What is limiting my recordings? Critique my mix.

Nick The Man

New member
Sometimes I feel my mixes are lacking fullness, and I can't quite figure out why. Click the link below and check out "Aqueous Jam Session 1" this is just an improv jam with bass, drums, and 1 guitar. I like the mix, but I don't love it. But this is a prime example of how most of my stuff comes out, so I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of it and where I can improve, any mixing tips???

Thanks for the listen.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=759062&content=music

EDIT: I forgot to mention, the bass was all screwed up. Something was crackling I don't know if it was his amp or a bad cable or something, but it kind of limited the sound quality of the bass.
 
Nick -

I think your recordings are pretty good in general. The things that stand out to me in that Jam is the narrow field of the sound and the lack of much depth. The sounds sound well recorded, and it's just a matter of making that next leap. I think you are too the point where it's not a simple matter to explain in a post. Try explaining how to paint a Monet in a post. Kinda impossible. Keep at it though, your recordings sound fantastic to me.
 
Hi,

Yes, NL5 is right, the recording is very nice !!

The question should be : What is limiting my mix ? Its not the recording :-)

Guitar is too muddy and too up front. You put everything too much in the middle of the stereofield.
Get rid off muddy stuff (around 200-500Hz).
I´d need to hear all the seperated tracks to give better tips on each instruments !

Very nice tune , I liked it a lot !

Dirk
 
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Sometimes I feel my mixes are lacking fullness, and I can't quite figure out why. Click the link below and check out "Aqueous Jam Session 1" this is just an improv jam with bass, drums, and 1 guitar. I like the mix, but I don't love it. But this is a prime example of how most of my stuff comes out, so I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of it and where I can improve, any mixing tips???

Thanks for the listen.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=759062&content=music

EDIT: I forgot to mention, the bass was all screwed up. Something was crackling I don't know if it was his amp or a bad cable or something, but it kind of limited the sound quality of the bass.

Your bass guitar is boomy. Id cut tame some of those low mids with maybe a multi comp and maybe even use a compressor after that to get a tighter bass.
Drums sound nice to me, but the kick is a bit deep Id say. Real nice toms! Good tuning man!
Id automate the guitar volume as some parts of it are a tad too sticky outy (the tech term).
Id love a shot at mixing this actually if you'd be willing to let me.
Work is a little slow at the moment for me so I like to stay active. :)

Let us know if youd be happy to let us have a go.

Eck
 
Um, practice?

KIDDING. Nice jam. Psychedelic. :D

Sounds good to me but... the bass is there but I can't really tell what it's doing, kinda muddy.
 
First off, thanks everyone for the replys!

NL5 - I get what your saying, and your right. Really the only things i pan are the overheads and toms. Working that stereo field is somthing i need great work on. Any tips that you may have to widen the field of the entire mix?

Verbal - Thanks for the tune compliment. And the same question goes to you about widening the field. Oh, and when you say, cut some of the muddy stuff, do you think i should apply a EQ to the master bus and cut those frequencies on all the tracks, or just things like guitars, bass, etc.?

ecktronic - Yeah the bass is just entirley messed up on this track, poorly recorded. But recording bass is a whole new thread to open (In fact i might just start one). I could use alot of help on bringing out the bass guitar on my mixes. I suppose i could upload all the stuff, it's only 10 tracks. I'm just not sure on how to go about doing that, maybe you and NL5 could assist me in the upload process.

mw - Thanks man, I know i gotta work on that muddy stuff!
 
First off, thanks everyone for the replys!

Verbal - Thanks for the tune compliment. And the same question goes to you about widening the field. Oh, and when you say, cut some of the muddy stuff, do you think i should apply a EQ to the master bus and cut those frequencies on all the tracks, or just things like guitars, bass, etc.?

Its hard to say where the muddy stuff comes from , maybe its just in the bass or it comes from the guitar or it results by playing them together !
So I had to listen to the tracks seperatly to find out more. You could try it with an EQ on the master bus , but it´ll effect the overall sound of the whole mix, sure it could help but it could also make things worse. Like I said its not easy to say where the mud comes from.

Dirk
 
First off, thanks everyone for the replys!

NL5 - I get what your saying, and your right. Really the only things i pan are the overheads and toms. Working that stereo field is somthing i need great work on. Any tips that you may have to widen the field of the entire mix?

Verbal - Thanks for the tune compliment. And the same question goes to you about widening the field. Oh, and when you say, cut some of the muddy stuff, do you think i should apply a EQ to the master bus and cut those frequencies on all the tracks, or just things like guitars, bass, etc.?

ecktronic - Yeah the bass is just entirley messed up on this track, poorly recorded. But recording bass is a whole new thread to open (In fact i might just start one). I could use alot of help on bringing out the bass guitar on my mixes. I suppose i could upload all the stuff, it's only 10 tracks. I'm just not sure on how to go about doing that, maybe you and NL5 could assist me in the upload process.

mw - Thanks man, I know i gotta work on that muddy stuff!

What to do is make all your audio files so they all start at 0 so we can import them into our programmes and they line up. Then zip or rar the folder and use www.yousendit.com to upload the folder, then post the link in this thread.

No don't put an EQ on the master out, EQ the tracks seperatley.

Looking forward to mixing this.

Eck
 
Its hard to say where the muddy stuff comes from
Dirk
You can hear straight away that there is mud from the guitar. But mostly the mud is from the bass. Its pretty clear to hear. Listen to the bass around 45 seconds, you can hear the mud from the bass.

Eck
 
What to do is make all your audio files so they all start at 0 so we can import them into our programmes and they line up. Then zip or rar the folder and use www.yousendit.com to upload the folder, then post the link in this thread.

No don't put an EQ on the master out, EQ the tracks seperatley.

Looking forward to mixing this.

Eck

Damn, it cost $$$ to send a folder with yousendit. Is there any other sites like that??
 
Any tips that you may have to widen the field of the entire mix?

i'd pan hi-hat and guitar to opposite sides, but not too much, as there's just one guitar playing.

as mentioned, there's a muddy bass guitar and deep kick drum going on here. try to boost some hi-mids in the kic and cut mid-lows in the bass. maybe a boost in some region of the mids can help the bass to cut through the mix without that much of mud too.
 
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Ok working on the upload right now, says its got about 3 hours left so it'll be ready for tomarrow for who ever wants to mix it. The file size is 466MB. Files all start at the same time, 24 bit 44.1kHz mono wav.
 
Yeah it is free up to that amount, but its not free to send a Folder. But anyways, I got it up.

Another update: I uploaded a new version on soundclick. The bass is on time now, and I did a couple different things. It named the same thing
 
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