Classic Hard Rock Band - Need Mix Help

Mix 7 does sound better. The bass needs to come up a little and it needs some eq. I'd boost 80-200 as a starting point. A little more click or just general definition from the kick might be nice, and there's probably some low-mid you can cut.

This mix needs some space, a reverb that's not blatant but ties it all together. Set the decay to complement the rhythm. Make it sound like almost like a really good live soundboard recording.

For panned guitar like that I've used just the "early reflection" section of a reverb, put it on an effects channel and panned it to the opposite side.
 
ibleedburgundy said:
Yup. At some point I may add tidbits with pads or minor guitar harmonies, probably not on this song though.

It was cool to just be able to go around setting levels without actually playing. It helped me dial in some of my gear. And I'm learning a lot.
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That sounds like fun. I'd love to do something like that. Recording guitars is the thing I can say I do pretty well, better than most. It would be a good learning experience to tackle a full band project. Listen, if there were serious performance problems and even tuning problems (which I did not notice) then you just have to be frank with them. Hopefully they take it as an opportunity to learn as well. But this is not a bad recording by any means. The ones to come will be even better.
 
Ok, I just listened to mix 7, and toggled back to 6 a few times for reference. Drying things up a bit helped a lot imo. Even though I dug the guitar sounds in mix 6, it does sound tighter now, which in turn has that effect on the whole track. Vocal lost that piercing quality I think. Bass guitar is more audible now, but I'd still like to hear it come up more myself. I think you're heading in the right direction, but will leave you in the more capable hands of others offering fine tuning ideas.

I've never recorded or mixed other people's work. Could be fun. I bet it's easier to make objective decisions. Hope you're enjoying it.

Love that over the top wah part!
 
Robus said:
That sounds like fun. I'd love to do something like that. Recording guitars is the thing I can say I do pretty well, better than most. It would be a good learning experience to tackle a full band project. Listen, if there were serious performance problems and even tuning problems (which I did not notice) then you just have to be frank with them. Hopefully they take it as an opportunity to learn as well. But this is not a bad recording by any means. The ones to come will be even better.
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I told them to tune a few times and they did every time I asked. Some of these issues got by me. I was sitting in the room with them because I only have 1 room. So monitoring on HD280s during live performance while dialing in compression and levels, I missed some things.

Agree about being frank though. If any musician can't take it, they need a different hobby lol.
 
Robus said:
The vocalist is pitchy here and there, for example that descending line that starts around 1:45 and repeats a short time later. It's not bad, and maybe even adds the the live feeling that I'm getting overall from this track. Personally, I would probably tidy that up unless the singer has a problem with tuning.
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Yeah she won't mind. She knows she does that - we've talked about it. She has a rock scream from hell though.

Now I just need to google how the heck to do that.
 
Maybe an enhancer, like the BBE Sonic Maxiniser, can extrapolate some bottom end for the bass.
The bass just sounds gimmicky or worse.
 
Some Saturation and Transient work will help a lot,,, this needs punch, not volume,,, keep the low's centered
Compression could still be done on some parts, maybe a bit on everything,,, but watch how the compressor is reacting with the low end ;)
Try putting a reverb (highpass/lowpass) on the opposite sides of the instrument,,,

Keep the Bass centered, and if you want it to one side, bus it there and automate,,,

Maybe tune the drums (if your DAW can do that),,, or sample them, or added samples to them,,, Transient compression, or compression and transient shaping will help,,, Not sure how good the OH tracks came out, and if they are left and right tracks,, but maybe start the drum buss with those, trying to make them sound the best they can, and the other drum tracks bring them in a bit,,, Might be a lot of EQ low and high pass needed, maybe even some EQ notching..

Careful on the Parallel bussing,, sometimes it can cause the opposite effect of what your going for,,, might be a simple high pass on the parallel bus that would help,,,

I don't think I'd tune her vocal much, to me it's not that kind of song... But some thickening would be a good idea... and parallel some saturation in, and some places could use a bit more than others, and see what delay works better, might be good to sync with the tempo...
hmm is this tempo mapped ? that could help too,,, just a place or two I heard something in the drums,,,

Automation is the best thing a vocal can have, and to the snare, say in the chorus,,,

Use the same verb thing on her vocal, as I mentioned about guitars, but, instead of opposite side of instrument, bus it wide, not to one side since it is centered ;)

Now all that said, I haven't heard the tracks individually(would love to mix this !!!) and I'm not a mix god, lol,,, Don't know what DAW or plugins you have,,,
I'm sure your wanting that heavy, punchy, full sounding radio ready mix,,, so don't worry about volume so much,,,
Good song, almost reminded me of Halestorm !!! Lzzy has some pipes,, lol,,, I'd try to push her by backing of her vocal, so she felt she had to push more, lol,,, might work, might not, lol, still good vocal though ;)
Haven't heard this song before, is it a cover or original,,,

I hope your having a blast with this, I'm thinking you are !!! and doon't take a thing I said personal, your doing great !!!
 
Little throne squeak @0.45! I like that stuff personally.

I think the biggest issue here is the bass. If there was any way of getting the bassist back in there to redo, it would totally be worth it. Kind of sounds like he's playing through a small combo and slashing with a pick to be heard.

The singer does indeed have some pipes.. big improvement in vocal piercing between 6 and 7, probably from ditching the limiter. Are you going to re-smashter it eventually?
 
Robus said:
Do you have Melodyne? If you want, I could give her a quick tuneup for you.
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I don't have melodyne. I have whatever comes with logic. There is a pitch correction plug but I don't know how to use it.

I'll take you up on that. Do you just need the raw vocal track?
 
fat_fleet said:
Little throne squeak @0.45! I like that stuff personally.

I think the biggest issue here is the bass. If there was any way of getting the bassist back in there to redo, it would totally be worth it. Kind of sounds like he's playing through a small combo and slashing with a pick to be heard.

The singer does indeed have some pipes.. big improvement in vocal piercing between 6 and 7, probably from ditching the limiter. Are you going to re-smashter it eventually?
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That's actually the bass player hitting his pedals at :45. I could have easily edited it out but I thought it was a cool touch too. The new mix ought to have more bass. Give it a listen please.

I'm open to trying anything with the vocals. I'm new to vocal processing, so new techniques are being explored every day.
 
Yep, mix 8 definitely sounds more full. Ah, you did the dreaded split/pan thing to the bass. It's seems to help, but I'd narrow their image if it isn't already.. the spread seems a little wide. Did you add some limiting back since mix 7?
 
Not sure how I missed this up until now. I listened to mix 8. Mix 8? Good God man. :D

Love the energy and I love the song.

I like the guitar sound. It's a cool part too. It's just a tiny bit fizzy. I might notch out somewhere in the 5K - 6K range.

The vocal sound is good. Singer has a cool voice. Doubling the vocal in the chorus would be cool. It's also noticeably dryer than the rest of the tracks. I liked it that way, but I'm not sure it's what the band would want.

I thought the kick, tom, and cymbals sounds were good. Snare is a little dull.

The synth stuff was really creative and cool.

I think my biggest complaint is on the bass. It is kind of flat and lifeless. There's not much umph to it.
 
I didn't realize you had a new mix up. Listening to mix 8. Best mix so far. Nice thickness to the guitars and bass. Toms seem a little loud in the chorus. There's an odd noise at 1:57.
 
fat_fleet said:
Yep, mix 8 definitely sounds more full. Ah, you did the dreaded split/pan thing to the bass. It's seems to help, but I'd narrow their image if it isn't already.. the spread seems a little wide. Did you add some limiting back since mix 7?
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Haha yes the old dreaded split pan. I know that technique is frowned upon but I think it helped in this case. I'll try less widening on bass. They are 100% panned right now.

I did not add limiting from mix 7 to 8, and the limiting I do have is only on individual drum tracks and it only engages a few times in the entire song.
 
TripleM said:
Not sure how I missed this up until now. I listened to mix 8. Mix 8? Good God man. :D
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lol. There is a good reason for this! We recorded 8 tracks. I am really taking the time to dial this one in, and then I am saving those channel strip settings and applying them to the other 7 tracks and using that as my baseline for mixing all 8 tunes.

TripleM said:
Love the energy and I love the song.

I like the guitar sound. It's a cool part too. It's just a tiny bit fizzy. I might notch out somewhere in the 5K - 6K range.

The vocal sound is good. Singer has a cool voice. Doubling the vocal in the chorus would be cool. It's also noticeably dryer than the rest of the tracks. I liked it that way, but I'm not sure it's what the band would want.

I thought the kick, tom, and cymbals sounds were good. Snare is a little dull.

The synth stuff was really creative and cool.

I think my biggest complaint is on the bass. It is kind of flat and lifeless. There's not much umph to it.
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Actually the bass is the synth - pedals. He's doing it all. And yeah, I worked it over a lot and there is just nothing to be had down in the bass frequencies. I might talk to the guy about his sound.
 
Robus said:
I didn't realize you had a new mix up. Listening to mix 8. Best mix so far. Nice thickness to the guitars and bass. Toms seem a little loud in the chorus. There's an odd noise at 1:57.
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Thanks. Mix 9 will have the vocals you processed. It really helps.

I knew the toms were on the fringe of too much. I like what he's doing though. I'll dial them back a touch for mix 9, maybe even with automation only in the chorus.
 
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