Early Van Halen sounds! Critique the sound and Recording!

[LypsLynch55]

Ok, first of all, Im not even sure that this thread should go here, the home recording or the amp modeling section but since it covers all three, I put it here by default.

1) This is the first thing I have recorded - I finally got the stuff to hook the damn Pod/Guitarport into the comp, so I just recorded this real quick - I mean first take, off the cuff, mistakes and all (I just adlibbed alot).

2) How is the sound recording wise?
3) How is the sound guitar wise - I used a setting I made for the EVH Brown sound on YRGM. Another was a Flanged/Echo setting for ATBL.
Cathedral 1 and 2 are two different settings I made on the Guitarport. How do they sound? Close?

4) Try not to make too much fun about how shitty they are, as i just want to get a base starting point for how to get it to good quality before I start practicing the whole song and doing the backing track thing. Keep in mind, too, that the NFL playoffs are on, so, I am watching that and playing. Some things are just too important to turn off!

THanks for the advice in advance and yes, I know that they are rough and (most likely) sound like shit because I am a newbie newbie to recording thru the comp.

PAUL

[UAx]

The sound you used for ATBL sounded pretty close. The sound YRGM sounded right on. It's been so many years since I listened to Diver Down, that I probably couldn't give a good assessment of Cathedral, but it sounded pretty good to me. Good luck, now get out the old backing tracks and I can't wait to hear your mix.

[Goldtop]

Hey, ATBL sounds a little high on the record level, Cathedral2 has more clarity then Cathedral1. Tone sounds good on all. Nice Chops!

[jimmerwoo]

This is a great effort, so please take these critiques in the right way...you did a great job both in getting the sound and playing.

1) How is the sound recording wise?
I think you are making some good, clean recording there with not too much "hum".

2) How is the sound guitar wise?
Every tune you have is "Close". Cathedral 1 & 2 both would have been easier to tell if you'd done proper volume swells. Cos the attack of sound of string plucking is making it tough to tell if you have the sound down. I was most impressed with the sound of version 1 though. Cathedral 2 sound a little out of tune....maybe cos you are fretting too hard. Excellent playing though! It's a tough one to play and get the timing right on the delay.

ATBL was almost spot on IMO.

YRGM was close too but needed a bit more crunch, to my ears to be on the money.

Good effort all round though! I would be interested in getting those sounds off you as pre-sets if you did it on a GuitarPort (PLEEZ!)

[LypsLynch55]

I appreciate the feedback; I went back and listened to them after a day and I was kinda upset with myself because they sounded not too good in my opinion.

Keep in mind that these were literally, first takes and you can tell I was a little "stagefright bit" because, like on ATBL, I completely miss the the opening riff on the first time through. I was so excited that I figured out how to record my stuff that I just wanted to hit the "record" button and play.

1) YRGM was not the the cut that I wanted. I have two tones that I dialed in for the early brown sound....VH I was a little more crunch, little more dirt than VH II.. with maybe the exception of Beatiful Girls. The YRGM was with my VH II sound.

2) ATBL is a weird preset that I have....I dont use Flange on it....I use s Phase setting with a pinch of delay and verb. Trick is to boost mids slightly and back off on the bass to get that nasally sound. Thats pretty much how I got that tone. Also, back off the gain b/c too much makes the modulation effects too strong. And, yes, the Mix on this track was TOO high. I was gritting my teeth after I listened to it again. I will try to repost with a good sound, level, and mix...now if I could just figure out how to punch in the solos....

3) Cathedral was a very rough rendition from memory....I havent rehearsed it prior to playing and played it from my rough memory.....I just knocked that one out b/c I was playing around (noodling, as EVH calls it) with the delay settings (actually I was trying to get a Chorus/Delay setting that I like for clean sounds) and I said "Hey, that sounds close to "Cathedral".....I think its at 390 ms of delay. I will rehearse this and re-post....may not be for some time as I am going outta town this week. But will let you know.