critique / honest opionion on a mix (soundfile)

[AlfredB]

Hi there folks:

Could you give me your honest opinion on the MIX of the following song-fragment?



click here to go to the song


Let me tell you - I am a first-timer !!!!

for the first time mixing our song (i am a bandmember, the track could go to a demo-ep of ours), and have somwhat limited infrastructure at hand -

• roland vs-890
• a "good" mic - (its a condensator model - cant recall make/model :-)
• 3 cheapish "toy-mics"
• just 1 mic-stand

- so there are def. limitations when we tracked, esp. the drums (which per se aint top notch, "no name" brand...)

as mentioned above - I would appreciate your opinions and suggestions on how to improve the mix.

I feel comfortable/happy with the quality of it, but I recon a person with more experience would do a better job.

so - your input is highly regarded

thx
alfred

[I ate my bass]

hey man...weird stuff ya got here...

heres my worthless opinion.
vocals are WAY WAY WAY too far out front
rhythm gtr mix is great, blends well{played poorly though so it stands out}
highs on the drums are good, but lacking lows big time.
The bass needs to be remixed totally w more and fresh compression, its levels are all over the place and it falls right throgh the cracks sometimes....



ps...watch out for them "condensator mics."
sometimes they get wet.

[Tonedrone]

Ya, Vocals could be back in the mix a little, or a lot.
Drums aren't half bad
Guitars are a little harsh to my ears but I kind of hate solid-state distortion anyway.
Bass is not anywhere near center, not that it's against the rules or anything but when your trying to get a powerful rhythm to your song putting the Kick drum centered with the Bass makes a big difference. Give it a try.

Have fun.

[Halion]

Ok, here I go

Clean guitars:
Not bad, could be a little less wet for my taste. Also has too much lows. Add some treble and cut some bass. Perhaps the basscut alone is enough.

Distortion guitars:
Too much treble, not enough growl. Turn down the distortion a bit. Now turn up the mids and bass. Now move the mic a little bit (inch or 2) to the left or right of where it is now).

Bass:
Can't really say much not yet mentioned. Why is it hard panned right? I'm not feeling it. Make that mofo groove!

Drums:
Cheap mics indeed. Is that a kick or a cardboard box? No offence though But you really do need some better way of recording your drums (perhaps the drums themselves are fairly bad aswell). Suprisingly, I love the hihat

Vox
Sounds like cheap reverb and no compression (together with bad dynamics from the singer) to me. Cut the reverb out and try some other verb if you have anything else. Also compress quite a bit.

Overall, not bad for a first try, but far from perfect

[AlfredB]

thx, foks:

excellent advice !


- GUITAR: as a matter of fact the guitar track is programmed to be redone - thx for reckoning the sloppy playing - that would be me ... also I will reduce the gain and bottom end of the guitar ... for a more "warm and organic" sounding distortion.

- BASS: good call all ... now that you mention it - I recall that the levels of the bass part are very unregular - so I will use some soft compression to level it out and but it in the middle for a tighter rhythm...

- DRUMS: agreed, the upper end seems (reasonably) ok, I might double the kick track for more beef ... any tips on EQ or compression here?


- VOX: I will massage that as well w/ some compression

cheers & thx!
alfred

pd: I will keep you posted - keep the advice coming !

-

[AlfredB]

.



Folks, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!


I just uploaded the final version - and I am more than happy with how it turned out (thats about as good as it will get with my $380 worth of gear)


here you go!

http://www.funender.com/music/bands/4912/music.php


enjoy the song


and once again THX for your input - this really means a lot for me

Alfred