Power pop song, need suggestions

T

thexflamesxburn

New member
I'm pretty happy with the mix, but not thrilled. Here are the details:

DAE: Pro Tools LE 7.1

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Studio through Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 100w head and Marshall 1960A Cab (I think), mic'd with an SM57 on the cone.

Bass: I don't own a bass, so I used my guitar and recorded DI with a plug-in to drop it an octave, then ran it through Ampeg SVX plug-in to get the best bass sound I could.

Drums: Reason, unfortunately I'm not a drummer. :P

FWIW, I believe in this mix the guitar parts are panned hard left and right, if not then pretty close to it.

So the advice I'm looking for is how to make the overall mix more powerful, in particular the guitars. I'm open to ALL kinds of criticism and advice. But I have tried 3 separate mics (SM57, MD421II, and e609), and in different positions on the grill.

I thought maybe to double track the guitar parts, but then the mix just sounds muddy with too much distortion. I tried reducing distortion, but then it lacks that power that I am looking for so desperately.

But then again, I could be doing this all wrong, which is why I'm here for advice :)

Help? :confused:


 
This sounds pretty good, man!
Hard to judge completely without the vocals. I would give the snare more presence and bring it up front. Bass could use some defintion, it's quite present, but the notes aren't that clear. Pretty good!

Joey :):):):)
 
thexflamesxburn said:
I'm pretty happy with the mix, but not thrilled. Here are the details:

DAE: Pro Tools LE 7.1

Guitar: Gibson Les Paul Studio through Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 100w head and Marshall 1960A Cab (I think), mic'd with an SM57 on the cone.

Bass: I don't own a bass, so I used my guitar and recorded DI with a plug-in to drop it an octave, then ran it through Ampeg SVX plug-in to get the best bass sound I could.

Drums: Reason, unfortunately I'm not a drummer. :P

FWIW, I believe in this mix the guitar parts are panned hard left and right, if not then pretty close to it.

So the advice I'm looking for is how to make the overall mix more powerful, in particular the guitars. I'm open to ALL kinds of criticism and advice. But I have tried 3 separate mics (SM57, MD421II, and e609), and in different positions on the grill.

I thought maybe to double track the guitar parts, but then the mix just sounds muddy with too much distortion. I tried reducing distortion, but then it lacks that power that I am looking for so desperately.

But then again, I could be doing this all wrong, which is why I'm here for advice :)

Help? :confused:


Click to expand...

Sounds pretty cool! My $.02:

Drums: I fully understand what it's like not having the ability to use the real thing, and for the most part these don't sound too bad, but to my ears they might have seemed a bit "busy" which helped draw attention to the fact that they're not real. For what it's worth my rule of thumb when using programmed drums is to make them as simple as the song will bear.

Bass: Admittedly I was a bit surprised that your guitar-octave trickery wasn't more obvious. Still, I can't help but wonder if a real bass guitar track with some good/tasteful post-processing might help achieve the mix "power" you're after.

Guitars: They sounded pretty good, but I know what you mean about craving more oomph in the final product. Glad to hear you've already experimented with mics and placement, because I've found that very often this will do the trick. The obvious answer here is to do as you said and attempt dual (multiple?) tracks and pan them to fill the stereo field. I'd recommend recording several tracks--up to 6 or so--but on each one make minor tweaks to your tone. Use a different pickup on your guitar, use an entirely different guitar, adjust some of the knobs on your amp, try different distortion pedals, different levels of distortion, whatever you can think of. Then loop the song and experiment with various combinations of these tracks until you find 2 of them that blend to make a badass sound. Remember, they don't have to sound great individually to sound great mixed with other complementary sounds. As a final note, if you decide to try this trick you probably want to keep the mic in the same spot for all of them to avoid phase cancellation issues (unless you're savvy enough to manage the phenomenon).


Good luck!
 
i thought the guitars sounded fine. i don't know how much punchier guitars can get? i think if you ever get an actual bass in there you'll fine that everything will sound fuller.

i think of guitar as the color to a rock song. the backbone of any rock song is the drum and bass. and your drums are pretty good but very mechanical sounding in a few drum rolls. all this needs is a decent bass line with an actual bass and maybe more dynamic drum rolls. the guitars sound fine it's everything else you gotta work on.
 
Sounds pretty good! My only advice is a to raise the snare as was mentioned, and bring down the toms a little bit.
 
I think the guitars sound pretty good too.

As said earlier, a real bass would probably give the mix a little more oomph.

I also agree that the drums are probably a bit too busy. In recent years my goal with drum machines has been to not draw attention to them, and these drums definitely sound like they're vying for attention.
 
Sounds like it might make interesting power pop - a little too metal for the Plimsouls, Shoes or Big Star though - basically too much distortion.
The faux bass doesn't cut it. the bass lines sound like they're played by a guitarist on a guitar & the tone lacks the bite of a well set up bass - lack definition and is a little waffly.
 
sell some blood, plasma and sperm and get ya a <$200 Yamaha bass...

the rest is workable..

good job..
 
There's not a lot I can add that's not already been said.

Briefly:

1 Yes . . . it needs vocals to help with context

2 The guitars sound fine . . . I don't think they need anything more

3 The bass is lacking definition.

I am okay with the general sound of the kit (accepting it's programmed). I like the idea of the triplets on the cymbal. The kick drum, though, has a very 'musical' sound (as opposed to a 'thuddy' sound). This may be the sound that you are seeking, but it is quite prominent, and it may be this that is stealing space away from the bass.
 
Sounds pretty good man.

The guitars sound very nice. I think maybe you could add some mids to them and fill them out a little more. Double-tracking with less gain usually helps too. That second guitar track can be low and layered and it will add fullness.

The drums are obviously fakes, which is fine, but you need to humanize them some. They sound extremely robotic. If you can adjust velocities and attacks it will help.

Nice job overall. Get a real bass in there and you'll be in business.
 
thanks for the comments so far guys. just to clarify:

1. the complicated drum part - my friend played the original part on drums a few years back, i just took the old recording and made a drum machine part from it. i know it makes things sound "digital"

2. i dont sing, therefore no vocals sadly lol

3. im using this mostly as a way for me to practice my recording techniques and write some music for fun. its by no means a final product, nor for any band. just a test, if you will.

so bottom line is...i need a bass. i'll definitely be getting one as per everyone's rec's. thanks!
 
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