First mix - comments welcome

[daveparker]

Hi

I play drums in a Punk Band called KneeDeep. I've recently got all the gear
I need to record ourselves and I have just finished a mix we are all happy
with today. This is the first time i've ever recorded a whole band so would
like any constructive feedback.

The mp3 is available here:-
http://groove-uk.com/mp3/KneeDeep-Day-of-Doom.mp3

Thanks

Dave

[wx3]

Here's a comment...

Your singer sounds alot like the guy from guttermouth.

Basically I think it sounds good, some of the back up vocals, specifically the 'aaaaa's' were a little flat... But it's punk right? haha. Seems like all the levels were a bit low, maybe up on the bass a little. Drums kinda seem distant too.

But it was pretty sweet. Good to see some punk bands on here.

[travelin travis]

heres another.....

singer sounds a bit like social distortion. cool tune.

[daveparker]

Thanks for the replys. For info, this was recored on a Digi002 with ProTools
LE 6.9 on Win XP.

I've had some comments suggesting I double tracked the guitar. I
did try this with two separatly recorded guitar parts panned hard left
and right, but it sounded a bit out of time. Should I use the same take
doubled up? The guitar is acutally Amplitube LE in Protools. I will try
micing up a real amp when I get round to it and compare. I've got two
SM57's for guitar. My guitarist uses a 4x12 cab so I reckon I will use one
on a lower speaker right against the grill in the center of the speaker and
one towards the edge on a higher speaker.

Im not particularly happy with the kick drum, which was recorded with a
Shure PG52 about 6in away from the batter head. I think I should have
spent more time tuning the drum. I've also realised I need to work on the
dynamics in my playing as the kick is not consistant volume wise, which I
tried to fix with some compression somewhat unsucessfully. It's great being
able to analyse your own playing though as it shows you what you need to
work on. The overheads didn't come out quite as clear as I would have liked.
I used a pair of Shure PG81's in an X/Y config just above my forehead.
I think maybe these mics should have been further away with the gain
up louder, maybe also placed right and left of the kit, not X/Y. For some
reason the ride and right crash are not coming through as they should, but I
really dont know why. The snare was recorded with an SM57 between the hi
tom and hi hat about an inch above the snare, about and inch and a half
from the rim, pointing at the center of the snare.. There is too much hi hat
in the snare mic, so I will try micing from the bottom next time. To my ears
the toms sound awsome though.

The bass was recorded with the guitar plugged directly into my Digi002
rack, I think it sounds pretty good like that. Though I will try DI'ing from
my bass players amp to see if that better.

Another comment was that the volcals needed more reverb as they sounded
a bit dry. I think it's difficult to get reverb right as I don't like it when it's
too obvious. They were recorded with an SM58. I think they need to come
up a bit in this mix.

I found that applying a -24db lowpass filter at 40Hz on the protools master
fader channel made the bass a lot tighter. I can play this mix at high volume
now without taxing my woofers. All tracks were then bounced to a stereo
audio track and normalised. Though it still sounds quiet compared to
commercial recordings. Maybe I need to look at the waves ultramaximizer?

But overall I think it's pretty good considering its the first time i've done this.

Dave

[seismetr0n]

mix sounds good all in all.. especially for a first time !!..
drums sound good... they all have a good definition to them.. vocals sound good (dont worry about more reverb)
the bass was kinda lost in the mix though
the guitar definately sounded like it was d/i .. a little too thin i think... micing the amp will give you a MUCH better sound.. especially if you've got the 57's just lying around!!
if your guitar (doubled)tracks sound like they're off then the guitarist is just a little sloppy in his time keeping... some people do copy/paste the same guitar track and hard pan (offset one track by a couple of milliseconds)... i always record seperate tracks though

i do like the song though .. reminds me of older bad religon (the good stuff)

gl

[emergencyexit]

Pull that snare mic away. It will pick up the snare full sound better about 3-5 inches off the top better than 1. To take away the HH bleed in the snare mic try putting a wallet in between the mic and the hat (old trick). Work on that over head placement some, but not much. Its ok to have the crashed behind in the mix. That tends to bring out the intensity in the music more than the drums. The bass drum sounds fine to me. If you change that, maybe move it a little closer to the batter head and tilt it up a little.

[daveparker]

Hi Board

It's always fun to compare old and new mixes to check your progress.
Here is the latest mix of this song:-
http://groove-uk.com/mp3/KneeDeep-Da...oom-latest.mp3.

I think the difference is night and day. Here are the things I did
differently:-

1) I decided not to bother recording my acoustic drums anymore.
I now use my Roland TD8 plugged into DFHS. I don't think I will
ever go back to recording acoustics. This way sounds much better,
takes far less time and gives me way more flexibility.
2) I was using Amplitude LE before and now have the full version.
This is being used on guitars and bass. I tried mic'ing a cab but
it sounded really crap compared to Amplitube. Don't know what
I was doing wrong as this is supposed to be much better so I am told.
3) The guitars are now doubled and panned.
4) I now use a Studio Projects C3 for vocals, the SM58 gathers dust.
5) I now run my mixes through T-RackS

Plus lots of reading up on mixing techniques, lurking on this board and
experimenting. Im starting to get good results now I think, but still
have some way to go.

Anyway, before I ramble on any more, if anyone has any comments
on the mixes I would be happy to hear them.

Dave

[David Player]

Wow !! Big difference between the 2 mixes. Lots more definition with the new version. You can hear the guitars a lot better now. Drums really stand out. Vocals are crisp and clear. Bass is in your face. For me I find it all a bit too bright though. Depends on what you want but I think it needs to be warmed up a bit more. Hope you know what I mean.

Cheers,

Good tune btw. Dig the stops.

[bendbones]

Newer mix is bloody awesome. Much wider. Nice one! Kick still sounds a bit quiet though. If you can't redo the kick, could you set up a midi trigger from the recorded kick sound to trigger a kick sample with more punch and definition. I dunno how you'd do this with your setup though.

Nice one!