New user, first vocal mix, "Passion Eterna"

S

Sighborg

New member
Hey folks!

A quick backstory, I've been mixing my own material for about 4 years now and steadily making (slow) progress. I decided this year I would aim for meeting a 2 song per month quota. I am beginning to work with vocalist all over to add diversity to my songs since I write/record all of the material. This is my first song with female vocals. It is a rock song aiming for I guess you would say an "Evanescence" style.

I used a MXL 990 on vocals.
Kemper on guitars and bass.
Superior Drummer on drums.
Mixed in Logic Pro 9.

Any critiques would be greatly appreciated!!

Here's to 2016 and hopeful growth as an engineer and songwriter.

Thank you

https://soundcloud.com/ers3phone/passion-eterna
 
Sounds promising. The mix is muddy and indistinct. Lyrics are difficult to hear. Vocals up or clear some space for her. The guitars are overly prominent and distract from your singer. Someone else will have to comment on the drums but the levels seem inconsistent to me.
 
Thanks for the feedback Robus. I will pull the guitars back a few dbs, when you say guitars are you speaking collectively or just the distorted guitars? As far clearing up the muddiness of the mix should I lower the over all low end or pull back the low mids with my multiband compressor?
 
I'm talking particularly about those distorted rhythm guitars. I can't tell you where to cut specifically. If it were my mix, I'd start by high passing everything that isn't a bass instrument, then looking at the low mids.
 
Great advice. Thank you. Does anyone else have any input? Particularly the overall volume and drum mix?

I did automate the drums on the verses to help add intensity, this might attribute to the apparent drum inconsistency.
 
The snare seems like it has lots of snap but not much body. The kick is a little boomy on my headphones. I'd probably bring down the guitars, they feel like they're overpowering the rest of the arrangement a bit. I really like the contrast between loud/quiet parts. Nice performance!
 
Sighborg said:
As far clearing up the muddiness of the mix should I lower the over all low end or pull back the low mids with my multiband compressor?
Click to expand...
Personally I think in the mellow bits the guitars are a little quiet, vocals sound great.
I think the drums are a little quiet throughout actually.
I like the amount of space you've given the song as a whole - you're happy to have breaks where little happens - sounds great. I never have the balls to do that - even though I want to - I always play continually!
Your rhythm guitars don't have quite enough meat on them IMO, they sound a bit anonymous in the mix. I want them to be smashing me in the face. At the end, they sit way back as a backing, not a big final chorus. Think of the end of Bring Me To Life, the guitars are really up front, the way they're on the beat, thick and heavy is almost percussive (they're even not heavy enough on that mix IMO though)

That being said though, its a style of music I like, I think you've made a good job of it. I'd pay to go and see you if you were playing in a club near me. I'm nit-picking really. Sounds better than anything I can come up with although my singing is shite.

I wouldn't bother with the stuff I've quoted above - I'd just work on the tone coming through the amp (ah, you're using a Kemper) and re-track. I assume with the Kemper this includes a cab-sim and you DI it? Correct? In this case, fiddling with EQ afterwards might be more sensible.
 
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