1st mix....Never the last....Help!

  • Thread starter Thread starter RAMI
  • Start date Start date
Rami,
Much improved in terms of the nits I picked.
I quite liked the Berry bends.
You certainly have tamed your recording space - the drums are really excellent.
 
Sounds okay to me. Not my favorite Rami song, but it's okay. It does seem to be missing something compared to your usual kick ass stuff. I can't quite tell what it is. I personally think it's maybe the rhythm guitar(s). They sound kind of muddy. Not in the sense like there's too much low mids or anything, but like you mic'd the edge of the speaker cone and got that kind of distant washy sound. I think maybe a crisper sound with more gain would fill in those chunky "Kashmir-ish" parts better. Drums, bass, and vocals sound awesome - as usual.
 
Greg_L said:
Sounds okay to me. Not my favorite Rami song, but it's okay. It does seem to be missing something compared to your usual kick ass stuff. I can't quite tell what it is. I personally think it's maybe the rhythm guitar(s). They sound kind of muddy. Not in the sense like there's too much low mids or anything, but like you mic'd the edge of the speaker cone and got that kind of distant washy sound. I think maybe a crisper sound with more gain would fill in those chunky "Kashmir-ish" parts better. Drums, bass, and vocals sound awesome - as usual.
Click to expand...

Thanx for the advice, Greg. I was thinking of re-tracking the "clean" guitar track. And, now that you brought it up, it confirmed to me that I have to re-do it. I'm assuming you're talking about the guitar that starts the tune with the vocals, and not the "choppy" guitar parts that follow the bass later on???

Either way, I may have to re-build this tune from the rythm section up. I appreciate the advice I got from everyone. It's not as good as it could be, and I'm going to try and fix that.
 
RAMI said:
I'm assuming you're talking about the guitar that starts the tune with the vocals, and not the "choppy" guitar parts that follow the bass later on???

.
Click to expand...
No the clean guitar sounds fine to me. I am talking about the choppy guitar that follows the bass. That's the one that sounds kind of washy to me. I think a punchier sound with a little more gain crunch would sit well in those parts and help fill in the choruses. You use a strat right? What pickup are you using? Maybe doubling that guitar part but keeping them real tight together would make it sound a little more powerful without being over-the-top.

That's the only nit I have with the song. The arrangement ideas and the rest of the instruments are great. The backing vocals are outstanding. I'll say it again...everyone oohs and ahhs over your drumming, and rightfully so, but to me it's your backing vocals and harmonies that really make your songs sound better than the average stuff posted in here.
 
Greg_L said:
No the clean guitar sounds fine to me. I am talking about the choppy guitar that follows the bass. That's the one that sounds kind of washy to me. I think a punchier sound with a little more gain crunch would sit well in those parts and help fill in the choruses. You use a strat right? What pickup are you using? Maybe doubling that guitar part but keeping them real tight together would make it sound a little more powerful without being over-the-top.

That's the only nit I have with the song. The arrangement ideas and the rest of the instruments are great. The backing vocals are outstanding. I'll say it again...everyone oohs and ahhs over your drumming, and rightfully so, but to me it's your backing vocals and harmonies that really make your songs sound better than the average stuff posted in here.
Click to expand...


Ah, OK that's good to know. I was going to re-track both parts, but at least now I know you were talking about the choppy parts. They can definitely sound tighter and be more defined.

I use the bridge pick-up on my strat, almost always, except for cleaner parts, where I'll use the neck.

Thanx for the advice and compliments, man.
 
I hate to jump in as of this late point w/ my comments Rami, but this mix hurts my ears.

I've got dark phones on, but I know what pro mixes sound like through them intimately.

This mix sounds like you held its nose while mixing it. It's all nasally bright ... everything's got a midrange bump to it ... the freq spread is bunched center in a mid to high freq range wash.

My wince meter, meaning how much a mix makes me wince at high volume, was pinned.

The first thing I'd do is go back and attend to the guitars and lead vocal, for they're the features that set the tone ... and they're both quite grating.

Feel free to drop me an email to relisten after you've reworked the mix. I tend to get busy and might forget to return.

This, though ... still needs quite a bit of TLC.

Best,

Kev-
 
K-dub said:
I hate to jump in as of this late point w/ my comments Rami, but this mix hurts my ears.

I've got dark phones on, but I know what pro mixes sound like through them intimately.

This mix sounds like you held its nose while mixing it. It's all nasally bright ... everything's got a midrange bump to it ... the freq spread is bunched center in a mid to high freq range wash.

My wince meter, meaning how much a mix makes me wince at high volume, was pinned.

The first thing I'd do is go back and attend to the guitars and lead vocal, for they're the features that set the tone ... and they're both quite grating.

Feel free to drop me an email to relisten after you've reworked the mix. I tend to get busy and might forget to return.

This, though ... still needs quite a bit of TLC.

Best,

Kev-
Click to expand...

Hmmm...that's weird. I don't have any mids boosted on anything. I don't hear what you're hearing at all. But I will re-work this like I was planning on doing anyway. Thanx, man.
 
You're welcome, R.

I've gone onto listening to other material, and nothing has struck me as harsh ... so it doesn't seem to be my "ears" hearing everything harsh this morning.

To be clear, my comments said it sounded like a midrange bump, but that doesn't mean that you've bumped the midrange, only that there's a predominant buildup in that range that needs to be tended to and softened/smoothed out ... so that the freq's above and below can shine through evenly.

Just some food for thought as you continue on the project's mix path.

Best,

Kev-
 
K-dub said:
You're welcome, R.

I've gone onto listening to other material, and nothing has struck me as harsh ... so it doesn't seem to be my "ears" hearing everything harsh this morning.

To be clear, my comments said it sounded like a midrange bump, but that doesn't mean that you've bumped the midrange, only that there's a predominant buildup in that range that needs to be tended to and softened/smoothed out ... so that the freq's above and below can shine through evenly.

Just some food for thought as you continue on the project's mix path.

Best,

Kev-
Click to expand...
It's very much appreciated. I'm going to take another look at this tune from beginning to end. I might have fallen a little into "sub-concious template" mode, where I don't spend enough time mixing for the song, and just sort of EQ certain things the way it always "seems to work". I don't know, but it seems to need work and more attention to detail. Thanx alot, K.
 
I want to thank everyone for telling it like it is. I don't post tunes here to get a pat on the back, I do it to share, but also to get better.

I think I fell into a false sense of security since the last few tunes I posted got really good reviews. So, instead of paying attention to detail, I must have got lazy and figured "how bad could this or that setting be?". It's a lesson in paying attention to detail every step of the way.

I just erased half the guitar tracks and some vocals, and will re-build this tune with extreme care in everything I do.

Thanx alot, guys! I was getting lazy without realizing it. I needed a good ass-kicking.
 
Same thing happens to me, Rami. It's a constant caution. The minute we think we've dialed in a formula, is the second we've wandered astray.

I fight my laziness ALL the time.

Kev-
 
RAMI said:
I want to thank everyone for telling it like it is. I don't post tunes here to get a pat on the back, I do it to share, but also to get better.

I think I fell into a false sense of security since the last few tunes I posted got really good reviews. So, instead of paying attention to detail, I must have got lazy and figured "how bad could this or that setting be?". It's a lesson in paying attention to detail every step of the way.

I just erased half the guitar tracks and some vocals, and will re-build this tune with extreme care in everything I do.

Thanx alot, guys! I was getting lazy without realizing it. I needed a good ass-kicking.
Click to expand...

What's funny though is that a sub-par Rami effort still sounds pretty fucking good, so don't change too much. ;)
 
Greg_L said:
What's funny though is that a sub-par Rami effort still sounds pretty fucking good, so don't change too much. ;)
Click to expand...

hehe...thanx man.:cool:

I took the tune down, so the link won't work. I was going to close the thread, but I have a question:

When you guys line up your drum tracks, do you move the snare towards the overheads, or the overheads towards the snare????
 
When I do it - which isn't always - I move the overheads to line up closer to the snare. My own reasoning is this: the snare mic is much closer to the sound source than the O/H's are, so I feel that the snare mic is like ground-zero and the overheads should be lined up to that. The shift is so minimal though, that I don't think it really matters which way you go.
 
Greg_L said:
When I do it - which isn't always - I move the overheads to line up closer to the snare. My own reasoning is this: the snare mic is much closer to the sound source than the O/H's are, so I feel that the snare mic is like ground-zero and the overheads should be lined up to that. The shift is so minimal though, that I don't think it really matters which way you go.
Click to expand...

Cool. Makes sense. I've done it occasionally, but can't remember how I did it. Thanx.
 
Sorry I'm so late, but I wanna hear it too! The link takes me to a 404 error--with no download. :(
 
WhiteStrat said:
Sorry I'm so late, but I wanna hear it too! The link takes me to a 404 error--with no download. :(
Click to expand...

Sorry buddy. I took it down. You didn't miss much. It's a potentially good tune, but the recording of it was a lazy rush job and it showed. I'll re-post it when I re-do it.
 
RAMI said:
Sorry buddy. I took it down. You didn't miss much. It's a potentially good tune, but the recording of it was a lazy rush job and it showed. I'll re-post it when I re-do it.
Click to expand...

Oh sure...fine...I'll just deal with pain--the pain of not knowing; the pain of wondering what could have been...

(And I'll send you the therapy bills!)
 
WhiteStrat said:
Oh sure...fine...I'll just deal with pain--the pain of not knowing; the pain of wondering what could have been...

(And I'll send you the therapy bills!)
Click to expand...

Believe me, you would have needed a lot more therapy if you heard it. I've already scarred for life about 10 people in this thread.:eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top