Mix Review - Die To Live

timvracer

Member
As I have posted, I am mixing an EP for a band in Colorado. This is the first "close to done" track of 8 songs.

The tracks I originally received were not very good, especially the drum tracks. The snare and kick had a ton of bleed from the cymbals, and it was especially annoying on the snare where the snap of the snare was muddled with the ring of the open high hat. You can hear the result here of using drum layering to clean that up. I also posted on how I was using the L3 on the snare and kick before feeding into the drum bus (where it all gets another dose of compression, and some verb), so here is a song with that.

I had to do quite a bit to get this in decent shape, and would love to make it even better with any feedback that can be offered. I have heard in the past that folks don't care for Christian themed stuff... please don't let that be a hindrance, this artist is incredibly solid with some really interesting alternative/blues vibes (great licks/riffs, and solid vocals).

Used some ducking, parallel compression on the vocals, and the other usual stuff. I am still in learning mode, so fire away!

https://soundcloud.com/tim-villanueva-928310937/dtl-tm-01-22-2017/s-ECumg

Link above, embed does not seem to work.
 
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Most of it sounds pretty good. The drums could still use some work tho.

I like the kick sound, but snare doesn't have any power. When it first rolled in, I was really expecting some good crack on it, but it's just kinda weak.

Have you looked into drum replacement at all?

Crackles at 1:37

See, with the vader picture, you could have faked that the song was about Star Wars ("my Father brought me out of the desert"), and you wouldn't have lost all those listens by folks who don't like Jesus music here. :D
 
Most of it sounds pretty good. The drums could still use some work tho.

I like the kick sound, but snare doesn't have any power. When it first rolled in, I was really expecting some good crack on it, but it's just kinda weak.

Have you looked into drum replacement at all?

Crackles at 1:37

See, with the vader picture, you could have faked that the song was about Star Wars ("my Father brought me out of the desert"), and you wouldn't have lost all those listens by folks who don't like Jesus music here. :D

Thanks for the feedback! I am using drum replacement actually, for both the snare and the kick. This can be one of those things where I have listened to it so much that I just lost sense of the feel on the snare. I definitely have the tools to make it more snappy, I will try that.

I need to fix that crackle, it is in the vocal and is a bit of crack/snap/spit from the artist. Not sure how to fix it really... ideas?

Regarding the anti-Jesus crap on the site - yeah, I am about to give up here in general. Pretty lame and intolerant if you ask me. I contribute regardless of theme, I just don't get it to be honest why folks won't give it a listen and offer some feedback. I always thought artists and musicians supported each other regardless of subject matter, that has always been my way. I'm just mixing for a band, and hoping to get some feedback on my mixes.
 
Sounds good, overall sounds polished, sounds like a good vocal take, I like the way it sits in the mix. Is that amp reverb, pedal or plugin on the guitar? It sounds like a hall, which wouldn't be my choice. Excellent violin, good sound and playing. Yeah the drums-funny I've been suffering the high hats bleeding into the snare mic syndrome, wondering how people get such defined punchy snare sounds so I have nothing to offer, except maybe that the hours of tweaking and replacement may not be a huge improvement over the original bleeding tracks at their best. A weird timing thing or 2-starting the second verse that drum fill? I didn't really notice too much popping clicking type stuff, but you can usually find it in the waveform and either cut around it if it's between words or highlight the offending sound and drop the volume for a split second. Anyways, sounding good I think the drums can improve but everything else is sounding really good to me.
 
vocals sound great, nice mix there. i agree with Strat that the guitar verb wouldn't be the first choice. i'd look at other types. Snare too. Really, getting that guitar verb and the snare fixed will help a lot. Bass is kinda drowning some stuff out when everything is going.

I'd also look at arrangement as keeping the guitar L the entire time holds back the song from ever becoming nice and full. It stays kinda lopsided the whole time. I'd consider using it on the L for the intro and breakdown only, then I'd double an easy rhythm for the all-out sections. They just don't have as much fullness as they would coming from both sides.
 
Thanks guys, great feedback! I totally agree on the axe verb, unfortunately that was tracked that way (I tried to get him to give me dry guitars, but this one he used his live setup and tracked it that way). I need an "unverber" plug-in :-)

I will definitely work on the snare, and would appreciate a second listen when I do that (will be next week, I am in India this week). I am using an automated drum replacer and blending it back with the original, so I have quite a bit of control on the snare, so it is just about finding the right sample and shaping it right. The original tracking is where the "softness" is coming from, so I will lean my blend more towards the sample/replacement.

On the guitar panning.. that is great feedback too. I was keeping it left way back when to avoid collision with the violin at one point, but I think I got that solved with the right EQ/filters (violin is pretty distinct now), so I will try what you suggest.

This is really solid feedback, so easy to get lost in a mix after hearing it a million times.
 
Definitely a nice vocal track. I thought the guitar solo was very fitting too. The reverb on the rhythm guitar I actually don't mind, although I rarely use that much, but here it seemed to fit. My ear kind of wanted to hear some of it on the other side also, maybe not through the whole piece, but in spots. The reverb tail at the very end is a little strange, must be from that guitar?
 
If the crackle is on the raw vocal track, the only solution is to retrack/punch-in.

Eh. People have their own preferences. I try to listen to most everything, but if a song comes up that I'm just completely uninterested in the genre, I'm as likely to just pass.
Some don't like rap; some don't like EDM; some don't like Jesus; some don't like cursing.
 
A very nice sounding vocal track. But I noticed it was much dryer than the rest of the tracks. It had sort of a strange ambient sound to it.

I also heard the crackles around 1:37.

WHen the song kicks in the vocal and drums dominate the mix over everything else.

The bass is a little too boomy for me. If you have any low end boost, I'd back off it.

Lead guitar solo was cool. I liked the sound and the style.
 
Thanks Triple and Vomit. Clear I need to work on the drums (snare), Bass (boomy/dominant), and figure out that damn crackle.
The dry vocal is the artists' request, he likes it dry/raw on the vocal, and like I mentioned, he tracked all the verb/delay in the guitar, so I am trying to work with that combo with everything else. If you have any "what I would do" suggestions on that, I'd be all ears. This is another thing that i have listened to this so many times, I can't really tell anymore what it's like to a new listener -- it sounds "like it should" (which means, how I have heard it for months).
 
Great song man!
I really like the vocal. The mix still needs a little fine tuning but it's not bad at all. One thing I noticed is a rythym guitar...on the left I think...has a lot of reverb on it. Maybe it's the particular verb or may be just too wet, but I would tone it down a tad.
All in all really good tune and recording!
 
Thanks jimistone. Unfortunately that guitar was tracked with the delay (it's not me playing), so I have to live with it. I still think the snare is not right (after listening in my car today), so I will keep tweaking. This one song was the most difficult of all that this band gave me (poor tracking), no surprise it was one of the first songs they tracked (in a house basement). Really struggling to get the right sound on that snare!

Great song man!
I really like the vocal. The mix still needs a little fine tuning but it's not bad at all. One thing I noticed is a rythym guitar...on the left I think...has a lot of reverb on it. Maybe it's the particular verb or may be just too wet, but I would tone it down a tad.
All in all really good tune and recording!
 
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