Remixing my former band - alternative/post-rock

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FllaviX

New member
Hi all! I decided to get some practical mixing experience by reworking some older recordings I have from my alterantive/post-rock band.
I'm still very much a noob and working more on instinct than technique so please chime in with your thoughts and recommendations.

Here is my first attempt at the first song:


and fore reference, here is the original:
https://soundcloud.com/fluturipeasfalt/prins?in=fluturipeasfalt/sets/reconstituire

My intention was to try a different sound than the original, a brighter sound. Oh, and I left out the vocals for now.

Later edit - latest version:
 
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Listened to the new mix. Snare is pretty low, kick is sort of flabby sounding ya? How are the guitars recorded?

I think it needs some better leveling across all the channels. Definitely not a bad mix at all, it's actually rather good...just some opinions from me on how I'd approach a remix. Good work
 
Thanks andrushkiwt, much appreciated! You were right, I pumped up the snare and tried to add more meat to the kick although I'm struggling a bit with it since it was recorded without a port hole if I remember correctly. Everything was recorded live, one take, guitars going through amps and everything.
 
This mostly pretty solid. The big thing that sticks out to me is the bass. It sounds super-squashed and like the low end is really pumped up.
I think it makes the whole mix sound more compressed than it really is. When everything else comes in and it starts playing a more mid-range part, it sounds a lot better.
Andrush is probably right about the kick too; it's pretty flappy.

So your low-end instruments are kinda out-of-control all around, but everything else is holding together fairly well.
 
Thanks Steve, I just uploaded a new version. I tried to tame the bass a bit. Also tried to bring the kick out more but I feel like I'm reaching the end of my possibilites with it, any practical tips are very welcome.
 
Sounds very good, capturing the band all at once, impressive! The only thing that bothers me is that sm57 ish mid range on the guitars, more the left guitar than the right. Can't hear the kick drum in the second section, the bass is gobbling a lot of territory there but it sounds good anyway. Good tight performance and recording, nice work!
 
Thanks Strat, I'm glad you liked it! I did focus more on the drums so far, so I will have another look at guitars, I think I know what you mean about the lefty. The recording was done a couple of years ago in a very nice studio through a very nice Neve console.
 
I think you have the drums and bass down pretty good. The backing lightly distorted rhythm guitar sounds really weak, but I am betting that's the way you want it. The right one doesn't sound bad but the left sounds like you took all the balls out of it IMO. Good sounding song though
 
I like what you've done with the left guitar sound and I feel like it deserves more presence in the mix. The snare rolls in the change to quiet are so quiet they sound like vibration more than a roll to me. Have you tried riding the snare a bit in there just to see what it does?
 
Thanks Dwayne! Seems like it's a matter of taste with the left guitar. What I did try was to bring the sound closer to the right guitar as it was lacking some mids originally. I still have to do another pass at the guitars though. About the snare in the quiet part, are you sure you're not talking about the snare buzz? We deliberately decided to leave it in just 'for fun' or rather to keep the feel of a live rec. It's something you as a musician have to deal with so why not also the audience. It's true I could have just turned it off and back on, but you don't think like that when you're young :)).
 
I agree with the "57-ish midrange" comment, and there's a ton of low and low-mid piling up that sounds like the typical small mix space problem. If you post a downloadable version I can give you a more precise idea of what I'm hearing.
 
Yes bouldersoundguy, I would love to get your tips, so here I added a downloadable version:

In the meantime I re-eqed everything and hopefully got much cleaner mix.
Here it is on soundcloud (old one is still up for A/Bing this time):
 
FllaviX said:
Yes bouldersoundguy, I would love to get your tips, so here I added a downloadable version:

In the meantime I re-eqed everything and hopefully got much cleaner mix.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that helps. The problem spot in the low end is 150Hz. The bass is the obvious culprit but when I cut 150Hz (1 octave, 5dB) the kick also sounded better. I'm also hearing a lot of boxy sounding stuff from guitars etc., probably having to do with eq and effects.

Also, back off your mastering level. No need to make it that loud for mix checks. There's a ton of clipping.
 
Thanks bouldersoundguy, I will try out the 150cut. What would you do to the guitars? I mainly just boosted them around the 3ks and cut from the 100-150s. I feel like they could use some mids though...
 
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FllaviX said:
Thanks bouldersoundguy, I will try out the 150cut. What would you do to the guitars? I mainly just boosted them around the 3ks and cut from the 100-150s. I feel like they could use some mids though...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what I'd do about the guitars. I would have to dig into the mix and find out what's going on that's causing the sound I hear. It may well be them bleeding into the drum mics or something.

Mixing with bleed is a special skill. I've done a fair bit of live multitrack recording so I've gotten some practice. One trick is to start the mix with whatever track or tracks have the most bleed in them since you're going to be stuck with it anyway. If you try to work those tracks in later it scrambles the whole mix. And don't add effects until late in the mix: the bleed is your main effect whether you like it or not, and anything else has to work with it.
 
OK, I think I found the main source of that muddy low end - a 'room' mic channel that I forgot to eq. I ended up removing it completely. Also, I tried again to tidiy up everything else. Here's a version withouh 'mastering' (no comp/limiter):
 
I thought this was pretty good.

I agree the bass is pretty rumbly. Too much low-low end.

Guitars and bass are kind of dominating the drums, especially the snare.
 
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