Can I Recover from this Mixing Disaster???

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themilstead

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Hey, all...

I play live with my church college group's band, and this past week our sound guy recorded our set. The problem is, he recorded everything directly to ONE track, and when we all reviewed it later, the mix had been rather massacred (that's the last time we'll let him record, lol).

Here's a 320kbps MP3:


I've been messing around with it on Cakewalk Sonar, but to no REAL avail. It just sounds barely better with layering different EQ adjustments. So, my real question is...given it's too late to go back and alter the original mix, what's the most I can do for it now? Or better yet, can someone do the best they think they can with it, and let me know the steps they took?

Thanks so much!
Michael
 
Yup

This is God's way of telling you you need to suffer into humility
 
northsiderap said:
This is God's way of telling you you need to suffer into humility
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Don't listen to this guy. He's yet to contribute something useful to this sight. As far as your song's concerned besides some eq and possible compression to smooth everything over there isn't a whole lot you can really do.
 
Well this is almost a mono mix. That does limit your options. And I don't think Autotune is gonna be able to get at the vocal.

That said, a bit of stereo expansion does wonders. Try a bass cut or tame it with a multiband. De-ess, centered on 4.5kHz, that helps that annoying crash cymbal too. A bit of 1.5kHz brings out the distorted guitar and snare. Trim the low mids a hair, it is awfully crowded in there. Try to get those vocal peaks down (you should really look into getting a compressor in your rig for vocals).
 
themilstead said:
Hey, all...

I play live with my church college group's band, and this past week our sound guy recorded our set. The problem is, he recorded everything directly to ONE track, and when we all reviewed it later, the mix had been rather massacred (that's the last time we'll let him record, lol).

Here's a 320kbps MP3:


I've been messing around with it on Cakewalk Sonar, but to no REAL avail. It just sounds barely better with layering different EQ adjustments. So, my real question is...given it's too late to go back and alter the original mix, what's the most I can do for it now? Or better yet, can someone do the best they think they can with it, and let me know the steps they took?

Thanks so much!
Michael
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Was he trying to mix for the live sound while "recording" at the same time? I mean, isn't the live sound more important? If this is a "off the board" recording, then of course the mix will be really off. Mixing for the room is VERY different than mixing for tape! It is also almost impossible to try to mix for tape while you are in the same room with the live instruments.

Go easy. He did the best he could under difficult circumstances. It appears that you possibly had WAY too high of expections for this recording. considering the way it is done!

There is NOTHING to can really do for this recording. A little EQ, a tad of compression, but neither is going to improve the mix much.

Tell the guitar player to learn how to tune! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Sounds like a compressor is in order for the lead vocals in the live situation.

If the console has an extra Aux Send, I would try using that to feed the recording device. This way, you can adjust levels independent from the live mix. It will take a bit to figure out how to adjust everything to mix right. Even with headphones, the live sound will still bleed through the headphone and make it diffucult for the soundman to adjust proper levels for the recording.

Did I mention yet that I loath "praise" music? :( Sappy, sad crap!!! If god gives all the power, and this music is for him, why is it SO mediocre? ;)
 
Ford Van said:
Did I mention yet that I loath "praise" music? :( Sappy, sad crap!!! If god gives all the power, and this music is for him, why is it SO mediocre? ;)
Click to expand...

God's in the cathedral with the big pipe organ, listening to Bach ;)
 
Hey Milstead...
I'm afraid that you are pretty much stuck with the mix you have. Next time, do some experimentation with the gear before you record. Do you have a multichannel recording device? What about the mixer? Does it have direct out's on the channels?? How many buses?? etc. You're just getting started and will have a lot more opportunities to record, and hopefully , once you know your gear better, you will get better results.

Oh yeah, ignore people like FordVan, who will inapropriately slam your music based on their personal opinions. He's been around a while and should know that this thread is supposed to be about mixing , not a venue for displaying his musical preferences.


chazba
 
chazba said:
Hey Milstead...


Oh yeah, ignore people like FordVan, who will inapropriately slam your music based on their personal opinions. He's been around a while and should know that this thread is supposed to be about mixing , not a venue for displaying his musical preferences.


chazba
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Must be another one of God's mediocre musicians! :rolleyes: If you bothered to read the REST of what I said, you will see that I actually gave him some very good advice.

But I DO hate praise music. It is no wonder is has NO secular appeal.
 
Well, to be quite honest with you...I somewhat agree with Ford Van. Although it's not right to make personal attacks in a thread like this one, he does raise the good point that worship music is mediocre. I've never been very happy with the genre, myself. The problem with Christian music in general is that when a formula initially works, it's dragged out for YEARS as if there's no other musical option. That's why I listen to the small selection of up and coming worship bands that you can't really tell aren't "secular" if you take out the lyrics (yes, these bands do exist). Being a musician, it's my belief that the musical aspect of both the Christian and secular sides should show no differences, and a good number of the bands I listen to are indeed secular because of this. So, yeah. You're not the only one that has a problem with Christian music. I don't decide the music we play on Wednesday nights, and I'm certainly NOT saying I hate it all, but there are some elements that I would change if I had the power to do so. But, hey...if I ever lead in the future, I'm definitely taking the opportunity!

//rant

On topic here, I have previously tried different EQ setups with some decent results. I'll also try some of the suggestions made here. Thanks so much for your input (those who did help)! I kinda knew it was mostly a lost cause, but I figured there just had to be something I wasn't thinking of before. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and the acoustic guitarist did tune up, but she forgot to change her strings before we played, so the intonation was horrible (they were really old).
 
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chazba said:
Hey Milstead...
I'm afraid that you are pretty much stuck with the mix you have. Next time, do some experimentation with the gear before you record. Do you have a multichannel recording device? What about the mixer? Does it have direct out's on the channels?? How many buses?? etc. You're just getting started and will have a lot more opportunities to record, and hopefully , once you know your gear better, you will get better results.
Click to expand...
Actually, it's not the first time we've recorded...we're not so new to this. But it's the first time our particular sound guy for the night had recorded us, so we'll have to clue him in on a few things. I personally am not sure about our exact setup since I don't directly handle it...I'd have to check on that for you. I want to say it's not multichannel...Not that we don't have those capabilities (our church has a studio), but the current building we have our college services in only goes out to a CD recorder, I think. Again, I'd have to check, lol. But we've had great recordings come from the mixes there before, so we know it's just him, lol. :p
 
themilstead said:
Actually, it's not the first time we've recorded...we're not so new to this. But it's the first time our particular sound guy for the night had recorded us, so we'll have to clue him in on a few things. I personally am not sure about our exact setup since I don't directly handle it...I'd have to check on that for you. I want to say it's not multichannel...Not that we don't have those capabilities (our church has a studio), but the current building we have our college services in only goes out to a CD recorder, I think. Again, I'd have to check, lol. But we've had great recordings come from the mixes there before, so we know it's just him, lol. :p
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Well if you just have stereo, then at least make sure you are set up to use both channels. Pan the instruments around, leave the vocal in the center (bass too). That increases your options in post-processing.
 
mshilarious said:
Well if you just have stereo, then at least make sure you are set up to use both channels. Pan the instruments around, leave the vocal in the center (bass too). That increases your options in post-processing.
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Right. It's not that we're inexperienced at this (believe me, we're detail FREAKS when it comes to our mix), but it was just that one particular guy who didn't seem to be paying attention that night. Our drummer recorded the band that played for the youth service before us, and...geez. He can do some great things with music.
 
Sorry...I didn't pick up that you were laying it all on the soundguy. A good one is a great asset to any performer/presenter. A bad one can trash the best band going.
How 'bout if we continue the discussion about praise music on the Songwriting BBS. Those who just want to bash it are welcome and free to participate, of course.

chazba
 
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