New rock mix

[superelixir]

Hi guys, had a busy summer but I managed to record one song in my home studio. It's short and sweet and I'd appreciate if you could give it a listen

I have a feeling I know the critiques you guys will make (drums somewhat dead sounding, vocals slightly overpowering) but I'm sure there are things I haven't thought of so please, tear it apart!

 

[NotThatBright]

One thing that sounded a little strange to me is that all the cymbals seemed to be panned to the left (I listened with headphones and my left ear got all the cymbals). I don't know enough about recording/mixing/etc to know if this is abnormal, proper, or whatever, but it's something I noticed. Nice song.

 

[superelixir]

One thing that sounded a little strange to me is that all the cymbals seemed to be panned to the left (I listened with headphones and my left ear got all the cymbals). I don't know enough about recording/mixing/etc to know if this is abnormal, proper, or whatever, but it's something I noticed. Nice song.

Thanks for listening, I usually pan the overheads hard left and right because it adds more width to the drum sound. But this song is very crash heavy, which tends to be panned pretty far to the left (mirroring it's position on the drum kit). I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess since this song uses more crash than hihat it could sound pretty weird. I'll mess around with it.

 

[NotThatBright]

Thanks for listening, I usually pan the overheads hard left and right because it adds more width to the drum sound. But this song is very crash heavy, which tends to be panned pretty far to the left (mirroring it's position on the drum kit). I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess since this song uses more crash than hihat it could sound pretty weird. I'll mess around with it.

I like a lot of crash, myself. I even considered getting rid of my hihats a month into playing drums. I regained my sanity after the second month

 

[superelixir]

I like a lot of crash, myself. I even considered getting rid of my hihats a month into playing drums. I regained my sanity after the second month

Same actually. I think hihat tends to sound better in person when you're banging away on it than it does when you listen to a recording.

 

[polarity]

It could be the sound you're going for but to me it sounds like you played a well played/mixed song on some speakers and recorded it on an iphone. Then put that in and sang over it.

Everything sounds way in the back and muffled to me except the vocals. Again that could be the sound you're after, the kinda lo-fi thing?

 

[superelixir]

It could be the sound you're going for but to me it sounds like you played a well played/mixed song on some speakers and recorded it on an iphone. Then put that in and sang over it.

Everything sounds way in the back and muffled to me except the vocals. Again that could be the sound you're after, the kinda lo-fi thing?

I can't say that's the sound I was going for. Wouldn't something recorded on an iPhone would have considerably reduced low end?

To me the bass/guitar tone sound exactly how I wanted them. The snare sounds flat (which is a problem I've had in all of my songs) and the vocals stick out a bit. I recorded and mixed them cleaner than I usually do, and thought maybe they stick out because I made them too loud... A few people I played it for in real life said they like how clear/distinct the vocals sounded compared to my other songs, so I decided to leave it... what specifically sounds muffled to you?

Thanks for the feedback by the way. This is critique I need to hear.

 

[polarity]

The drums sound very muffled to me. The guitar is a little muffled..

It just sounds like everything except the vocals is drown out in the back. There are some parts where it clears up for a second like the guitar solo sound good.

 

[Stevie_M]

Very warm sounding mix. I like it. Drums sound fine actually. It's very reminiscent of the early Black Sabbath mixes. We tend to worship hi-fi recordings today, but the warmth of rock classics needs to come back. The guitarwork has strong mids and good girthy tone. The vocals sound okay, but could be improved upon. Maybe sing louder, annunciate more precisely and sing from the diaphragm?

 

[Schwarzenyaeger]

I think that the backing all sounded rather muffled. The vocal sounded like somebody singing overtop a track and not with it. It didn't blend well as was too loud. It seemed to jump out unevenly at spots too, which is a symptom of it being too loud I guess.

I liked the blend with the reverb every half sentence, that was a nice touch.


Do you listen to Alice in Chains or Jerry Cantrell? Reminded me of their stuff.

 

[superelixir]

Very warm sounding mix. I like it. Drums sound fine actually. It's very reminiscent of the early Black Sabbath mixes. We tend to worship hi-fi recordings today, but the warmth of rock classics needs to come back. The guitarwork has strong mids and good girthy tone. The vocals sound okay, but could be improved upon. Maybe sing louder, annunciate more precisely and sing from the diaphragm?

Thanks, I am huge fan of early Sabbath and warm-sounding mixes in general. For the vocals, do you think it is mainly a problem with performance or something that can be improved in the mix?

Here is some of my inspiration:

I think that the backing all sounded rather muffled. The vocal sounded like somebody singing overtop a track and not with it. It didn't blend well as was too loud. It seemed to jump out unevenly at spots too, which is a symptom of it being too loud I guess.

I liked the blend with the reverb every half sentence, that was a nice touch.


Do you listen to Alice in Chains or Jerry Cantrell? Reminded me of their stuff.

Thanks for the feedback. For the vocals do you think I should use automation or maybe heavier compression to reduce the peaks? When I was mixing the song I kind of liked the way the vocals popped out, but I can understand why you guys are saying they sound like they are sitting "on top". Maybe I relied too much on my eyes and not enough on my ears.

I do love Alice in Chains, but I'd say my biggest influences are Queens of the Stone Age and Pearl Jam.