solo won't sit right?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nathan1984
  • Start date Start date
N

Nathan1984

New member
So I got this pretty cool tapping solo riff, but I can't get it to sit right in the mix. I use direct recording due to my amp being at my bands practice place. I use ignite nrr-1 and impulses to get my tones, I get pretty good results until it comes to laying down my solos. I am not really sure why, but they just don't sound right in the mix, I have two rhythm tracks panned hard left and hard right and I am throwing the solos dead center. Should I double track the solos, and pan or should I am for the center with a single solo track and just work on it till it sounds right? I'm getting frustrated here guys.
 
I'd (rather blindly) suggest that you listen to similar songs where the guitar does sit right. . . It's really important that (this may not apply to you) a person learn to critically listen to many pro mixes to hear the mix, as well as the music. . . (It's just a peeve of mine that people try to mix before they try to listen. Not directed at you personally)

Sometimes a gentle use effects like chorus or flanging can thicken, or try a reverb to give it a little distance. .

Is it possible that the rest of the music doesn't sit right?. . My point being that you should mix the entire song . . . But I expect you understand that already. . .

Also, I always have a reference CD of similar music in the deck that I can A/B, so I can tell when I'm going in the right direction. .
 
Nathan1984 said:
So I got this pretty cool tapping solo riff, but I can't get it to sit right in the mix. I use direct recording due to my amp being at my bands practice place. I use ignite nrr-1 and impulses to get my tones, I get pretty good results until it comes to laying down my solos. I am not really sure why, but they just don't sound right in the mix, I have two rhythm tracks panned hard left and hard right and I am throwing the solos dead center. Should I double track the solos, and pan or should I am for the center with a single solo track and just work on it till it sounds right? I'm getting frustrated here guys.
Click to expand...

Post up a sample dood. Maybe I can give a direction. No one suggestion will be good for everything.
 
Here is that riff, it isn't really a solo, but I think you will be able to get my frustrations under control by listening to what I mean lol. This is actually just one of my lead riffs over a simple rhythm track, I like layering my guitars like that, two different things going on at the same time. Well, there is more to this song, this is just a sample of where I am getting lost when it comes to recording. I can make a pretty damn good recording...as long as there isn't a solo lol. So here it is, any advice would be extremely helpful I'm sure. You know, I am afraid to get a good solid lead tone, I may just have to suck it up and haul my amp home to record it for the solo's, but then I still have the issue of placement in the mix lol.
 

Attachments

I'd work in the opposite direction honestly, that's how I always go about mixing. Get your lead/vox to where you like it, volume/processing wise, and then work everything else in around it, then adjust if your lead get's drowned out.

If you don't want to start over, you can always just pull everything down a bit and thicken up the lead using a little compression and then use some reverb on a send and pan the aux tracks mid left and mid right.
 
I'm not sure I see a problem there man. Less, or no reverb on the solo track, would be my first move. Get it up front without effects. The delay even seems to pull it out of it's home. Before you go with throwing effects at it, take them all off, then decide if doubling the track is necessary. I myself, have placed effects on things to make them work with an initial mix, only to realize that it was the wrong thing to do. Start over with the raw track would be my suggestion. :)
 
jimmys69 said:
I myself, have placed effects on things to make them work with an initial mix, only to realize that it was the wrong thing to do.
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. . .That's why I use - ok, usually use- -a reference CD. . . I've wasted alot of time going in the wrong direction, and I still do, if I don't have something to bring me back to reality. . . Like driving without checking a map or asking for directions. . "Directions? I don't need no stinking directions!" . . . But I do.
 
On my crappy computer speakers the guitar needs to be turned up in the mix.
 
jimmys69 said:
Less, or no reverb on the solo track, would be my first move. Get it up front without effects.
Click to expand...

DITTO.

It's washing out and has no balls against the drums...and you got it kinda' bouncing across the image.
Dry it out and stick it dead center, with a little more volume.

Sometimes what sounds really cool when you are tracking it, just falls apart in the mix, so you have to try a different approach.
 
That solo was bitchin'.....can I get another hit dude....you're bogarting again.
 
Lol, yeah when I cross referenced it through my laptop speakers, the lead riff falls to shit. I think I will pull the effects out, and start from scratch, the delay I use was a tad to much. And yeah, I noticed that the volume of the lead riff does fade away when not listening to it through 8 inch studio monitors, so it has to come up a bit. I will post a newer and improved version tomorrow for you guys.
 
I will have to say, my mixes are coming along ways from when I really started recording about a year ago or so. If you wanna see what this sight has done for my mixes (not to be a soul soliciting dick hole or anything), my bands reverbnation is a good example of how far I have come, Our Burden to Bleed, if you guys wanna check it out, you can hear more of my recordings. It is almost a time line of how far along I have come, the last thing I recorded is on there, apart from the posted clip in this thread. I am sure you guys will be able to see where I started and where I have finished.
 
So I figured out why I wasn't getting the results I wanted. My levels were crap when I recorded that tapping riff, it was so light that my gate was killing the tone, so I cranked the gain on my interface, and bam, huge difference, much more clarity as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top