Anyone have an ear for punk rock mixing ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter adamdrastic1
  • Start date Start date
A

adamdrastic1

New member
Hi guys,

Although I've been mixing friends' bands for a few years, I've finally upgraded to a decent set of studio monitors… the Yamaha HS50M represents a huge upgrade from the $80 headphones I had previously been mixing with. All of a sudden everything makes more sense : )

If anyone would like to offer any constructive (or otherwise) criticisms on this mix of a Taiwanese punk rock band, please give 'er.

I recorded it last minute, with no monitors… not even the crappy mixing headphones. As such, I had to work with less-than-awesome drum tracks (couldn't properly evaluate mic placement). And a fairly sloppy guitar player.

Anyways, please, teach me. I'm a musician myself with a chromatically good ear, and a bit of musical sense.
 

Attachments

Refreshing!

To much reverb on the vocals for me, it doesn't sit with the rest of the music which is very dry. I think the vocals could be lowered in the mix too. Its a bit SLF (no bad thing)!
 
Sounds like they are going for a Screeching Weasel sound. I would recommend listening to Screeching Weasel's My Brain Hurts and How to Make Enemies and Irritate People to get a good point of reference on how you should be mixing it and what it should end up sounding like.
 
thanks beatlebum !


DogmaticVox… I've been listening to them for years. What do I need to listen to specifically ?




thx
 
dont have a clue about punk just had to here a Taiwanese version!


didnt sound half bad for what you described..too much reverb on lead vocals, too much volume on backing vocals...missing a bit of low end over the whole track, maybe its meant to?


not a bad job in my non punk opinion :)
 
adamdrastic1 said:
thanks beatlebum !


DogmaticVox… I've been listening to them for years. What do I need to listen to specifically ?
Click to expand...

Awesome. IMO those are their two best sounding records and sound a lot like this band's style. So I would listen to the mix on the SW records and the tone of the guitars, etc. and shoot for that with this band. I'm pretty sure if you do that they will be more than pleased.
 
This isn't really punk as I know it ( yeah, I'm THAT old) - sounds more like the fast section of US cartoonskapunk 90's stuff to me.The Pistols & Damned had a really good recorded sound based on quite a few guitar tracks.
The bass hasn't enough bottom end - it sounds cheap with all the bottom filtered out & no definition in the top either.
Is it in mono? It sounded mono.
The single DING enhanced the cartoonness.
There's no snap in the snare, nor any boof in the bass drum.
The vocals sound OK but are WAY too loud & reverbed- he needs to sound like part of the band rather than a Karaoke punk.
Is the song original? It sounds like the ska punk song about suicide that was popular a few years back.
Can you get them to record some more, replace the guitar & drums etc?
If you want to do a good mix you'll need to capture a good performance well.
Oh, it's also a very small file - it may be that the mp3 conversion is a bit heavy handed and hasn't done the track any favours. Is it 192 or 320?
 
Last edited:
The bass needs a lot more bottom end. It sounds really midrange-y. Maybe throw a touch of some overdrive on it.

Like somebody else said, sounds mono. The guitar could use a bit more spread to fill out the stereo field.

I dig the drum sound, but the kick could use a bit more attack.

Agreed on the vocals, need to be a bit more intimate, less reverb.
 
It's been a while…

Hey everyone,

thanks very much for your feedback. I got really busy at school and work, and didn't get around to fixing this until now.

Please have another listen if you dare…

As for the bass, I've pulled out a bunch of mids around 500, and boosted around 100-200. Also increased OD amount.
For the kick drum, I simply applied a second compressor with immediate attack and 10 ms release, to try and bring more attack out. Is this a legitimate method, or is it against all of humanity ?
I've applied Stereo Spread (logic plug-in) to the guitar, which really seems to have settled the guitar into its space (IMnoviceO), once i got the settings right. I think this plugin is probably a cheap shortcut way for adding stereo spread, but I'm impressed. THis allowed me to bring the guit down in the overall mix.
Slight Stereo Spread for vocals as well.


All comments are much appreciated !!
peace


rayc, thanks, that is detailed !!!
unfortunately, I'm back in Canada now, so there is no option of (me personally) re-tracking anything. :(
by bass drum boof are you referring to attack, or 'body', or… ?
What frequency would you recommend boosting for some top end clarity in the bass ?
 
Last edited:
How bout a new link? I don't know anything about punk rock, but I'll give it a try.
 
oops

Upload is failing repeatedly on a 3.3 mb file… trying later.

[/URL]
 
Last edited:
I think you need to double track the guitars. The single track doesn't sound wide enough. The mix is alright. The drums could be compressed a bit more. That chord progression...

[video=youtube;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I]video[/video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I

:p
 
:mad:
there, had to set permission to public, i think it should work. :drunk:
 
K so,

three listens. Not bad getting better.

Solo at the end is way too loud.

Vocals cut through a bit better.

Guits could still be panned a bit more.

Bass sounds dead. I can't feel it. And i'm not a huge fan of that pongy sound in my punk rock. Slap and twang yes, pong, no.

Very screehing weaselish. Not bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top