Mix my song?

Since several people have asked what I did, I'll give a quick rundown. Overall, I really didn't do a whole lot. The first mix was done on headphones in about 5 minutes. On that mix I started with the drum track solo'd. Since it was mono, I set up a reverb send with a patch I had set up for another project. I then loaded a comp as an insert and ran thru some of the presets till I found one that was sorda close. Tweaked it just a bit and then added a liberal amount of the reverb. Just a note, the comp was only hitting about 2-3 db's of GR, with a pretty slow attack and a fast release. You don't want to squish the life out of the drums, just bring out the room/ambience in the track. I then tried to bring out the kick with a decent boost at 60 hz, and then put the mid gain up about 6db, and swept through the available frequencies (Neve 1073 UAD plug, so you only get a few choices), and found the one that brought out the snare crack the best. I also boosted the 12khz shelf because it sounded good in the headphones, but took that off in the second mix.

I then added all the tracks back in and kept looping one section (another mistake, as it was a hihat section, not a section with that loud harsh crash), decided to hard pan the guitars since it worked in that section well. Bussed all the guitars to a group, and put a comp on the group, again with VERY little GR. More for the transformer emulation and the slight presence boost. Slapped an eq with a 90hz hipass, and a very mild bump at 3.2 khz. Also, I added just a bit of verb to the track as well.

I then moved on to the vocals. I like to beat the living crap out of rock vocals, so I slapped an 1176 UAD plug on there with 20:1, a slow attack, and fast release. Cranked the input knob till the GR meter was buried, then turned it up a bit more. ;) It really starts to "stress" the track. Adjusted the output accordingly. Then added a liberal amount of the verb send. This left it still feeling a bit small and in the center, so I set a send with an eventide harmonizer patch. Added a pretty liberal amount of that and the vocal sat pretty nice.

I then tackled the bass. Once again, a fairly large amount of compression, slow attack, fast release. A small cut at 400hz, and a small bosst at 1000hz.

I put a limiter on the master, and bumped the volume a bit, but really not that much. A lot of the volume comes from how the tracks are mixed. If you got a bass heavy mix for example, that will set the limiter/comp to GR mode, and squish the volume right out of your track. One of the songs posted sounds great with the initial guitar, but when everything kicks in, the comp just kills everything. Lastly I added a dithering plug. These really do help.

On the second mix, I got rid of the 12khz boost on the drums and backed off that track a bit once I heard it on the monitors. Took the new OH track and replaced the old one with it. Took the new kick track and cheated and put drumagog on there with the Andy Sneap kick, a liberal amount of eq, and some verb. I then cleaned up all the tracks (deleted all the dead spaces that were full of noise - nobody wants to hear the singers lips smacking), boosted the left guitar, dropped the limiter a bit on the master buss, and called it good.

Hope that helps.... :D
 
LogicDeLuxe said:
Here goes my try (still not knowing, why some instruments are divided into separate tracks).
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This is how I recorded the song:

http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=1mmnjzoyz0d&thumb=6

Each track (the ones with waveform icons) I ended up sending to a bus(the ones with plug icons), and then when I exported the audio, I exported all of the busses to seperate files. Thats why it ended up getting split up like that.

Did I do it wrong, or just "different"?
 
Awesome! I just experiment with stuff. Although I only spent about 20min with that song, I already have presets of what to eq or how to compress certain instruments, and it does change from song to song but at least I have a basic starting point. I also believe it's has a lot to do with what you have too, not just what you know. I'm only 18 and have been recording for less than 2 years, but I have spent every dime I have earned on recording stuff. I think mixing is fun, I wish big producers would give us a chance to see what we can make there mixes sound like with there $15000 dollar mics and pres. Let me know if you have anything else.
 
jndietz said:
I really like what you guys have done with the song, everyone has made it sound a little different, emphasizing one different aspects of the song. Its interesting to listen to these results ... I love it :]
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Would you mind telling us some more detail, especially what you most liked in every particular mix. And also what you don't like.
 
AMcB thats sounds good just don't be scared to use the eq I like to use alot of lows and then smooth it out with compression on the guitars but sometimes the song call for something else.I am not telling you this because I think I am great at mixing I am just telling you what works for me but when it comes to mixing the most important tools is your ears.
 
I usually cut some low on the guitars and let the bass have room to breath.
 
LogicDeLuxe said:
Would you mind telling us some more detail, especially what you most liked in every particular mix. And also what you don't like.
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ziplock:
Pretty good mix in my opinion. No panned guitars or "widen"ing of the guitars, but still sounded good! Vocals a little quiet during verses but sounded nice and full during choruses. You made the drums sound pretty good especially since I recorded them so harshly. Guitar solo could have been brought up a little bit more.

NL5:
Always love the work you do for us here on the BBS. Your really brought up the energy and life in the song! The vocals sound great and full, and the panned guitars help give a good solid backing for the vocals. And the bass really sounds full too, helping to re-enforce the guitars. Obviously the timing was off -- my fault. But you really brought the song into what we want it to be. You also helped remove some of the harshness in the vocals, which I couldn't really do. Great work!

superbeatballer:
This one is cool! You brought the guitar out as one of the more dominant aspects of the song, and you definately did it justice. I know the whole timing of the song is off a little bit in a few spots -- and thats my fault. You made the vocals not so harsh, which like NL5's mix, I couldn't figure out how to do in a good way :[ You did some cool echo/delay effects on the vocal hooks which I really liked a lot! I listened to it the first time and really suprised at how that sounded -- in a good way of course :D Overall really good!

LogicDeluxe:
Both versions sound great, but my favorite is the -14 dbFS version. It gives all the drums room to breathe and let other things come through without being too ridiculous. The hot version was good (loud), but still liked the -14 dbFS version more. You brought everything out wonderfully and really liked how you made the guitar solo sound wider. Always appreciate tips in helping record, such as not recording in stereo and working on new stereo mic techniques as far as drums go. Great overall mix and you definately deserve a job well done, hope to learn some more stuff from both you and NL5 as time goes on about this whole thing we call "mixing"...

Jammer429:
Drums are definately very prominate in this mix. They sound good and the kick sounds interesting to say the least :) My favorite part of this mix is the vocals. You added a little reverb and brought them in front of all the other chaos and removed the harshness (especially during the vocal hooks) that I've mentioned earlier. If you could bring the lead guitar more upfront -- including the guitar solo, this mix would shine! Overall really good!

AMcB:
This mix has a nice balance to it! Everything is brought up at not too loud of volume. Very similar to NL5's mix, IMO. The guitar solo could have been brought a little more up front, but overall this one is great!

I really appreciate all the work you guys have put into this song to really make it come to fruition. I will definately be posting more stuff within the next week and half as I accumulate my new recording gear.

Polska77:
First thing I noticed about the mix is that you brought the lead up really well! The vocals are also nice and noticeable. You did what others did and managed to remove some of the vocal harshness. The crash is overwhelming almost, but thats my fault since I only used an OH and a kick (haha). I love how the vocals are right up in your face when the bridge comes up. For some reason the guitar solo is missing, but thats okay, haha. Overall it sounded really good!

My questions for you guys...

1) What can I do to make my recordings sound better?
2) What can I do to make it be more together has far as the timing goes?
3) What techniques should I use to record the drums this next time around with the PreSonus Firepod (thats what I just ordered) with six mics?
4) Should I record distorted and clean all in the same track or should I seperate those?
5) When mixing down to "final" files that need to be sent to the mixing process, should I do it like I have been and seperating lead, rhythm, and bass guitars into seperate sections like Chorus, Verse, Solo, etc. or is there a "better" way to do it?

Thank you all!

P.S. There are some people who do not like me on this forum for one reason or another and give me bad rep? If you could, leave me some green chiclets! :] Thanks!
 
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hey man if you are having someone mix it for you then yea do it the way you did it.and as far as distorted and clean yea record them serperate tracks to make it easy to mix the way you don't have to cut and clutter everything up for timing a metronome is always good and them you daw should have something to fix timing issues after record take a fews hours or even a day so that you get good ideas and when you mix don't play it loud you don't want to tire you ears and also stand back away for the monitors and listen to what you have but the raw tracks I do have to say you did a pretty good it was pretty easy to do I good mix as far as drums go that is a never ending battle for me the easiest way is to cheat and use drumagog but I think that that about covers it if you have anything else just ask
 
jndietz said:
2) What can I do to make it be more together has far as the timing goes?
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Practice.
4) Should I record distorted and clean all in the same track or should I seperate those?
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If your hardware can handle it, record both in individual tracks. Obviously, this gives the most options for mixing.
Same thing for those who like mic'ing a tube amp. It wouldn't hurt to separately record a line out as well, just in case.
5) When mixing down to "final" files that need to be sent to the mixing process, should I do it like I have been and seperating lead, rhythm, and bass guitars into seperate sections like Chorus, Verse, Solo, etc.
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If there is a reason, like you want different effects on them, this sure can help the mixing job. If you actually want the same effects throughout, you shouldn't. If you're not sure about it, just do it as you did and let the mixer decide.
 
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