A guitar jam

  • Thread starter Thread starter Minism
  • Start date Start date
Hey!

So, this is a little muddy sounding to me through my mixing phones at least. I actually like the mechanical drum beat although it is an unusual choice for a bluesy guitar jam. Nothing wrong with unusual though. :) I think you should consider cleaning up the low end. The bass is pretty indistinct and rumbly as is the kick. maybe back off the reverb a bit there too?

The guitar tones are very flat and DI sounding...would it be an option to mic an amp instead?

In terms of panning, if it were me, I'd move the lead more to center and push the rhythm guitar off to one side. Now it seems like the lead is off to the left and the rhythm more centered but a bit right. It's kind of unbalanced that way to me anyway. Excellent newbie jam though. Sounds like it was fun to put together. :)
 
heatmiser said:
Hey!
I think you should consider cleaning up the low end. The bass is pretty indistinct and rumbly as is the kick. maybe back off the reverb a bit there too?
Click to expand...

Will try to definitely :)

heatmiser said:
The guitar tones are very flat and DI sounding...would it be an option to mic an amp instead?
Click to expand...

The funny thing here is that it was the amps that were recorded :)) What do you mean by 'flat' sounding?
dynamic range? - I think the tracks were recorded really compressed (due to much amp gain), but I did not apply any compression to separate guitar tracks (although the complete mix was compressed quite harshsly). I doubt I could change much about this
frequency range? - did quite some eq, although nothing extreme. I was not too sure about this and compression, because as you say, the drums are very machine-like and then those are blues guitars... Indeed a doubt how much human to leave in the guitars :) probably would have to try something more natural then
Also has this to do anything with the fact that I recorded them mono (have only 2 mics...)?

heatmiser said:
In terms of panning, if it were me, I'd move the lead more to center and push the rhythm guitar off to one side. Now it seems like the lead is off to the left and the rhythm more centered but a bit right. It's kind of unbalanced that way to me anyway.
Click to expand...

Rhythm is somewhat more to the side than lead is. Maybe you are thinking so due to quite high bleed from one mic to another... Will try to play with this. However, if I put lead in the middle, rhythm to the side (and given that drums and bass have to be +- in the middle), isn't there lots of 'space' left in one side? How would a fill this? I would like this track to lots of power, so I don't want to narrow down the stereo image a lot :)

Thanks for good ideas! :)
 
I agree with heatmiser in that the overall mix is pretty muddy.

I think you dialed in a little too much bass level in your guitar. I think you dialed in a little too much gain as well. For the time being, take out all the reverb. Get some solid tones first, then worry about that.

I think the same can be said of the bass. It's low and rumbly. I work on getting a bass part with more definition in the notes. That probably means working on both the tone and playing style. Notes tend to blend from one to the next.

There is a hint of coolness in the tones. You just need to spend some time dialing things in.
 
It's neat and sounds nice but it's a long way off from sounding professional or high grade.

What are you going for with this?


I wouldn't call them flat but dull. They don't have much life up top.
 
Sorry, I intended to reply last night but wanted to listen again to be sure of what I was hearing but the track was gone at the time. Probably because you were working on a new mix. :).

At work now, but I'll try to check it out later...
 
Listening again now, it doesn't sound too, too much different than I remember the first mix (you replaced the original link too, right?).

I can hear all the parts distinctly, so you have good separation and that's good. I do think the bass is still kind of rumbly though. Don't worry about my panning comments earlier as I've been listening through phones where that stuff can be exaggerated.

Funny about the guitar tones though. They really sound like DI to me. When I said flat I just meant the tone, not dynamics or being out of tune or anything...kind of two dimensional I guess...not round and full sounding like I'd expect from a mic'd amp. May I ask what guitar/amp/ mic combo you're using here just out of curiosity? Sounds like a solid state and/or small practice amp or something (now you'll tell me it's a fender twin :)).

If that's the tone you're going for it doesn't so much matter what I think. Tone is pretty subjective.

I think what you have here is fairly decent. I would just recommend spending a little more time focusing on mic placement maybe next time out. Get the sound you want in the room, and then move the mic around trying to capture that same sound as you monitor. I also think you could do more to clean up the low end, as it could be brighter and clearer sounding overall.

Just my two cents :).
 
Yes, I replaced the link. However, as I switch to them side by side in my DAW I can cleary hear the difference and this sounds much better. However, I noticed that when I upload my mixed track to the DAW (Reaper) it instantly sounds darker (without any effects) and not that clear as before mixing. Is that normal?

I am already planning to get rid of this bass... As far as I understand bass clarity was the biggest problem in my 2 first mixes.

With panning I quite often notice that I don't even like commercial music panning on phones, everything seems separated too much. So I was trying to find something that works both on phones and speakers to me (so image may seem narrow to someone).

Guitar recording setup (everything I can recall):
LEAD
Fender American Deluxe Tele HH FMT - bridge pickup in parallel/big sound
Marshall JCM 400 combo - I believe O2 channel
Rode M3 microphone - not eq'ed on mic. As I have little room treated, the amp was close miced (maybe 10cm ahead), a little to the side from the middle of the speaker. I only have Shure SM57 and this and thought that need somewhat brighter and airier sound for lead, so picked the Rode.

RHYTHM
Squire (I think) telecaster (middle pickup maybe?)
Roland 15x cube
Shure SM57. I think the amp was miced in similar fashion as the lead guitar.

No pedals were used
EMU 0404 recording interface
Two people holding microphones, as I didn't have mic stands then :))))

Could my problems be due to cheap mic cables?
 
It certainly doesn't sound like mic'd amps - sorry.
there's a lot of fizz and no meat in the guitars. If you go to the recording section you'll find a sticky about recording distorted guitars. It's very good.
You might also try posting your clip in the guitar & bass section's Tone thread for suggestions.
Mix wise - the lead seems to be panned 100% & the rhythm about 40% with bass up the middle and the bass drum off to the side.
Lots of mud and odd panning.
Try the tone thread.
 
Will check it out, thanks! Cannot find the sticky for distorted guitar recording though.

Really confused about the bass drum and panning in general. In my daw bass drum is set exactly in the middle. So how could it be somewhere else in the stereo field? A software problem (and lead guitar is also at thirty-something...)
 
Minism said:
Could my problems be due to cheap mic cables?
Click to expand...

Nah, I seriously doubt cables would affect tone in any discernible way?

Your gear certainly sounds decent enough for you to be able to capture better guitar sounds I think. Not familiar with the amp models, but certainly know the brands...

I dunno, 10cm seems quite far, especially in an untreated room. Were you tracking at low volumes? It almost sounds that way. Some amps only really come to life when cranked a bit. I'd recommend moving the mic much closer, backing off on the gain a little, volume up, and then you might capture a fuller, stronger tone that you can tweak after the fact.
 
Listening to the second version. I still think you have too much gain dialed in. I also still think you have too much low and low midrange dialed in. And possibly not enough high midrange dialed in. I'm speaking mostly about the rhythm, but also about the lead (somewhat).
 
Another one for you guys :)

https://soundcloud.com/mminism/friends-jam

Tried to work a little bit more on the guitars this time. Lead in 2:00-2:42 sounds somewhat glassy/brittle to me, any ideas how to correct it? Tried various EQ, but doesn't seem to help. Also any effects you could suggest to make guitars cooler?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top