Hard rock song - looking for feedback

F

FadeToMuffins

New member
Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted anything here, but I just finished this and was looking for some feedback. Any and all comments, criticisms, advice, etc. about the song or the mix would be especially welcomed. This is my first time using an actual DAW for recording/mixing, so I am new to a lot of things here, especially compressors and EQ. What I do have is a pretty good ear, and some decent amp/cab micing skills, so I tried to build off of that with this song.

-drums are steven slate samples
-guitars are Jackson DKMG -> Peavey 6505+ -> Celestion V30 speaker in custom Avatar cab -> two SM57's, Line6 toneport UX2
-bass was DI
-vocals were recorded with a behringer B2 with the same pre-amp as above, except for a few parts were I used a 57.

That about does it! Let me know what you guys think! As always, thanks for listening!

 
Guitar tone has plenty of mid which is good but I feel it lacks some air making it sound muddy. Vocals are way too low in the mix.
Pluses:
Good tune, nice voice, nice drum sound (although I don't hear cymbals, but I'm on cheap phones...), good driving bass.
I'm thinking the mix could be clearer.

Joey :):):):)
 
Yeah, vocals should come up. I like the feel and arrangement, but try to EQ the guitars. They're a little muddy. Another thing is bring up the cymbals. Otherwise great job!

How did you get your vocal sound?!?! (EQ, Compression, all that stuff) That Behringer sounds great!
 
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The overall brightness of the mix needs to improve. Seems like you've taken and put a low-pass filter on the whole mix, taking out all the high's.

Pretty insane reverb going on with the snare. Noticed it around 2:58.

Musicianship is pretty spot-on. I love the drums, guitars, vocals and overall sound - the sound just needs to open up. Sounds like I'm listening to the mix through a thin wall. Remove the wall, and this sucker would rock!

Yeah... Very impressive song. Keep at it!
 
Sounded pretty good. Not my cup-o-tea, but well done on the recording. open up the mix a bit and i wouldn't be surprised to hear this song on one of the radio stations here. I could hear the cymbals decently, but the whole thing just sounded compressed, not like it went through a compressor, but like it was being squeezed, if that makes any sense. great job micing, guitar tone is right on.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I got my vocal sound by using the "modern" pre-amp sim in gearbox, and then applying a tiny high shelf on the vocals, cutting out some lower mids, and then putting some 'verb on them.

As far as the mix sounding dark and "cramped," what would you guys reccomend? What do you think I should do to mix the guitars sound less muddy? The problem is I have a lot of things going on at once and I want them all to be heard lol.
 
FadeToMuffins said:
Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted anything here, but I just finished this and was looking for some feedback. Any and all comments, criticisms, advice, etc. about the song or the mix would be especially welcomed. This is my first time using an actual DAW for recording/mixing, so I am new to a lot of things here, especially compressors and EQ. What I do have is a pretty good ear, and some decent amp/cab micing skills, so I tried to build off of that with this song.

-drums are steven slate samples
-guitars are Jackson DKMG -> Peavey 6505+ -> Celestion V30 speaker in custom Avatar cab -> two SM57's, Line6 toneport UX2
-bass was DI
-vocals were recorded with a behringer B2 with the same pre-amp as above, except for a few parts were I used a 57.

That about does it! Let me know what you guys think! As always, thanks for listening!

Click to expand...

Sounds like it could be a mainstream hit once this mix gets cleared up and whatnot.

Cool song ;)
 
Also forgot to mention that I ran my vocals through the blockfish compressor, which helped to give them their up-front sound, even if they aren't quite "up-front" just yet in the mix. I'll post an update version in a bit. I'm re-EQing the rhythm guitars and overheads right now, trying to bring the brightness factor up.
 
OK. New version. Redid the EQing on a lot of different things: guitars, bass, kick, OH's. Hopefully this mix breathes a little more, and the vocals sit on top more. Let me know what you guys think!

 
FadeToMuffins said:
OK. New version. Redid the EQing on a lot of different things: guitars, bass, kick, OH's. Hopefully this mix breathes a little more, and the vocals sit on top more. Let me know what you guys think!

Click to expand...

Each instrument needs it's own space in a mix... Seems like everything in the upper mids/high end is conflicting with each other.

And also, (and this may just be me nit-picking) I can't tell whats going on with the rythm guitars AT ALL. It just sounds like a big distorted blur to me... :(
 
Kingofpain678 said:
Each instrument needs it's own space in a mix... Seems like everything in the upper mids/high end is conflicting with each other.

And also, (and this may just be me nit-picking) I can't tell whats going on with the rythm guitars AT ALL. It just sounds like a big distorted blur to me... :(
Click to expand...

I know it...I'm having trouble figuring out where to EQ each instrument. I'm more of a musician than an engineer, and frequencies and EQ ranges are all new to me.

OK, I might have figured out my problem...too much upper-mids/lower-highs (~4k) on the rhythm guitars. I turned them down a bit and now the mix sounds a bit more spaced.

edit:
As a philosophy, I don't adore narrowly EQing everything so that the mix sounds incredibly open, I like my mixes to sound full...but it's a narrow line to walk between full and where everything is just fighting for room to breathe. I'm re-upping another mix as we speak. Hopefully it sounds better.

double edit:
Okey dokey, new version uploaded.
 
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The song is pretty cool, but this is one of the weirdest mixes I've ever heard. I've turned it right up and it still seems to be coming from the next room. Not sure what to suggest except get rid of all your EQ and just hipass the guitars & vox & see how that sounds
 
Ya know, the updated version actually sounds better, and that means you're on the right track. It sounds like the whole thing ... well.. The only way I can put it, is to say that it kind of sounds muffled, like I'm hearing some instruments through a pillow... Except for the highs, like the hi-hat...

Still requires a lot of work to be done, but a definite improvement over what was originally posted.

Keep at it!
 
Wow, well I think I made a lot of progress this time around. I removed all of my original EQ's and started from scratch. I used to frequency analyzers this time around to try and figure out where everything wanted to be in the mix. Additionally, I applied some EQ and compression to the master mix as well, so if it sounds a little different that's why. But the good news is I think I got rid of the wall that was in the way, so to speak. Thanks for all of your help and thanks for listening guys!

 
Very cool song!! Sounds really great as an overall piece of work.

The whole mix could use a 2 or 3 db bump centered around 2.5k or so.

The vocals have too much air in them right now. It's the mids that are a little shy. 10k or so is pretty hot. It's like a sibalance problem you would find at 5khz but more like around 9 or 10khz.

If you are using multiband comp, You're going to have to adjust it or put the eq after it and adjust the gain as needed. The excess air on the vox will have to be attacked at the track level.

I you get the excess air taken care of a mastering studio could take this a long ways for you.

It really feels like most of your issues are caused by a multi-band compressor or an eq on the master?
Maybe I am wrong. But even the drums improve with the mid bump. It seems like with the exception of the vox air issue the something was done on the main bus.

Very cool! looking forward to updates!

F.S.
 
Freudian Slip said:
Very cool song!! Sounds really great as an overall piece of work.

The whole mix could use a 2 or 3 db bump centered around 2.5k or so.

The vocals have too much air in them right now. It's the mids that are a little shy. 10k or so is pretty hot. It's like a sibalance problem you would find at 5khz but more like around 9 or 10khz.

If you are using multiband comp, You're going to have to adjust it or put the eq after it and adjust the gain as needed. The excess air on the vox will have to be attacked at the track level.

I you get the excess air taken care of a mastering studio could take this a long ways for you.

It really feels like most of your issues are caused by a multi-band compressor or an eq on the master?
Maybe I am wrong. But even the drums improve with the mid bump. It seems like with the exception of the vox air issue the something was done on the main bus.

Very cool! looking forward to updates!

F.S.
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yeah, I applied Waves AudioTrack on the master mix, and put a fairly generous low shelf starting at around 1.5k and a high shelf starting around 4k, which is responsible for the "scooped" sound that it may be exhibiting. That's my fault, i thought it sounded awesome from my headphones :P. Some of that might also be coming from Voxengo Analog tapebus, which I applied to the master bus as a way of "fattening" the sound (It also scoops everything a little bit). I will go back and fix that so it is less pronounced. As far as the excess air in the vocals, do you think a low pass on the vocal track centered around 12.5k would solve that? That's what I had done on my previous mixes and they didn't have that problem (Although they had a ton of other ones...). I have Waves C4, if you recommend me using a multiband comp. Any suggested settings? Again, thanks for listening and offering your feedback!
 
FadeToMuffins said:
yeah, I applied Waves AudioTrack on the master mix, and put a fairly generous low shelf starting at around 1.5k and a high shelf starting around 4k, which is responsible for the "scooped" sound that it may be exhibiting. That's my fault, i thought it sounded awesome from my headphones :P. Some of that might also be coming from Voxengo Analog tapebus, which I applied to the master bus as a way of "fattening" the sound (It also scoops everything a little bit). I will go back and fix that so it is less pronounced. As far as the excess air in the vocals, do you think a low pass on the vocal track centered around 12.5k would solve that? That's what I had done on my previous mixes and they didn't have that problem (Although they had a ton of other ones...). I have Waves C4, if you recommend me using a multiband comp. Any suggested settings? Again, thanks for listening and offering your feedback!
Click to expand...

On the Vox. I would not use a low pass my self. Given the description of what you have done with the main bus, I would try to take care of that first. It may be contributing to the vox sound. The less you have to do on the mains the better. after you get the mains taken care of if the vox are stil have that unusually high sibalance I would look at the vocal track and see if some eq adjustments have been made that caused this. if that is the case back off on them some. If you are using a track plug with an "air adjustment" bring it down some. It's possible that when the whole mix gets some mids back the sibalance on the vox may fade back in against the guitars etc.

I would not use a c4 unless you need to because you are having issues with a normal stereo compressor. For instance if your kick is causing the whole mix to duck around it, etc. Most of the things a C4 can help you with can be handled in other ways. If you throw an L2 or other compressor on the mains used moderatly (not having the signal constantly above the threshold) and a problem pokes out at that point try to go to the offending track and make adjustments there. I try to back off the compression if it starts making the mix sound bad. Sometimes things individual things (on one track or two) pop up though that I can fix and move on.

I'll try and catch it when you repost.

F.S.
 
Freudian Slip said:
On the Vox. I would not use a low pass my self. Given the description of what you have done with the main bus, I would try to take care of that first. It may be contributing to the vox sound. The less you have to do on the mains the better. after you get the mains taken care of if the vox are stil have that unusually high sibalance I would look at the vocal track and see if some eq adjustments have been made that caused this. if that is the case back off on them some. If you are using a track plug with an "air adjustment" bring it down some. It's possible that when the whole mix gets some mids back the sibalance on the vox may fade back in against the guitars etc.

I would not use a c4 unless you need to because you are having issues with a normal stereo compressor. For instance if your kick is causing the whole mix to duck around it, etc. Most of the things a C4 can help you with can be handled in other ways. If you throw an L2 or other compressor on the mains used moderatly (not having the signal constantly above the threshold) and a problem pokes out at that point try to go to the offending track and make adjustments there. I try to back off the compression if it starts making the mix sound bad. Sometimes things individual things (on one track or two) pop up though that I can fix and move on.

I'll try and catch it when you repost.

F.S.
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whoops, I meant to say that the low shelf was at ~250, not 1.5k. I applied a 1.5k on a parametric on the master, and it definitely improved the sound.

edit:
OK, just uploaded a new version with the 1.5k boost, as well as a small boost at 350 just to add some body to the vocals. Let me know, if this is any better. As always, thanks for listening and thanks for the feed back, especially to F.S!
 
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