haven't noticed that. Never thought that the volumes should be the same for every tracks. My mistake!:bangonhead:
-The bass should be more "low"? I haven't any monitors system, just my 2 speaker, i even don't have any subwoofer. So for the next tracks, i'll equalize more the bass;

Thanks again, with your thought i can only improve my self

[Neil C]

What kind of speakers do you have?

With drums there would usually only be reverb on the snare/rim shot sound (which would also be the main target in the drums for use of delay). In dub you might also have reverb being added to the hi-hat (in dub you might do anything in fact, but you wouldn't usually be having noticeable reverb on bass drum, toms or cymbals).
Drums are sometimes recorded in reflective environments that will give a very short reverb to everything - 'air'. You might add some very short reverb to a whole mix of dry drums to replicate them being played in a reflective space.

[Lyonhard]

What kind of speakers do you have?

With drums there would usually only be reverb on the snare/rim shot sound (which would also be the main target in the drums for use of delay). In dub you might also have reverb being added to the hi-hat (in dub you might do anything in fact, but you wouldn't usually be having noticeable reverb on bass drum, toms or cymbals).
Drums are sometimes recorded in reflective environments that will give a very short reverb to everything - 'air'. You might add some very short reverb to a whole mix of dry drums to replicate them being played in a reflective space.

My speakers? Just 2 stereo speakers that i've token from an old hi-fi stereo (philips, don't remember the model. The speakers are 15watt each)

Thanks a lot for your suggestions about the drums
I'll start doing some drum test tomorrow, and i'll post the result here, so you can judge my work

What do you think about the track number 8, called "a scientist interference"?

[Lyonhard]

Here i'm with some drums tests!
I've make all the samples using Ezdrummer (a drum machine):
1) Added spring reverb only on the 2 snares; i've also used a "semy dry" equalization in ezdrummer (it's a simply a pre-made equalization)
2) Same as the previous, the only difference is on the eq: in this case i've used "dry" instead on "semy-dry"
3) Used the same spring reverb setting, but the eq on ezdrummer was on default, and i've added on the master track a touch of reverb
4) Same as the number 3, the only difference is that i've added spring reverb on Hi-Hat too

You can check all the test's here: http://cid-2a9b96df70d38968.office.live ... xperiments

Please tell me what's your opinons about them [/url]

[Lyonhard]

Up!

[interruptor]

These drum tests sound good to me. I like the authentic sounding hi-hat pattern you got with ezdrummer. It used to be really hard to program hi-hats which do not sound overtly robotic. These days the drum software takes care of selecting drum hits from a pool of hi hat samples behind the scenes while you simply hit a single note on the keyboard repeatedly.
Is this the softube spring reverb you use here?

[Lyonhard]

These drum tests sound good to me. I like the authentic sounding hi-hat pattern you got with ezdrummer. It used to be really hard to program hi-hats which do not sound overtly robotic. These days the drum software takes care of selecting drum hits from a pool of hi hat samples behind the scenes while you simply hit a single note on the keyboard repeatedly.
Is this the softube spring reverb you use here?

Thanks for you reply!
Yes, i use Softube Spring Reverb and i like it a lot!
Which of the 4 samples do you like most?

[Neil C]

Those sound good.
I liked 1 and 3 the most.

[Lyonhard]

Those sound good.
I liked 1 and 3 the most.

And about the number 4, with the spring reverb also on hi-hat? What do you think? Should i use srping reverb on hi-hat or not?

[Neil C]

I didn't notice the reverb on the hi-hat, but often with subtle reverb you only notice it when you take it away.
I think the volume of the hi-hat decreased a little on 4 so that's why I didn't like it as much.

A little reverb can make something not so up front and dry. It's perfectly reasonable to add it to hi-hats and there are many dub records where it's on hi-hats as an effect you can hear.

[Lyonhard]

I didn't notice the reverb on the hi-hat, but often with subtle reverb you only notice it when you take it away.
I think the volume of the hi-hat decreased a little on 4 so that's why I didn't like it as much.

A little reverb can make something not so up front and dry. It's perfectly reasonable to add it to hi-hats and there are many dub records where it's on hi-hats as an effect you can hear.

Thanks for your help on getting good dub drums

Here are some samples with the drums, bass & guitars: http://cid-2a9b96df70d38968.office.live ... ments?uc=1

1) Drums: added spring reverb on both snares and hi-hat. Then added digital reverb on the entire drums track.
Bass: nothing added, but i've decreased the volume, otherwise it sounded too loud
Guitar: nothing added (as this guitar sample already had reverb and maybe delay. Don't know, cause i've not recorded this sample)

2) Drums: added spring reverb on snares only. Added also digital reverb on the whole drums track (same settings as the previous sample)
Bass: decreased the volume and added digital reverb (same setting i've used on the drums)
Guitar: nothing added.

[Lyonhard]

UP

[Lyonhard]

Hello?
Is there anybody in there?

[Neil C]

The drums are too quiet in comparison to the bass and guitar.
Also you have a lot of reverb on the bass drum and bass, which is weird.

I only know of one dub track that has noticeable reverb on the bass, and none with noticeble reverb on the bass drum (although I expect there are examples I don't know of).

The best advice I can give is listen to the dub you like and hear what that does, and try to emulate the mix of that.
We could be going back and forth on this thread forever.
What's the point of people telling you how dub mixes should be when you can go and listen to it yourself and hear exactly what it sounds like?

And it's possible your speakers and room are making any careful judgements very difficult. If you can't afford decent monitors and suitable room treatment then you would be better using good headphones to mix with (Senheiser HD650 is as good as you get until the large price jump up to only slightly better ones).

[Lyonhard]

Yeah, you're right, i'll make a new song, following all the advice you gave me. When the track will be complete i'll post it here, and you can judge my work

Thanks!

[Lyonhard]

Other thoughts about my album?

[Lyonhard]

New song is completed, thanks to your advices!
Check it here:http://www.mediafire.com/?vkhccgigvpr2iv1

Let me know your thought about it