Indie/Pop Punk mix advice! Lookout era green day kinda?

K

keevhren

New member
I just finished up a first mix of a friends band. We did two songs for a split 7" they have coming out sometime in the coming months and here's the first one:



I'm honestly not too confident in it right now and feel like it needs some hefty work but wanted to get some outside opinions before continuing on. It's unmastered.

Thanks in advance! Any/all critique/advice is welcome so bring it on!
 
Too centered. Needs more guitar spread. And it pains me to say this, but the kick is too out front. The overheads are kind of glassy sounding. Guitars and bass have good tone. Vocals seem a little bit low in the mix. I'd say overall, it's pretty good and close to being very good. Just needs some tweaks.
 
I agree with Greg_L. If you're going for an older punk sound, then the mix is sounding really good. If you're going for a newer, more "produced" sound, then I think the mix could use some work.

For me, right now the mix sounds really thin and small. Stereo guitars will definitely help to add some depth. Vocals definitely need to come up too. The second mix is WAY better than the first, especially with the tweaks made to the overheads. In mix 1 the hihat was overpowering everything and sounded pretty nasty, but in mix 2 the hihat is quite pleasant.
 
To me, it sounds over compressed. I agree, the kick is too "up front." The second mix is much, much better than the first. I'd still bring up the vocals because it doesn't really have a strong enough melody to function without strong vocals. I agree with stereo tracking the guitar. The bass sounds a little weak for my taste as well. I'd also bring the backup vocals up, I hear them more as an indistinct shout than tight notes.
 
Listening to the third mix (you had it on soundcloud) compared to the first. (Forget that second mix! One and three are where it's at!)

Bringing the vocals up helped. Esp. the backing vocals; the "ohs" really help with that pop-punk sound.

The lead vocals sound a little bit flat. Do you have any reverb on them?

The cymbals were ridiculous in the first mix. This is definitely better in that regard.
 
Thanks! Was just about to come post the updated mixes... did a good bit of work on them this morning:



and the other song for the split:



Guitars are much more panned and level with one another, vocals were brought up, i pulled the snare down a bit as I felt it was overbearing, cymbals stand out a little bit more now, bass is up a smidge, bgvs down and more level.

I just gave these a listen on my crappy (bx5a's) and the lead vocal does sound a bit flat... I know I've got it going to a plate verb I believe, I'll try to tweak it a bit more when I go back for more changes. Does the snare sound a bit loud in the new mixes?
 
Greg - I checked out your site and totally got sucked in - listened to every tune. Your stuff is the first I've heard of a guy going it completely alone in a rock setting and getting a full band vibe where nothing suffers (especially including the groove). Great vocals, drums, bass, guitar, recording, mix balance, mastering - everything. Particularly like the munsters cause of the guitars :-)
 
Nice punchy drums, the toms seem to have too much in the low mids, try boosting the high mids and cutting the low mids. The overall sound of the mix is a bit thin and high endy. It suits a old school punk sound, but not so much Greenday who are more polished sounding and fuller in the lows and low mids.

Not bad at all.
G
 
chuckduffy said:
Greg - I checked out your site and totally got sucked in - listened to every tune. Your stuff is the first I've heard of a guy going it completely alone in a rock setting and getting a full band vibe where nothing suffers (especially including the groove). Great vocals, drums, bass, guitar, recording, mix balance, mastering - everything. Particularly like the munsters cause of the guitars :-)
Click to expand...


Haha, thanks. :D
 
The third Mix is a great improvement. The guitars sound great, nice and smooth in the high mids with nice low mids. The toms at 1:20 are producing a build up the low mids which could be fixed with some more EQ and/or more compression. The kick is fine, not too loud as some mentioned.
This Mix could easily be fatter sounding with a little more in the lows, but it sounds good as it is.

G
 
I listened to the first and last mix. Definite improvements. I liked the song and I thought it generally sounded real good. Great feel to the song.

My only nit is every once in a while the snare gets really clicky sounding. Hits every now and then sound kind of snarky.

The lead break is kind of a let-down. There's all this energy going on, and then the lead break kind of loses that feel.
 
definite improvement over the mixes but is it necessary to use so much reverb/echo or whatever it is on the vocals? punk vocals don't usually need anything like that..it takes away from their authenticity
 
two updated mixes from this morning with mostly small changes here and there, per the requests/suggestions of the band, you guys, and the guy mastering it! Thoughts?



 
The 1st of the New Mixes has more meat in the low end if I can remember right.
Sounds good.

G
 
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