Download and Mix Contest

[jndietz]

Huge improvement! I was joking about the guitar panning though! (hence the smiley) I had them panned opposite from what your first mix was......LOL

Oh I thought maybe the band who made this song wanted the guitars a certain way (lol) I'm glad that the mix is improved Makes me a little more confident. I need to start participating in these mix contests more so I can work on this skill. Hopefully we'll see another one soon...

Any other suggestions to make my mix better (aside from buying monitors)?

 

[NL5]

Can you please tell me what you did to get that kick drum sound?
mics/positioning/pres/tuning/drum size/beater head type.

Cheers,
Eck

You talking about the straight recorded sound in the download?

It's a tama kick drum if I remember correctly - 26" - tuned fairly low. Played buy a pretty good drummer who got his kit sounding fantastic in my large ambient room (irregularly shaped, hardwood floors, drywall, no "acoustic treatment") - Got him away from any first reflection points as far as I could. Used an EV N/D868 into an API 3124 into Apogee AD-16. Put the mic just inside the reso head pointing at the beater. The hole in the reso head was positioned as high up as it could be (he rotated the head so the opening was up). I believ it was an aquarian Superkick II head, but not 100% on that. I'll try and dig up a pic of the kit mic'd up.....

 

[ecktronic]

You talking about the straight recorded sound in the download?

It's a tama kick drum if I remember correctly - 26" - tuned fairly low. Played buy a pretty good drummer who got his kit sounding fantastic in my large ambient room (irregularly shaped, hardwood floors, drywall, no "acoustic treatment") - Got him away from any first reflection points as far as I could. Used an EV N/D868 into an API 3124 into Apogee AD-16. Put the mic just inside the reso head pointing at the beater. The hole in the reso head was positioned as high up as it could be (he rotated the head so the opening was up). I believ it was an aquarian Superkick II head, but not 100% on that. I'll try and dig up a pic of the kit mic'd up.....

Cool.
Thanks for the info.

I'm going for ma dinner, but I'll have my 1st mix up in the next few hours.
Looking forward to mixing this beast!

Eck

 

[Fishmed]

Cool.
Thanks for the info.

I'm going for ma dinner, but I'll have my 1st mix up in the next few hours.
Looking forward to mixing this beast!

Eck

Welcome to the party Eck, would not be one without you!

 

[ecktronic]

Welcome to the party Eck, would not be one without you!

Thanks man.
I'll look forward to you slateing my mix.

Eck

 

[ecktronic]

Here is my mix: Fishmed's Mix

Your mix is pretty muffled in the low end.
Sounds funny when the song kicks in.
Id take some low end off. Try for a deep but real tight low end.

Phat snare drum!
Toms are too boomy.
I like how you didn't make the kick drum too slappy. I hate kick drums that are too slappy, and this song is crying out for a light slap rather than a full whack on the chops.

Not bad,
Eck

 

[Fishmed]

The hole in the reso head was positioned as high up as it could be (he rotated the head so the opening was up).

Is there an advantage of having the hole & mic high?

 

[NL5]

Is there an advantage of having the hole & mic high?

Not that I'm aware of - that's just how he had it........I'm not totally in love with the recorded sound of the kick myself, although I think it is certainly usable. The drums pretty much mixed themselves for me - I think most of the mixes so far aren't really taking advantage of the huge drum sound that's possible with these tracks....

 

[Fishmed]

Your mix is pretty muffled in the low end.
Sounds funny when the song kicks in.
Id take some low end off. Try for a deep but real tight low end.

Phat snare drum!
Toms are too boomy.
I like how you didn't make the kick drum too slappy. I hate kick drums that are too slappy, and this song is crying out for a light slap rather than a full whack on the chops.

Not bad,
Eck

Thanks for the review. I felt the comp I put on the mix pumped a little with the kicks. The other mixes I did that were never posted had more of a "beach ball" sound, but I did not think it fit the song.

Here is version 2... same mix but different mastering process.

Fishmed Mix version 2

Let me know if the toms are still boomy.

 

[timthetortoise]

Downloading now. Will be the first mix I do on my new monitors

 

[jonathanmitchel]

roof tiles...

Thanks man.
I'll look forward to you slateing my mix.

Eck

yah, eck, your mix will sound thin, and you will have far to much guitar in it, not enough bass and no reverberating 80's snare sound =)

lol

mine is still dnloadin, only 1 hour left......

 

[ecktronic]

Thanks for the review. I felt the comp I put on the mix pumped a little with the kicks. The other mixes I did that were never posted had more of a "beach ball" sound, but I did not think it fit the song.

Here is version 2... same mix but different mastering process.

Fishmed Mix version 2

Let me know if the toms are still boomy.

Sounds better but the bass guitar is still boomy.
Id use a lot less compression on the master out.

Toms are still a bit boomy.

Eck

 

[ecktronic]

yah, eck, your mix will sound thin, and you will have far to much guitar in it, not enough bass and no reverberating 80's snare sound =)

lol

mine is still dnloadin, only 1 hour left......

Im going for the 80s sound!

Eck

 

[Fishmed]

Sounds better but the bass guitar is still boomy.
Id use a lot less compression on the master out.

Toms are still a bit boomy.

Eck

ok... back to the mixing board.

 

[ecktronic]

ok... back to the mixing board.

My internet connection died and I only had a few minutes of downloading the files left.

I was all ready to lay a phat one down aswell.

Eck

 

[timthetortoise]

Here's my first entry
I just realized how low the toms are in the mix. Still getting used to these monitors. Couldn't really get the kick sitting where I wanted it in the mix. Eh, whatevs. Gotta find something to reference this to

 

[ecktronic]

My internet connection died and I only had a few minutes of downloading the files left.
Eck

And again.
Im not giving up just yet.
1 more try at downloading this.

Eck

 

[BushmasterM4]

I listened to Mix 1. The kick is standing out too much!!
Can I hear phasey guitars?

Not a bad mix.

Eck

Hmm. I thinks the kick is fine. Sounds really good on all my systems. The snare is out front. But its the driving beat of the song and I wanted it to. The bass drum isnt utilized in alot of the tune so the snare had to be consistant, in my opinion. The left channel guitar has chorus on it. That guitar jumped out when I used it so I left it there. The right guitar actually has a doubler/delay on it (not alot). One the backing vocals I delayed them a little. Id like to mix some of thier other tracks.

 

[ecktronic]

Hmm. I thinks the kick is fine. Sounds really good on all my systems. The snare is out front. But its the driving beat of the song and I wanted it to. The bass drum isnt utilized in alot of the tune so the snare had to be consistant, in my opinion. The left channel guitar has chorus on it. That guitar jumped out when I used it so I left it there. The right guitar actually has a doubler/delay on it (not alot). One the backing vocals I delayed them a little. Id like to mix some of thier other tracks.

I'm giving you good advice if you don't want my advice then you aren't taking advantage of the whole point of this exercise.
Trust me the kick is too loud!

Eck

 

[NL5]

I'm giving you good advice if you don't want my advice then you aren't taking advantage of the whole point of this exercise.
Trust me the kick is too loud!

Eck

True enough, the point is to get critiques from everyone. Now, you can take their advice, or not. Nobody's opinion is more than that, just an opinion. Especially at this level (home recording), many people suffer from monitor/room/hearing deficiencies and may not realize how their mix is translating to other systems. I hear room nodes in samples put up all the time.

Anyway, back to the mixing! I'm still waiting for the jaw-dropper mix, I know someone on this board has it in them. Who's it gonna be?!?!?!?!?!?!?

BTW - I include my comments in the "it's just one A-Holes opinion" group as well. What the heck do I know?