Demo mixing advice

V

VotaIdiota

New member
Hello everyone. If you had the time, I would appreciate it if you guys went to www.nowhereradio.com/stereobrother and checked out my very, VERY rough mix of "out to sea".
you guys might remember the original of that quite a while back, and over christmas we re-recorded it. Now, a few notes that I am already aware of, so I don't get five thousand posts mentioning it:
#1) Yes, I realize the drums are compressed to FUCK. I have no excuse, other than we had just got actual compressors (RNC) and said "HEY!! LET'S TURN EVERYTHING ON FULL BLAST!"
thankfully, we've learned our lessons on THAT one.
#2) I'm at college, and my only stereo in my dorm room is a Bose. :eek:
#3) I "mastered" it myself, so that's obviously going to not be preferrable.
Okay, fire away, please.
 
Sounds OK to me....except that the vox gets lost in the guitar riffs....I guess it depends on what you want to accentuate...the vox or the guitars...bass sounds a little muddy too..I like the effects on the guit...clean and crisp...
But...I aint no expert...that's for sure...
 
Hey,

It sounds like the song is built around the drums and lead riff of the git. The vox hangs in there as best it can when things get full. Maybe try some comp on the vox track and decide what the song is all about, i.e. what do you want to stand out and be the focus. If the focus of your choice is the D track and lead git, then I'd say you're really close. Find a home (without cranking every track to the max) for the rest of it. If you're intent was to focus on another aspect, or have a more dominant vox/melody thang going on, then I'd say let the D track sit back a lot more and mix around it without such an "in your face" attitude from the D and git track.
Hope this helps,

Peace,
Theron.
 
hey guys, thanks a lot.
as I said, this was just like a demo (and a pretty bad one at that) that we did over christmas cause we had just gotten a bunch of new toys and wanted to try them out...
unfortunately, in our excitement we ended up cranking EVERYTHING and as a result, the drums and guitar are at one volume and STAY there.
I was just messing around with the various tracks the other day and decided to make a rough mix and see how it went....
we'll probably record again in a few months, and we've learned a SHITLOAD about what to do (and more importantly, what NOT to do) so that should be a ton better...
by the way, what do you guys think of the song itself?
 
You already know, too much compression on the drums. The vocal is getting lost (maybe thats where your compressor could come in handy). The guitar sound is very good. Good start though.
 
thanks for the reply track rat.
this is the response I seem to be getting overall:
vox are getting lost, need more compression.
guitar sounds good.

Personally, I'm not entirely sure of the guitar sound. I think it mainly has to do with it being a bitch to get my amp to sound good at a decent level. I need to just go buy a Champ already.
Plus, it's the C1 on the amp. I don't know, there's just something about the SM57 that I always end up wanting to come back to.
 
Also keep in mind guys, that the songs we recorded over christmas (including this one) are in no way intended for release to anyone. We messed 'em all up real bad, so I'm not putting TOO much time into the mixing or anything.
 
Probably because 57s just plain old work. Although now I'm on a 4033 kick for amp mic-ing.
 
Track Rat said:
Probably because 57s just plain old work. Although now I'm on a 4033 kick for amp mic-ing.
Click to expand...

I think the main problem is when you use the same mic for a lot of prominent things....

I.E. C1 for drum overhead, vox, AND all guitars.
 
VotaIdiota said:
bruce, did you get to check it out yet?
Click to expand...
I just saw your reply (about where the track is now - so I just finished checking it out...)


I like the guitar riff - kinda catchy!

Sonically, there are a few problems...

The guitar and vocals fight almost all the way thru the song... and especially at the end where you're kinda building up the mix... I think you need more clearly delineate your track's frequency range...

I suggest getting the vocal right into the drum/bass rhythm beds, THEN bringing in the guitars so that you've already established your vocal "space".

The bass - I would have like to hear a rounder, yet more clearly-defined tone... right now it's a bit muddy and inarticulate. Punching-it-up a bit to match the guitar riff a bit more would give more impact, IMO.

Can I suggest a less abrupt ending too - it would have been cool to do the pause, then come in for another cycle and THEN end it...

Anyways - good effort - cool tune - work out the mixing issues and it'll be fine!

Good luck...

Bruce
 
Hey, thanks a ton for the reply bruce!

All your suggestions are duly noted, and it seems you went a little easy on me! :D

I just wanted to see what people thought of a very rough mixing thing.... I haven't really eq'd anything yet, which is probably why the bass is so muddy. But next time around, when we actually get serious about the recording and actually know what we're doing (thankfully, we do now), we will definitely remember all those little things you mentioned.
What exactly do you mean about the ending, by the way? Like, the pause and what not??

Thanks again.
 
VotaIdiota,
heh, pretty cool... kinda reminded me a little of Shudder To Think (Dischord days). I like the trashy snare sound, very "present."

I like the unrefined sound, i grow sooo tired the aniseptic gleemingly clean sound major labels/studios pump out one after another. This recording has character.

I would agree with the vocals... don't be affraid :)

Keep up the good work
 
hey minusone, thanks for the kind words.

that is actually kind of an older song of ours, it's been around for a while.
it's funny that you mention bands it reminds you of, because I can never come up with a description of our sound... I mean, it's certainly nothing original, it's just tough for me to say "well, we take this from so-and-so, but sometimes we're like this....."

actually, I think that recording is a little too glossy, but in all the wrong ways.... I'm surprised no one has mentioned how "close-miced" everything sounds..... cause it was.

that's what you have to do when you have four days to record some songs in a beat up rental house with horrible, HORRIBLE acoustics.....

I'll try and do a remix of the song this weekend, and see what you guys think then.
 
VotaIdiota said:


actually, I think that recording is a little too glossy, but in all the wrong ways.... I'm surprised no one has mentioned how "close-miced" everything sounds..... cause it was.

that's what you have to do when you have four days to record some songs in a beat up rental house with horrible, HORRIBLE acoustics.....

I'll try and do a remix of the song this weekend, and see what you guys think then.
Click to expand...

Votaldiota,
your welcome for the kind words :)

I did notice the "closed-mic'd" quality, but couldn't put my finger on it... but hey... i liked it. i dunno, I like offbeat, non-standard techniques and generally enjoy recordings that were done using the "shoot from the hip" perspective. I try to do that, but it always ends up sounding like crap.

Remixing would be cool... maybe changing the compression on the drums... letting them breathe a little more... but i like it as it is... but that's me.
 
Sadly, I can't change the compression on the drums, as we tracked with it.... I know, I know, dumb mistake, but you learn quickly from those things...... Also, I don't think we paid any attention to the attack or release on the drums, which probably makes them sound even MORE squashed. :eek:

But that's why there's a next time, right?
:D
 
I like this song a lot, actually. I also was pleasantly surprised to see someone on this board with influences like Death Cab....cool.

My critiques....for what they're worth:

There is something in the drums I don't like....something in the mids...could also use a "bigger" kick sound. The bad thing about this critique is there is also something I dig about the drums at the same time....edgy and wierd kinda thing....I'm useless, I know!!

As Bruce noted the bass NEEDS definition.

Cool stuff, though!



heylow
 
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