Mixing my own album

[UNGER]

Hey all...I'm in the process of mixing my own album and I basically have every track sounding good, except for a couple of problems...hopefully you can help answer them for me and/or give me suggestions..here they are:

A. If the mix screen (ProTools) volume is max'd on certain tracks in a song, the drums for instance, but I still want them louder in the final mix, what effect can I put on them to make them louder without changing their sound?

B. If a whole track of vocals sounds great, except for a few spots where high notes are hit and those spots are lightly clipping and/or distorting, how can I fix this without altering the rest of the vocal track?

C. Opposite of the last problem, if a track in the mix is way too deep, for instance, the bass guitarline, and some of the lower notes clip and/or distort, how can I fix these to make them sound good without altering the rest of the bass guitarline?

D. Simple: How can I make my drumlines crisper/more compact?

E. Simple: How can I lessen the amount of bass in the bass drums? (Some get way too distorted..not a clean kick)

F. Simple: How can I increase the amount of bass in the bass drums? (Some sound way too weak)

Those are the only problems I'm having in my mixes...and they're pretty big problems..I'd appreciate help--thank you!

 

[shackrock]

haha, what's up unger

A. Turn down all the other tracks. Turn up your speakers. In essence, this will bring up the volume of the drums. It is a lot safer then riding all your faders up real high and things just get louder and louder and eventually distort and you can't really hear anything anymore clearly. ha.

B. compression compression compression. other options include: cut out this piece onto a different track, apply the same FX (maybe you got verb/compression/etc. on the main vocal track already) to it, and then turn this track's volume down till it sounds better to ya. also, I don't know if they got volume envelopes on protools, but that would essentially be mass easier and do the same thing rather then making a whole new track. I think in protools they have like "automated software mixer" type thing, where you hit "record my movements" or something, and just turn that fader down a little bit when you hit that spot. someobody who knows protools can answer that better though.

C. too deep? aka too quiet? or like low bass notes? Low bass notes is a whole different deal. Because depending on the system you're listening on - those bass notes of equal DB will sound so much different on, say, subwoofers in your car. ha. too quiet in general though - same thing as above. compress/make the volume louder on that spot.

D. huh? haha. this is a huge topic/question. I know you use loops though - my suggestion is get samples and do it all from scratch. start with samples that are crisp and clear.

E. turn down the volume if it distorts. bass in the song + kick drum = a lot of bass. So cut away on eq in some areas. Maybe get a spectral eq plugin (it SHOWS you what your song looks like -freaquency wise).

F. eq, volume, better samples. ha.

holla. ha.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

This Mixing article may also give you some tips --> Mixing 101