TFAC Test Mix

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
Here's another test mix - not quite a pre-vocal mix, think it needs a little more work first.

Might replace the clean strummed guitar over the interlude but this version was sounding shit and I don't know why.
Might replace the open hi hats in the chorus with crash-rides - not sure yet.

Anything else?

View attachment TFAC Test Mix.mp3
 
You need two things to sweeten up this song:
1) Get the intonation checked (or tuning). There's a lot of flat lead notes throughout in the upper range. (I think I mentioned this on a previous song).
2) Try adding some finger vibrato to the lead notes - they are stiff and vibrato will help give it a sweeter ring.
The arrangement, choice of patches, drums and mix are good for me, nothing that jumps out as needing attention.
 
I've had a check, the G string is slightly sharp at the 12th fret. All the others are fine but top E gets a tiny bit sharp at the 15th fret. Good ears.

There's already a shit load of heavy vibrato on the lead at the end of that. It's probably not helping that feeling of ropey intonation.
 
when the distorted guitar comes in it seems ridiculously loud, way too loud in the mix, and agree with idol1957 about the intonation, the drums and bass seem quiet, very quiet, playing and content is fine though.
 
I like where this might end up. For now, the mix is weird. The kik is right there, but the snare sounds like it's 100 feet away. The clean guitar at the beginning is right on top of my desk, while everything else is further away. Doesn't sound balanced yet. I like the music, though. Love both parts, mellow and heavy.

Just got to balance the drums better, mostly. At times, I can barely hear the snare, and I think snare should always be audible.
 
Cheers guys, just the sort of info I need to get this one sorted out.

Will retrack the lead in a bit, just spent 10 minutes sorting my intonation. It had wandered. I've been finding lead playing annoying, uninspiring and shit sounding for a couple of weeks... now I know why.
 
Did the intonation wander or are the strings getting old?

Intonation rarely moves, as in the saddles moving about. More often the case the strings are going. They wont ring true as they age, and when you slap a fresh set on intonaton comes back to normal.
Once intonation is set for a particular brand and guage of strings it doesn't need to be touched.

Check also for straightness of the neck. Those can move and have an effect on things.
 
On the tune.

Like where you are going. Love the harmony lead riffs. Good tones.
When it all kicks in guitars are way too loud and the drums seem to vanish.
 
RFR said:
Did the intonation wander or are the strings getting old?

Intonation rarely moves, as in the saddles moving about. More often the case the strings are going. They wont ring true as they age, and when you slap a fresh set on intonaton comes back to normal.
Once intonation is set for a particular brand and guage of strings it doesn't need to be touched.

Check also for straightness of the neck. Those can move and have an effect on things.
Click to expand...
Strings aren't that old. Probably has wandered a little bit, I haven't touched the intonation on this guitar and the cold winter really affected it's tuning. I was all over the place with it too and it spent a lot of time in freezing cars and the case getting knocked about. I'll probably have to re intonate when I re string anyway as I'm thinking of changing gauge.

It's funny, I was playing, thinking it sounded a bit shit, not really putting my finger on it. Didn't think intonation. I was playing some lead lower down the neck this morning and really enjoying it too.
 
The rhythm guitar playing and tone is good. You could lose both the solo in the middle and the one at the end. Some of the sections seem to keep me waiting too long for the change. I'll be interested to hear what you do with the vocal. Mixwise, too much guitar, not enough of everything else.
 
RFR said:
Did the intonation wander or are the strings getting old?

Intonation rarely moves, as in the saddles moving about. More often the case the strings are going. They wont ring true as they age, and when you slap a fresh set on intonaton comes back to normal.
Once intonation is set for a particular brand and guage of strings it doesn't need to be touched.

Check also for straightness of the neck. Those can move and have an effect on things.
Click to expand...
Changed the strings today to my usual gauge just to check. Was fine. So it was just the intonation that had wandered with the seasons!
 
The rhythm guitars are a bit too forward and are masking the snare. Should be able to hear snare & kick all the way through, no matter what else is going on
 
Bulls Hit said:
The rhythm guitars are a bit too forward and are masking the snare. Should be able to hear snare & kick all the way through, no matter what else is going on
Click to expand...

Cheers, I'll probably do some re-mixing on it this week and pick up any bits that I want to re-track.
 
I'm with Rami here. This has great potential, good writing and great sections. I also agree with ido about playing the leads with more vibrato on the neck hand, particularly the end notes. Why are the drums so far back? The tones are all great to me, except for the first set of distorted guitars. Something is off about them - not chunky enough, not heavy enough, kinda thin sounding. You have so many tones going here, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. For an instrumental to keep me interested, you did a good job. I just thought of a word to describe the heavy rhythm tones, "grainy". i want to hear the final version of this, it's really good
 
andrushkiwt said:
I'm with Rami here. This has great potential, good writing and great sections. I also agree with ido about playing the leads with more vibrato on the neck hand, particularly the end notes. Why are the drums so far back? The tones are all great to me, except for the first set of distorted guitars. Something is off about them - not chunky enough, not heavy enough, kinda thin sounding. You have so many tones going here, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. For an instrumental to keep me interested, you did a good job. I just thought of a word to describe the heavy rhythm tones, "grainy". i want to hear the final version of this, it's really good
Click to expand...

Cheers, this track is a one of a fairly long list now that is written and I'm just working to complete. This one has been kicking around for quite a while though - it used to have a really OTT shreddy solo at the end - but I prefer the slow "extended rhythm" style I've gone for now as opposed to a real solo. Don't have many ideas for lyrics or hooks for this one yet though - some others are much farther along in that respect.

Weird how you think that its only when the heavy guitars first come in that its grainy - the guitar tracks are single takes.

There's lots of different reverbs on things at the moment 'cos I've spent ages fucking around with it and I've just learned how to use reverb impulses. I think I'll take them all off - I can totally see what RAMI was getting at when he was saying about the weird spacing of some things. Mixing drums (even fake ones) is a very new thing to me as you know.
 
Overall I thought it was pretty good. Some things I noticed...

The drums are way back in the mix. It's all guitars right now.

In the quieter sections, the clean guitar on the right sounds far more upfront than anything else. That may cause difficulty when you eventually try to place the vocal in the mix.

The crunch guitars (in the chorus?) have just a bit too much bite for me. Slightly brittle. I like all the energy at 1K or so. Kind of cool sounding.
 
Any update on this mofo?

It's listening night for me. I'm checking back in on this one.
 
RAMI said:
I like where this might end up. For now, the mix is weird. The kik is right there, but the snare sounds like it's 100 feet away.
Click to expand...

Well said. That's exactly how it sounds on my system.

I like the blend at 3:37-4:18 between lead and rhythm guitars. Ever heard of Pelican? They were good live. This reminds of them a bit. Maybe they would make a decent reference mix.

 
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