Newbie... first new post -- Smother Me

Haven't read all the comments but I would like to reiterate this.
bouldersoundguy said:
record and mix with levels averaging at around -18dBFS.
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Don't worry about volume or loudness until you have all your songs done are ready to put them together as an album.

It is my understanding that most of these tracks were recorded many years ago, so you can't do much for the recorded levels except retrack. But now you can simply bring the faders down for all the tracks so the meters are around the middle of the scale.

I like to start with kick, snare, bass and lead vocal and get them all sounding good together. Then bring in everything else in a supporting role. In this song, you're mixing like a guitar player. Take that hat off and put on your producer hat. Do what is necessary to serve the song.

Good tune and great start. You're like 80% there with this mix.
 
andrushkiwt said:
First thing I'd do - pull all the faders back down to "-". Completely off. Remove any plugins where gain is added (compressors, limiters) or change their settings back to default, but leave tonal fx, and then start over. You don't have to scrap EVERY plugin, keep the shaping ones, but ditch the gain-inducing ones so you're back at a minimal volume. Just how I'd approach it.

If you want to completely remix, then just remove all plugins and start fresh. I've done this before.
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I think andrushkiwt has good advice here......as usual. Go back and pick one song to start with. Don't worry that it'll be much work. You have the basic tracks done. That's the hard part. Take all the FX off. Get your raw tracks as low as possible gain wise. Stratomaster and bouldersoundguy and Chili (above) list where the upper level target should be. I've done this before too..............and it seemed like it was going to be a GIANT PITA........but it soon became one of the best learning experiences I've had. Realize that everything you learn in correcting your first song or two will be far more easily and quickly applied in those that follow........and it's a great feeling when it's over.
 
Scary thing is, I actually did that on some of these songs. You should've heard the early mixes. LOL! I've been pursuing that "professionally produced" volume above all else, due to complaints from my tiny cadre of fans, and I need to get over that. Funny thing is, the people here who listen to my music love this album. They don't have the ears you guys/ladies do, so to them it just sounds loud like the other music they listen to. I'm a slave to two masters.

I think "fixing" this album is beyond hope. I'm probably going to chalk this album up to a lack of technical knowledge and try to re-think how I record in the future. Take more time on each song, even if it lengthens the time between songs. Experiment more. Listen to more songs here and read more of the suggestions and critiques. Get over my whiny, insecure self. Etc.

It's just hard when it took you five years to finally finish an album and then hear that it's all basically shit, technically. LOL! I had to re-group, admit my failures and realize that it's going to be a long road to improvement if I want to continue doing this. And I do. I just may have to lower my expectations.

Like I referenced in another post, Ween made a career out of some of the worst-produced music on the planet. We don't all have to be expert producers or engineers. Maybe I'm more of a Ween guy than a slick producer guy. I need to focus more on fun, unique songs and less on sounding like Rick Rubin produced it. :-)

I appreciate all the feedback and patience as I come to terms with where I fit in the world of home-recorded music. I hope to impress at least some of you with a future tune.
 
Hey NB I've been listening to your track. You've got plenty of mix advice already so I've got nothing more technical to add. Sonically my impression is the mix is too hot. You've done a good job squeezing all that audio in there but there's no relief. The vocals are great, bVs too. I would push them back, especially the panned lower register BVs which are very cool just too present. It's a cool tune. It's growing on me with each listen.
 
After reading all of both threads... (see my advice in the other thread). You don't have to "remix" your entire album... you probably only need to back off the levels (using Mix Busses, i.e. Vocal Bus, Drum Bus, Bass Bus, Guitar Bus to route your relevant tracks to a "single" fader makes it easier to set levels, just for future reference) and re-work your "Master Fader", i.e. reset your "mastering" plugins and use Reference Tracks (said Foo Fighters songs) and just fix the LOUDness problem to be closer to said Reference Tracks. Don't take people's comments to think you should "give up", as that's not what anyone is saying to you. Everyone's comments have been nothing but positive. As far as my "Gain Staging" advice in the other thread, use that for the next time you record a song and you will have a better starting point for your mixes.
 
Ujn Hunter said:
Don't take people's comments to think you should "give up", as that's not what anyone is saying to you.
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^^^^^^THAT'S RIGHT!! There's not a single comment here that is saying anything but.......KEEP TRYING.......you'll get there!!!
 
I didn't take any of the comments as anything but positive. I put the negativity in there myself. I'm my own worst critic and a bit of an insecure drama queen. I know that.

I've said it several times, but it's not that I think you people are being "mean" and I'm going to take my ball and go home. It's the sudden realization that making music as good as a lot of the music I hear here may actually be beyond my limited time and skills. I'm not whining -- even if it sounds like it. I'm just realizing I may not possess the time or talent to do everything suggested here. All the advice is great, and nearly every comment is spot-on. That doesn't preclude a certain amount of "deflation" when I realize how much I'd have to learn and how much time I'd have to spend just "fiddling" to figure all this stuff out.

I feel like we're just beating a dead horse here now, and this thread is becoming onerous to everyone.

I appreciate every comment and listen. Seriously. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll read and re-read this thread multiple times if I decide to remix this album or start on a new one. The forum I used to visit years ago was less technical and production-based, so it was a bit of a shock to my system to hear all this jargon and all these techniques that you all seem to know inside out but that I've never learned. All this stuff about sub-busses and whatever is obvious to all of you, but I'm lucky to get sound out of my mic sometimes. :-)

Like I said at one point, I'll take all this to heart, maybe work on a new song or remix one of these and hopefully come up with something that will impress everyone a little more and prove that, yes, I'm listening to all this feedback. LOL!

Thanks!
 
I liked the clean guitar tones.

The mix is pretty smashed. Nothing is breathing. The vocals are so loud, they're crowding other things out. I also would lower the low octave vocal during the verses. I would center it behind the "main" vocal. The high harmony part is tough to hear.

I like the lead guitar tone too.

I didn't care too much for the drum samples. The snare is much wetter than any of the other tracks. I guess the cymbal samples aren't bad.
 
Thanks, Trip. Lots of lessons learned on these songs. Time to find a new recording process/method. I did some research last night, and everyone's saying "set your levels at -18" or something like that. I put everything at 0 all the time and try to get the hottest input signal possible. And if it's not hot -- I jack it up with the "increase gain" function in Cubase. LOL!

I'm eager to see what it sounds like if I record/mix everything low on the next song and try to jack it up a little at the end.

Point taken.
 
NerveBag said:
Thanks, Trip. Lots of lessons learned on these songs. Time to find a new recording process/method. I did some research last night, and everyone's saying "set your levels at -18" or something like that. I put everything at 0 all the time and try to get the hottest input signal possible. And if it's not hot -- I jack it up with the "increase gain" function in Cubase. LOL!
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Your recording levels might be too high. But what I'm hearing is what I think is happening after tracking, like a limiter. Or Cubase's "increase gain" function. I don't know Cubase, but it might just be a limiter. Anyway, I would lighten up on that, at least when you're posting here. Afterwards, if you're giving it to your friends, or whatever, limit it to your heart's content. IF that's what you want to do.
 
Oh and setting your recording levels to 0... The common -18 recommendation is dbFS. Hitting 0 dbFS on all your individual tracks would likely cause very audible clipping. I'm not hearing that. So I'm thinking your 0 recording level is either a peak it's 0 or on another scale (i.e., not dbFS). Maybe dbVU
 
I don't know what I was expecting from this but it was pretty pleasant melodic rock so that was a nice surprise. :) It may be over-limited but the main fault to me is that it's quite strongly left-leaning, at least to my ears. I thought it sounded pretty crisp but the bottom end was definitely a little flubby. The playing, recording and singing seems very good.

Oh, yeah - +1 on what everyone else is saying about input levels. Keep them down - there's no real noise floor in digital when compared with tape so you don't need to get the highest signal-to-noise ratio like in the olden days. :D
 
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