Punk/Indie - Mid tempo song mix critique!

[keevhren]

I'm still in the process of finishing up tracking with a band but wanted to get a head start on some mixing so spent a good bit of time today working on one of the songs we've finished all the way through. You can hear it UNMASTERED here:



I did all of the mixing ITB on my equation audio RP21's in Pro Tools and think this is probably one of the best first mixes I've ever had. I've mostly outsourced my mixing in previous projects but figured the only way to get better at it is to actually do it myself so am working it out as I go along.

I currently don't have a second pair of phones to listen in on here at my apartment so the only other speakers I've been able to reference the mix on is my macbook pro's speakers.

Some issues I think that may be present and I'd enjoy some feedback/advice about are:

1. Are the cymbals/OH's too loud in the mix? The seem to be sitting fairly well in my headphones but I felt as if they were a bit dominant listening through my laptop speakers.

2. I feel like you can hear the compressor working on the kick at certain times and it makes it jump out of the mix a bit... especially at the end during the hit's after the ride bell hits.

3. Is the bass loud enough? This is the only song out of 12 where the bass player uses his fingers to play and the difference between it and the picked songs is pretty drastic. To me it sounds like this song should be more of a 'feel the bass' as opposed to hearing it fully type of deal. That's merely a production viewpoint though.

Any other thoughts? Much thanks in advance!

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Mostly sounds pretty good.

1. Yes. That's one of the first things that I noticed; there's a ton of crash going on here.
2. I didn't notice, but I'm also on headphones, and kick tends not to cut through very well on them anyway.
3. Bass is pretty quiet, but I think it works. Especially on the high runs on the bridge where it really starts to cut through.

 

[TripleM]

Yeah the crash is kind of loud.

Kick seems fine to me.

Bass seems fine to me.

I didn't care for the snare myself. Personal taste thing. But it didn't sound like a snare. More like a gunshot.

Other stuff sounded fine to me.

 

[Mr Clean]

I didn't care for the snare myself. Personal taste thing. But it didn't sound like a snare. More like a gunshot.

This ^^^^ for me. The snare doesn't sound like a snare. A better snare sound and less crash would really improve the mix, IMO.

Otherwise it's a really good song/mix. I enjoyed the song on a whole.

 

[keevhren]

Did some changes over the last two days, I pulled the OH tracks down quite a substantial bit and think that it sounds way more cohesive as a drum kit and a lot less cymbally/washy going on. The snare is something I've been battling since the start of tracking. The drummer's snare simply didn't sound great and I tried every trick in the book to get it to sound better but it inevitably just sounded like him hitting a wet book or something awful. I did drop in a Steven Slate drum sample for the snare to bring up under the recorded track to try to give it more of a snare snap/sound to it but at the same time I'm weary of fully replacing it as I still want it to sound authentic. New mix:



I also lined up the lead/harmony vocal in a few spots where it was slightly off and think it sounds tighter from it. Other changes... brought the vocals down a db or two overall to make them sit a bit better, did some automation for the tom volumes on a few hits to make them stand out better in the mix, and then brought the bass gtr up a db and a half to make it a bit more present but not too overbearing hopefully.

1. Does the snare sound too fake now? If so, any suggestions to making it sit/blend better?

2. Is bass too loud? I might bring it back down a tad overall but just automate it up in a few sections.

3. Thoughts on the delayed effect to close the song? I was just messing with some settings and thought it would be a cool bridge between this and the next song on the record.

Thanks again for all the help thus far. Much appreciated!

 

[JeffroMixesYou]

Drums sound pretty solid to me! Though I'd give the mix some low-mid love overall. It's a bit thin down there. Balances are there, though. Cool song.

 

[JG96]

sounds good, I might bring down the bass a little bit and blend with some distortion. The snare sounds real to me. The song reminds me of Weezer. And I mean that in a good way.