Help! Mixing in new space

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erockrazor
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Erockrazor

Erockrazor

I mix in (2x) real-time
Whats going on with this mix. I changed from mixing in my bedroom to my basement. Way different room sounds. How is my mix translating? Whats going bad or good, what can I improve? Ive been mixing this too much and am beginning to lose touch with it.

Help me please! Thanks, Eric.:)

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=11720

(Guitar vocals and a drumset, no bass)
 
I like the song a lot. The vocals seem kind of pushed back in the mix. The toms are a little boomy sounding for my taste, but it's nothing major.

If the vocals were brought up then it would sound a lot better.
 
This is nice -- it kind of reminds me of some early 90's Jawbox stuff. I like the time changes. At first I was thinking this mix felt empty in the middle, but then I saw there was no bass player. I think adding in a bass track should fill out the mix a lot more, especially in the chorus. I agree that the vocals should come up some on the verses -- they sound ok to me in the chorus, but even those may get buried when you add the bass. I'm on headphones, but I like the toms as they are.
 
Sounds very good. Raw feel but good fidelity. On headphones the panning of the toms sounds too wide to me. And I agree the vocals can come up.
 
Thanks for the comments guys. Glad to know that I'm hearing it pretty balanced. There will be no bass guitar, it's a two man band. I'm gonna have to listen for the vocals today, with my rested ears!:)

The tom panning is definitely wide but I really want that panned effect because a lot of the stuff is tom heavy. I can take it in a bit to make it less distracting but just as so I dont lose the panned sound. Maybe I can add some lows and mids to the guitar and see if it fills it without mudding it up.Thank you very much for the comments guys, I'm gonna keep working on it! :D
 
If you aren't going to add bass have you added anything else that's not performed simultaneously live? There are a couple of guitar parts.
MORE vox vol.
The toms are VERY present - too much so sounds like some one sitting in front of me at a gig palying along with the band.
How about MBCing one of the guitars & treating the bottom E as a bass line. Heaps of solo acts mod the PU to allow them to run bass lines.
Good song & some nifty strumming - a bit agit pop that really would benefit from a punk funk bass line.
 
No bass, hey? Ok, while I think a bass would sound good in there, I've seen the two-person thing done successfully before. Even on the verses, you can get by without it, but I think the chorus definitely needs more punch in the lower frequency range. Listening again, it sounds like you're even switching to a beefier guitar sound in that part, which is what I was going to suggest (neck pickup + more fuzz). Is there any way to work the lower strings into the guitar part? The part that really needs more bass to me is right after the word "sleep", where the guitar goes into that high-pitched thing. You could also try using an octave pedal of some kind, but the one I have tends to muddy up pretty bad when you're playing anything more complicated than a power chord.
 
rayc said:
If you aren't going to add bass have you added anything else that's not performed simultaneously live? There are a couple of guitar parts.
MORE vox vol.
The toms are VERY present - too much so sounds like some one sitting in front of me at a gig palying along with the band.
How about MBCing one of the guitars & treating the bottom E as a bass line. Heaps of solo acts mod the PU to allow them to run bass lines.
Good song & some nifty strumming - a bit agit pop that really would benefit from a punk funk bass line.
Click to expand...


This is a live recording. Only one guitar playing the whole time. This is my band and I might be opposed to having these with more instruments. I intend it to be a representation of what we sound like live. Maybe we will aspire to have a bass player.:confused:

That's really interesting that you can mod the pick up so that e can run a bass line. I've never known that. I wonder how and octave or two drop would sound during the chorus (on the guitar).

I was afraid the toms would be too much but it seems that they are. I want to find a happy medium where the toms sound pretty aggressive but not distracting. He likes to play toms a lot and I want that to come through well on the recording.

Thanks for that input Rayc
 
danw said:
No bass, hey? Ok, while I think a bass would sound good in there, I've seen the two-person thing done successfully before. Even on the verses, you can get by without it, but I think the chorus definitely needs more punch in the lower frequency range. Listening again, it sounds like you're even switching to a beefier guitar sound in that part, which is what I was going to suggest (neck pickup + more fuzz). Is there any way to work the lower strings into the guitar part? The part that really needs more bass to me is right after the word "sleep", where the guitar goes into that high-pitched thing. You could also try using an octave pedal of some kind, but the one I have tends to muddy up pretty bad when you're playing anything more complicated than a power chord.
Click to expand...

I did not switch to anything lower but maybe I should see if I can add something to the chorus regarding lower freq's. The octave pedal idea sounds pretty interesting especially from a live standpoint. If I could make it sound good that would probably benefit the act. I'll see if I can make the chords work while throwing in a lower string too, thats possible. Thanks Danw.:)
 
Erock - this is very tight for live - cool! Listening on headphones. I like the toms but suggest a slight bass cut to the toms, so they are as present but not as boomy... The bass drum is a little different - not a lot of highs/clicks - what are you using for mic? It adds some of the bottom end to the mix. Good to have the band in the basement I'm sure - more room to move and record. :D:cool::D:cool:
Further - the drums seem to have a bit of room sound to them. This is most evident in the intoductory part. They seem to get more into the mix later on...interesting.
 
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The easiset mod would be to wind the PU pole pices out closer to the E & A strings.
I had a guitar used by a country solo player &, counter intuitively, he'd removed the pole piece beneath the A on the bridge PU & the E on the neck one. Shouldn't've worked BUT it did - I could get great bass runs between chords etc. - UNTIL someone nicked it!
Oh, excellent recording for live stuff!
 
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