My first mixes - alternative rock band

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Hi guys. I would like to have some input on my first two mixes. We have tried to mix our band songs with two friend engineers but we were not satisfied by it. So I decided to take lessons on pro tools and do it myself. After showing back the mixes to them I didnt get a good feedback. Don't know if they are pissed because they have lost their gigs or because my mixes really suck.
I tried to do some unconventional mixes specially on Flying Horses, with stereo drums panned on L and R channels. Hope it doesn't sound too weird! They are not mastered yet.
Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance
I'm also including a soundcloud link for both songs with some mastering done with Ozone 6.
https://soundcloud.com/madalyns/down-in-the-sewer
https://soundcloud.com/madalyns/flying-horses
 

Attachments

  • Flying Horses.mp3
    3.9 MB · Views: 7
  • Down in the Sewer.mp3
    3.5 MB · Views: 13
On Down in the Sewer...

I like the vibe of the song.

It's limited horribly and distorting and clipping quite a bit. The vocals sound much dryer than the rest of the instruments. There is a stereo delay on them that gets a little distracting on headphones. Some of the vocals get a little loose in the delivery and pitchy in spots. THere is a lead guitar on the left that is out of tune.

On Flying Horses...

A much better mix. Not limited as heavily. Guitars sound pretty good. Vocals sound pretty good.

Little pop at :37.

The mix leans a little bit to the right.

The crash/ride cymbals dominate the rest of the drums. They get a little hissy sounding. The mix could use a bit more of the snare/kick.

On both mixes I noticed the reverb/delay treatment in the vocals is all over the place - dry in spots, and wet in other spots.
 
Thanks TripleM for the input! I would like to send you the mix for down in the sewer for one of my friends that we rejected for the reason of the guitars were too low (an easy fix). Could you analyze if there still a limiting/distortion/clipping problem? I'm afraid the instruments were recorded way too hot and I dont know if there is a way to remediate the problem.
I'm gonna take care of the vocal treatments as pointed. Thanks again!
 

Attachments

  • down in the sew- crismix.mp3
    3.5 MB · Views: 3
The second mix doesn't have the limiting problem like the first one, although I'm still hearing some unpleasant distortion in spots. But it's a ton better than the first one.

I can hear what your friends were saying about the guitar. I think there are a couple of problems. One is that I think you recorded with too much gain on them. So they're kind of indistinct and mushy. They're also missing a bit of the high midrange like in the 2K - 4K octave or so.
 
Second what 3M said. The first one needs to head back into the shop. Strip off all the limiting on your mix bus and focus on getting a good mix first. I like the second song. You've got some overbearing crash/tom stuff going on, but overall the mix sounds good.
 
Flying horses:
+1 on that pop at 0:37. It's loud.
Yeah, the drums are pretty fizzy with all the cymbal. I'd probably scale back the reverb on the kick and snare a little bit. They don't really drive the song the way they should where they are now.
The first note on the guitar has some harsh attack. It levels out after that.
The vocals sound pretty good. Clear but full production.
The organ is at a good level relative to the rest of the mix when it kicks in. You've got some nice layering and buildup of sound by the time it hits the solo.
What's the sound at 4:05? It's like a single clap? The mix seems to fall apart a little right about then. The various, lush instruments all just seem to stop.

Down the sewer
Yeah, I'm hearing a lot of clipping on this one. Turn everything down. It's the masterer's job to make it loud. :D (The crismix has the same issues tho)
 
at first, I thought Down In The Sewer just had that overdriven vibe to it, but then I noticed the digital clipping, like little pops. I really don't think it's anything to completely scratch or that the effort was lackluster...I actually think the balance and tones of everything is fantastic. I'd just get it all a little cleaner somehow and start with that. In other words, my opinion is to do everything the same aside from the hotness of the track. it's very promising
 
Mixes redone

Hi Guys, thanks for all the input! I took note of everything and have redone both tracks. Please lemme know where it needs more improvement. I watch closely all the meters on Down in the Sewer and nothing is clipping. If any distortion that is coming its from the recording and unfortunately I'm not redoing that.
To VomitHat Steve: 4:05 sound is just a snare hit leading to an outro.
I'm a very newbie on mastering so again I messed a little bit with Ozone but don't know exactly what I'm doing specially on Limiting/Compression. The result of the mastering you can check on our updated soundcloud page:
https://soundcloud.com/madalyns
 

Attachments

  • mysewerfixedmix.mp3
    3.5 MB · Views: 4
  • myhorsesfixedmix.mp3
    3.9 MB · Views: 2
i'm hearing this "pop" with each bass note. literally every bass note. perhaps the distortion on it is causing it? the rest sounds much better. the guitars during the chorus could come up a touch, to my ears. i'm wanting the song to kick into grunge mode there. they seem a bit further back than i'm wanting to hear. I like the simple bridge lead synth. actually, i like the entire bridge, a lot. flows very well. let's see what others say.
 
andrushkiwt said:
i'm hearing this "pop" with each bass note. literally every bass note. perhaps the distortion on it is causing it? the rest sounds much better. the guitars during the chorus could come up a touch, to my ears. i'm wanting the song to kick into grunge mode there. they seem a bit further back than i'm wanting to hear. I like the simple bridge lead synth. actually, i like the entire bridge, a lot. flows very well. let's see what others say.
Click to expand...

Hi Andrushkiwt, maybe the pop on every bass note is coming from the LOW note synth that plays along with the bass guitar? thanks for the input
 
I listened to the latest of both mixes.

On Sewer...
I'm hearing the same bass thing as andrushkith. I don't know if i'd describe it as a pop, but it's a bit of an unpleasant buzz. I'm not hearing that in earlier mixes.

The previous version had a big phase problem with the overheads, but I'm not hearing that in the last mix. So that's good. The drums sound decent. The snare has a little bit of a cardboard sound to it, but not real bad. The kick is a little bit woofy, but again not real bad.

There is a lead guitar that comes in at about 2:20 that is a good 3dbs too loud.

I think the song is cool.

On horses...
The vocals sound much better. They had a bit of a glassy sound in the first mix, but they're much better in the last.

I like the acoustic guitar sound better in the first mix. The last mix had a bit of a chorusy sound.

I'd take some reverb off of the snare and give it a bit of a boost. A driving snare would sound cool.

There is a harmony vocal that comes in about 1:40 that is a little too loud.
 
Thanks guys again for taking some time to analyze my mixes. I'm gonna do some minor adjustments on volumes and such and wrap it up otherwise I'll never finish it. There is an old saying here in Brazil: a mix is never finished...just abandoned:)
Now I got a bigger problem, My monitors failed on me and are in the repair shop. I want to continue my mixes on new songs using headphones only ...its gonna be a hard task but if you guys could help me once again on which frequencies I need to cut/boost I think I can get closer to a good mix until my monitors get back. Here's another song for a review "Fortress NJ". Hope I'm not too annoying:(
 

Attachments

  • myNJmix1.mp3
    3 MB · Views: 3
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