Dinosaur Jr (The Lung) Mix #2

Sounds like the mix is dark but I think it fits the aesthetic. I might bring the rhythm guitar level down a bit. Crunch guitar is kind of weak, maybe try a different pedal or settings for that. I don't mind the slight detuned solo. The dry vocal works really well. The rhythm guitar does kind of seem timid, not sure if that might be down to performance or the way it was recorded? Snare was a little machine-gunny in places, maybe revisit the velocities in the snare fills.

Some of this is hard to even say there's anything that needs work because it works perfectly well aesthetically. But if you're looking for a more polished sound maybe, those would be my notes. The snare and the crunch guitar though, I think those might need work in either case.
 
Thanks for the good feedback, Easlern. I agree the right side distortion needs something. I'm messing with it right now, and we'll see what happens. Do you have any advice on how to make a mix that isn't dark? ...or what you think is overly dark in this mix.

Regarding the intonation, I just realized I had the tremolo on the amp...I'm wondering if the tremolo going up and down is causing some notes to sound off (i'd think no since it's just volume/time), because I just checked intonation on both guitars and they're almost perfect. I also had the clean guitar on a 1/4 delay going into the right channel, so maybe the delay is causing notes to ring slow and late and clashing with the solo notes? That's all I could narrow it down to and now will go see if I can fix any of that.
 
I think taking breaks is the best thing to do to evaluate for darkness muddiness brightness etc. That's just where my brain is at at this point...you become so used to the sounds after hours of listening to it. It's hard to do, but if you can, try leaving it alone for a day or two and work on something else in the meanwhile. If you'd got nothing to mix, try writing something. But coming back to it after a little time off gives you fresh ears and you notice things you didn't earlier. Just my $0.02
 
For me, all my mixes start out kind of dark. I have to add some saturation and eq to brighten them up. It's down to taste but comparing to radio mixes my recordings all start out on the dark side. Wouldn't be too surprised if other home recorders experience a similar thing.
 
thanks guys. i revisted it after a few days like you suggested. i mostly like it now except i need to redo the solo -- parts are bugging me. i practiced bends for a few days so i think i can do it better now (i had never done a bend in my life, which is pretty weird now that i think about it).

i compared it to my other mixes and it's the brightest one. the others are so dark. i don't know..i guess i just don't know what i'm doing fully or it's the limitations of my setup. what i'm going to do is read this book about mixing that i have and apply all that stuff to this mix as i read the book, then redo it and see what happens. the book is called "Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio"...it's good. everyone should read it. i read it a few months ago but apparently forgot everything b/c my mixes are still so-so. then again maybe they're okay considering how bad my setup is.
 
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Nola,

I've just listened to the SoundCloud link in the first post - I take it you're updating that as you do more mixes.

I quite enjoyed it actually; the way you've sung it and played it suits the style/vibe.

The distorted guitar on the right still sounds a bit knackered though? Have you got your mic right on the centre of the speaker cone or something? It sounds harsh like you have but also a bit dark like its out quite wide.

Regarding the neighbours thing - my adjoining neighbour is an older lady with Down's Syndrome who's looked after by carers full time. I've never had complaints, but I don't like to take the piss either by playing loudly all day. What I tend to do is knock together a scratch version of the song using a sim and just enjoy playing along with it for a while. Really get the song under my fingers and into muscle memory, so when I come to recording with the amp cranked I can generally get things done in single takes.

Will be a pain in the arse to work on your mic placement though - you'll probably have to wait till they are out for this as you'll have to do a take listen to it, make adjustments, do another take, listen to it... rinse/repeat till you've got something you're happy with.

Oh, when you're practising your bends, remember to really concentrate on listening to yourself playing (its weird how often we all forget to do that). You might already do this but try playing a note, dropping down a fret then bending back up to the first note you played. Then try this dropping down two frets, then 3 frets. Its also handy to practice with a tuner on so you can get used to exactly how much pressure you need to get pitch perfect bends. You can even test yourself by recording yourself doing the exercise then running an autotune VST to see how well you do.
 
Robus said:
Did you put up a new mix? That's a great book.
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hi robus. no not yet, i'm going to work through that book while mixing and see how it helps the mix. i'm going to redo the solo, too. after those i'll update a mix.

JDOD said:
Nola,

I've just listened to the SoundCloud link in the first post - I take it you're updating that as you do more mixes.

I quite enjoyed it actually; the way you've sung it and played it suits the style/vibe.
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thanks jdod, that's nice.

about the neighbors, i do what you said as well, but i also get overly excited to just record sometimes when i'm not totally ready. like with this song, i was pretty excited to tab it out b/c it was something i always wanted to do but never go around to, and that excitement carried over to "oh hell might as well just record it" after practicing it maybe a few hours. it's hard to tame that. but i never play through the amp loudly more than 10 minutes or so and try to be a good neighbor.

i'm not sure why the distorted guitar sounds that way. in the room it sounds pretty good, and i kept the mic in the same place as for the clean guitar (a bit left of the cone and on axis). maybe i should go off axis with the distorted guitar to tame those higher/harsh frequencies? if you have any ideas for recording distorted guitar i'd love to hear it -- that was my first time. thanks jdod.
 
Nola said:
i'm not sure why the distorted guitar sounds that way. in the room it sounds pretty good, and i kept the mic in the same place as for the clean guitar (a bit left of the cone and on axis). maybe i should go off axis with the distorted guitar to tame those higher/harsh frequencies? if you have any ideas for recording distorted guitar i'd love to hear it -- that was my first time. thanks jdod.
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You'll just have to move the mic around and do test recordings to find out what works for you and your speaker. As a starting point I find having the mic about 2.5cm off the grill just about on the edge of the dust cap works - will likely be different for your amp/speaker though.
 
Nola said:
...about the neighbors, i do what you said as well, but i also get overly excited to just record sometimes when i'm not totally ready.
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why don't you work on a couple tracks at at time then? Do what JDOD said and get one track going with an amp sim up until it's time to record the amp, then go work on something else until you have free time to play loudly? Then you won't rush it, and you'll have somewhat fresh ears for the other track
 
You're doing great nola, it's just the learning process. I been at this since 2006, still making mixes that make me go "what was I thinking."
 
easlern said:
You're doing great nola, it's just the learning process. I been at this since 2006, still making mixes that make me go "what was I thinking."
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seriously? 2006? damn. how many DAW's have you gone through? If you ever have any equipment laying around you want to sell...you know...you probably accumulate a lot in 10 years. Makes you think twice about plug-ins...can't sell them.
 
I used ableton live and reaper in the past. I don't have a lot of gear actually. . . I used mostly vsts and sold what gear I didn't use on ebay. For a while I swore off computers and got a 4 track even. That's gone too, I'm on logic now.
 
easlern said:
You're doing great nola, it's just the learning process. I been at this since 2006, still making mixes that make me go "what was I thinking."
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thanks, easlern. and thanks andru. you're correct i need to work on more than one thing at a time. i try to do that, but i think i have ocd and get agita when one thing isn't finished. but at least i can go lay down drum/bass for future tracks, and i'll start doing that more.

i think i'm good on what needs to be done here so thanks everyone.
 
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