OffsetGuitars.com

Hey all!

Been a loooong time since I posted here but it looks like things are still alive and well! I just released my first solo EP this week, it was done entirely by me in my home studio from writing all the way to mastering. It was a pretty big undertaking for me and there were times where I was so deep in it that I felt I'd lost my way and lost any objective perspective on it, but it was a great learning process and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I do a lot of online drum tracks for other singer/songwriters as well as produce other artists at my studio but mixing and mastering has never been my forte.

Everything was tracked in my basement through my UAD Apollo into Logic X and mixed 100% "in the box". I used a lot of UAD, SoundToys, and Slate Digital plugins for mixing, and got some extra help from iZotope's new Neutron 2 and Ozone 8 Advanced bundle for mixing and mastering. The iZotope stuff in particular was suuuper helpful in addressing some of my biggest weaknesses as a mix engineer- the masking feature and Tonal Balance Control plugin really helped me look at the overall balance of the frequency spectrum, and Ozone was a godsend for self-mastering with a ton of awesome features like master assistant and in-plugin referencing of other songs you choose.

Anyways, just wanted to share with my fellow OSGers, hope you like it and thanks for listening!

https://soundcloud.com/plutinos/sets/plutinos-ep

Wow you played every instrument and handled every aspect of the production? That's impressive sir!! It sounds very full and lush from my speakers. I like how you mixed the vocals (not riding on top of everything). You've obviously put in a lot of work and I think you've got something to be proud of here

Hey Nate, welcome back! I hope all's been well with you.
Thanks for sharing - I'm looking forward to checking this out

Thanks guys!

Hey dude.....welcome back. Just in time for the gun control post.


Great stuff.....you played all that..wow!!!!

I am digging this. It sounds fantastic. May I ask when in the process you recorded bass? It's super important when overdubbing (whether 1 person or many) and you did it really well! I think my favorite track is #2.

budda12ax7 wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:40 pm

Hey dude.....welcome back. Just in time for the gun control post.


Great stuff.....you played all that..wow!!!!

Thanks man! Haha I haven't had the pleasure of paroozing the gun control thread

sears wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:35 am

I am digging this. It sounds fantastic. May I ask when in the process you recorded bass? It's super important when overdubbing (whether 1 person or many) and you did it really well! I think my favorite track is #2.

Thanks a lot! Without being too long-winded about it, I had demoed these all out on my iPad with garageband and laid down scratch guitars, bass, and vocals, and used GB's drummer. Then when I was happy with where all the demos were at, I opened up the garageband sessions in logic and piece by piece recorded the final parts. First was getting drums done (recording along to the demo tracks) and then i did bass, then guitars, then vocals. worked out pretty well and was a helpful system for me doing it all on my own, and I love that you can demo on the iPad and then transition over to Logic when it's time to record the final tracks. It was cool to lay drums down to a working version of the full track rather than just a guitar and vocal, and after that it was pretty easy to go through and re-do each instrument (and I ended up adding stuff along the way and improving the overall track). Hope that's helpful and thanks for listening!

Dude this is really good!

DrQuasar wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:12 pm

Dude this is really good!

Thanks so much!

I'm on my second listen. Pretty solid. Has a bit of a later Creeper Lagoon thing going on.

I feel like the mastering isn't quite there. The transition between the first and second track is especially rough.

Real drums would really transform it too, but what you did is tasteful and fits the songs well.

marqueemoon wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:23 pm

I'm on my second listen. Pretty solid. Has a bit of a later Creeper Lagoon thing going on.

I feel like the mastering isn't quite there. The transition between the first and second track is especially rough.

Real drums would really transform it too, but what you did is tasteful and fits the songs well.

Hey, thanks for checking it out, yeah the mastering definitely left something to be desired, first time doing it on my own and I’ll be hiring a mastering engineer for the full length I’m working on. Those are real drums though

I forgot that I did not reply here when i discovered this a couple of weeks ago. I had it on repeat at work and now listening again. It is fantastic. I don't have discerning ears so it all sounded good to me but more importantly I liked the songs a lot. I was even going to ask you for mixing help on my own songs but got distracted by other stuff. Hand in Hand and Trying to Be are my favorites. Great job in all!

Very good Nate!

Nate,

This sounds great.

I don't know how you produced your backup vocals but for the type of music you are playing I have never heard better. They sound perfect.

WC

I listened to the whole thing. Production, song-writing, and performances are all super solid. Well done.