how to get from clean to distortion smoothly? help!

S

shackrock

New member
http://www.angelfire.com/emo/shackrockinc/links.html

go there, and listenn to that song. It's almost the final mix of that song...home recorded with a sm58 and 57 and some crappy EV on the bass drum (thats why there pretty much is no bass drum on the mix).

but - why does the transition from hte clean to the distortion sound so bad? in previous mixes, before all my new mics (i was using just a radioshack tie mic), it would be a lot smoother.

any suggestions?

also - any other suggestions on the recording would be great. i got a lot to learn and would love to learn it.

thanks
 
You've got major phase issues on the drum tracks.... phasing and flanging all over the place.

Poor mics, poor placement, overuse of stereo effects, poor track placement in the mix can all contribute to this phasey/washed-out kind of sound. (Not to mention sucking out the air and definition out of your mix - even in a punk-type mix, there should be some depth to the tracks.)

I wouldn't call this your "final mix" just yet, if I were you!

Good luck...

Bruce
 
so.....what do i do?

alright, but what do i do? i have read a ton of articles on pretty much everything, and have been reading relevant info on this forum as well for at least the past few months. any ideas? haha.

i just uploaded a new song to that too, so any coments on that one as well would be appretiated....esp. on how to get a better sound out of anything, and transitions.

thanks
 
Hmmm... if you've been reading here then I'd say you haven't paid enough attention!!! ;)

Look for a long thread on mixing by sonusman.... it had a very comprehensive list of tips....

Bruce
 
I havn't heard the tracks yet, but how are you tracking the dirty and clean guitars? Are you switching on the fly?

I usually track my clean and dirty guitars on seperate tracks.
 
seperate tracks

i do 2 seperate tracks of distortion, and pan them to each ear. and for clean i just do 1 seperate track. and i measure levels each time, then mix appropriately.
i'll do a search for that thread though bluebear. thanks
 
A switch to distortion is supposed to crash...not be smooth. From what others have said in the thread it seems you have other problems in your mix. Maybe if you solve those problems then it will bring the dist guitars out enough to crash while relaxing your clean track.
 
One trick I use is to record some feedback fading in going into the distortion, sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes not.
 
i dont think the clean/dist issue is that big here....it really isnt bad....if you want to smooth it out a little, go into the dist part and do volume adjustments to the wave where it comes in and goes out, making it fade in and out......

you need to work on that drum sound...these songs have some potential but the drum sound is holding it back.....
 
hey gidge, that's definately what i was thinking - but i'm having micing troubles (obvioulsy...lol)..... go to the "recording techniques" forum, and click the post "sm58 with or without top" (or just click here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=38777 ).....and PLEASE give me your ideas there..... (the thread has evolved into a "how should i mic my set" thread...instead of a sm58 thread...lol)


THANKS
 
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