Any helpful comments

Genie

New member
Hello, I'm trying to mix this song to give it a little of the lot that it is missing. Please take a listen to the song "To The King" from this link. It was done with a Soundblaster live(i now have a delta44 and things are sounding a bit better) some cheap dynamics and an AT3525 with a Fender Hot Rod amp, bass direct from a peavy head, into a mackie1202vlz and cakewalk 9 and cool edit pro for wav editing. Thanks for any help in advance.

Genie

http://www.mp3.com/ruralghetto
 
After listening at low volume on cambridge soundworks speakers (I am at work!)...I wanted to hear the snare and kick more. I think they are a driving force in this style of music, and they are lacking in this mix.
 
Your song has a very a very similar feel and especially to the verse melody to that song that goes "look to the sky above ....blah blah blah,,,, graveyard...laaaaa la la la la laaaaa" Im sure you know what Im talking about. ;) Anyway, follow these poiters and you WILL sell a million records.

1. Wetten the vocals, put chorus and more reverb (not the boomy kind, you want trails not heavy early reflections).

2. Do a 4.5 k and 10-12k boost of 4-6 db on the vocals. Maybe more. Try boosting 3 db at 2.5k. You dont want "sheen", you want presence so add accordingly. The 3525 is a flat mic with good lows but not alot of top end and youll need to boost that. After you do that, pull the vocals back in the mix, right now they dont sit in the mix at all bec the EQ is wrong so they dont blend with the music but you want them to be up front. Fix the EQ by pulling up the high mids and highs and youll hear them without having them sit on top of the music.

3. Pull the cymbals back, what are you micing them with? Pull the mics off the cymbals and theyll sound more natural, or get better mics and/or better cymblas. They need air and reverb. Are they real? The snare was ok, the kick needs work, it was nonexistant.

4. If the song was recorded in 16 bit, the quality and depth of the ultimate sound will be limited no matter what you do. However, if you got your delta 44, convert all your files to 32 bit float in cool edit and then do steps 1,2 and 3. That will improve the sound somewhat, certainly better than leaving it in 16 bit.
 
Thanks for the comments...

Thanks for replying, yeah, the drums are a problem. They were done with a BossDR770, I usually have problems with the kicks and cymbals. I think i will try re-recording and using the individual outs to get a kick track, snare track, and the rest(a pain with only one individual output) so i can eq them individually. I am not a very good mixer, especially with vocals, need more practice. I am a little scared of reverb because I've overdone it in the past and have yet to find a good spot between dry and wet vocals. Thanks for the eq'ing tips, i will definitly try that out, also, great tip on the 16 to 32bit conversion in cool edit. Makes a lot of sense.

Genie
 
Nice, tight tune. Doing the drums individually will help some. THe crash cymbal was the thing that sounded a little abnormal because a lack of decay time. I use a drum machine too and have the same problem. I usually try to downplay the crash and use it as little as possible. The tune itself was good

Ray J
 
Back
Top