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mclosson · Posted - Wed May 14, 2003 1:25 pm

I have three songs that I recorded on an old 4-track recorder a few years ago. The quality of the recordings was poor to begin with. I have taken the songs and dumped them onto my computer (echo mia sound card). The songs can be heard at:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/541/michael_closson.html

I would love to be able to improve the sound quality of these as much as possible - knowing full well that they will never be all that great. My problem, from lack of experience, is that I don't even know where to start. I have tried some eq, normalizing, compression, but have likely been doing the wrong things in the wrong order at the wrong time, etc...

Any help or advice as to how to tackle this would be greatly appreciated. In the near future I hope to start recording on a much better system based around my computer. But in the meantime, I would like to make the best with what I have.

Thank you

mclosson · Posted - Wed May 14, 2003 1:29 pm

Sorry, I forgot to mention that if you would like to download clips of the songs, just go to http://www.michaelclosson.com/music.asp

zemlin · Location: USA

Do you still have the original 4-track recordings, or have these already been mixed down to cassette or something?

mclosson · Posted - Wed May 14, 2003 3:13 pm

The originals are gone/lost. The tape I got the songs off was mixed down to.

monopoli · Location: Netherlands

To my amateur ears it sounds like a demo made on a worn-out 4-track.
I listened to the song candle, and thought of the words "wow and flutter", looked on google and found this : http://www.phys.tue.nl/people/etimmerman/recordingfaq/multi/flutter.html

question for the pros : is this song an example of "wow and flutter"?

I don't think there's a lot you can do to correct this. You could maybe use a de-esser to get rid of the sssh-sounds but I wouldn't bother if I were you.
Just leave it as it is, it shows of your singing and guitarplaying just fine. I'd just state in the descriptions that these are 4-track recordings and then work on new, better recordings to replace them as soon as possible.

Despised7 · Member

I'd have to agree. The talent shows through, and all in all..the recording aren't that bad. So, maybe just re-record the songs using CEP....or label them as older recordings, and work on your new stuff. ;0P Good work. Like the songs!

-Chris-

mclosson · Posted - Thu May 15, 2003 6:11 am

Thanks you for the advice; and thank you for the compliments. I think I will just have to wait and record those songs again later this year. Until then I'll keep writing and keep playing.

Michael Closson

trueangerandchaos · Location: USA

This is really good music, do you have any demo's or records I can purchace?

the3jsgrve · Location: USA

I agree that a new CEP recording of your songs is in order, but WOW! Great songs! Very creative and solid Acoustic Guitar playing. I like it!

Josh

VoodooRadio · Location: USA

I agree! Good songs and GREAT talent. Your material has a David Gray vibe to it. Unfortunately, the old cassette recordings are hosed and the songs will have to be re-recorded. Like Jason alludes to... if you had a disc of "good quality" recordings, I would also be interested. Approve

trueangerandchaos · Location: USA

I actually think they aren't too bad for being on a 4 track. My band's 1st demo was on a 4 track and it came out decent, and better than some other band's demos which were recorded in an actual studio. Ha ha

Caleb · Posted - Fri May 16, 2003 2:16 am

Re-Record the songs. they are worth saving in a good hi fidelity atmosphere such as the one that cool edit can provide. Excellent songwriting and delivery

mclosson · Posted - Fri May 16, 2003 1:13 pm

Thank you everyone who commented on this topic. I really appreciate the compliments and the help in deciding what direction to take. I'll be re-recording the songs allong with a bunch of newer ones as soon as I can using a computer setup with CEP.
Please feel free to visit my site at www.michaelclosson.com and join my mailing list.

Thanks,
Michael Closson