Feedback on first mix in my new studio please

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guitarplayer888

New member
Hi, after a few years of home recording I built a proper recording studio in my music school (I run a music school in NY) centered around PT 10 and a tascam dm-4800 digital mixer. I recorded our teachers doing a cover of Barracuda and this is my first mix in the new studio. I'd appreciate any constructive feedback about what sounds good and what can be improved. To start with my own feedback, although I like the sound on my studio monitors and on my home stereo its way too trebbly on small computer speakers. I also feel like its a little sterile and missing some middle. I can share lot of info about signal chain, recording technique, etc. if it helps.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
 

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The performances are great and the mix is perfect except for one thing. There isn't enough bass. It sounds hollow because it is missing info in the lows and lower mids. I'd bring up the bass, double the guitar track using a way darker sound and perhaps slap a saturation plugin on the bass. I little grit should bring out some of the lower mids if the recorded sound is lacking, although I'd try just increasing the level first. Listen to the original side by side and you'll see how top heavy your mix is. The recording itself however is beautiful and if you fill out that hole I think you could have a mix that rivals the original.
 
chandlerhimself said:
The performances are great and the mix is perfect except for one thing. There isn't enough bass. It sounds hollow because it is missing info in the lows and lower mids. I'd bring up the bass, double the guitar track using a way darker sound and perhaps slap a saturation plugin on the bass. I little grit should bring out some of the lower mids if the recorded sound is lacking, although I'd try just increasing the level first. Listen to the original side by side and you'll see how top heavy your mix is. The recording itself however is beautiful and if you fill out that hole I think you could have a mix that rivals the original.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the kind words. We all put a lot of effort into this and I'm glad you like it. But I was very lucky because the band is a truly super talented bunch. This is actually a 3rd take live recording with no fixes of the main rhythm tracks. I didn't even autotune the vocal although it could have used it gently in a few places. The only overdubs are the guitar fills & solo and the two-line harmony vocal.

That's a good comment about the bass. I actually recorded the bass through a direct box into the console a bit too hot because as the song went on the bass player played a bit harder so the 2nd half of the song is a little distorted, that's why its not sitting higher in the mix. I should have had more compression on it to begin with but too late now. I will experiment with eq'ing the bass to see if I can get some more low mid. On the guitar, I've never double tracked two actual takes a la Randy Rhoads but I'm going to try to copy the gtr track then eq another sound out of it, darker as you indicate. I guess I should pan them hard left and right?

Thanks again and any other feedback would be appreciated.
 
guitarplayer888 said:
That's a good comment about the bass. I actually recorded the bass through a direct box into the console a bit too hot because as the song went on the bass player played a bit harder so the 2nd half of the song is a little distorted, that's why its not sitting higher in the mix. I should have had more compression on it to begin with but too late now. I will experiment with eq'ing the bass to see if I can get some more low mid. On the guitar, I've never double tracked two actual takes a la Randy Rhoads but I'm going to try to copy the gtr track then eq another sound out of it, darker as you indicate. I guess I should pan them hard left and right?

Thanks again and any other feedback would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

That's too bad about the bass. One thing you can try is getting a clip from the first part of the song and replacing the distorted part with a copy from the first part(undistorted). It might require some clever editing, but it usually can be done. Then once there is no distortion on the bass track you can turn things up.

Personally I'd record another take of the guitars instead of trying to copy and edit it. I'd record 2 more tracks, but only record the galloping rhythm. I'd let the original guitar play the harmonics alone. Pan the 2 new tracks left and right to taste and it should make things sound pretty thick. If you can't record more takes, try to use the part from the 1st verse to double the 2nd verse and the 2nd verse to double the 1st. This will create a thicker sound because they won't be exact copies. Good luck.
 
Very powerful performances across the board. Tough song to play and sing. Odd measures with diff time sigs. Drummer was outstanding.

Completely agree that the bass needs to come up into heart-thumping status and drive this thing. I wasn't wild about the guitar tone, either. Felt a little too clean for this raunchy a song. But the guy can sure play.

Great post, dude. Really enjoyed it. One of my favorite Heart songs. Take a shot at Crazy On You next ;-)
 
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