Feedback on mixing/mastering for Punk/Pop track

  • Thread starter Thread starter jmstone
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jmstone

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Hi there..

This is my first post, but I found these forums looking for help with mixing and mastering, and I'm impressed with the quality of info here.

I would like to get some feedback on a track I recorded recently. I recorded it all on my Linux box - using hydrogen as drum machine and Ardour 2 as the DAW. I monitored on ATH-M30 headphones. The guitar (an Aria TA50) and bass (a Warwick Streamer LX) were recorded into a SBLive card thru a Behringer V-Amp2 and the vocals through a Behringer minimic 800 and Samson C01. Guitars are 2 takes of rhythm panned hard left/right with some compression. Drums are the whole (mixed) output from Hydrogen with a little EQ (boosting 60Hz by 5dB and 1-4k by 1-2dB) and compression. Bass was EQd to remove the "clacks" and had a little compression. Vocals went thru EQ, compression, valve saturation emulator and plate reverb. Master track had small amount of extra reverb added. I then mastered the track using Jamin - aiming to peak at 0.5 dB with no limiting (although I have very little clue what I'm doing with mastering to be honest!).

There are 3 versions of the track here:

http://drop.io/your_clothes_are_red

"your clothes are red" was the first (rough mix) version. red.mp3 was my first go at improving the sound, but I decided it was too bassy. red2.mp3 is my best mix/master of this to date.

I would really appreciate some thoughts on how I could improve this further.

James
 
i would say the second one is the best out of the three, but it's such a monotonous song. it's the same riff throughout the entire song and the drums do the same thing. it's boring.

eeeesh i hate programmed drums.... (not just your song, but in general ;) )
 
Well, i think that the kick and the bass are fighting some frequencies... I like the guitar tone, sounds very good. The 3rd mix "red" i think that it's too compressed, it lacks of dynamics, and that's kind of important in punk music specially on the bass and drums.

Regards.
 
i would say the second one is the best out of the three, but it's such a monotonous song. it's the same riff throughout the entire song and the drums do the same thing. it's boring.
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Yes. It is a little repetitive I guess. I think the drums need serious reworking.. and maybe a bridge or chorus (although when I was writing it the only things I could think of were seriously hackneyed). Maybe it needs to be shorter.

Well, i think that the kick and the bass are fighting some frequencies... I like the guitar tone, sounds very good. The 3rd mix "red" i think that it's too compressed, it lacks of dynamics, and that's kind of important in punk music specially on the bass and drums.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comments. The second mix (red.mp3) I thought was far too bass heavy. (and I think it's actually got more compression/limiting than red2.mp3) but I take your point on the overall sound - the guitar sounded a bit too bland on red.mp3 as well - do you agree?

How would I go about separating the bass and kick in the mix?

James
 
2nd mix is the best, although none of them are any good. Go back to square one. Your biggest problem is probably mixing through headphones. The bass is too loud and too muddy. It's murdering the kick drum.
 
Greg_L said:
2nd mix is the best, although none of them are any good. Go back to square one. Your biggest problem is probably mixing through headphones. The bass is too loud and too muddy. It's murdering the kick drum.
Click to expand...

Cool. Thanks for your comments. You have to realise I am a complete beginner at this! I will have to look into getting some semi-decent monitors.

Do you think the problem is at the tracking stage, or do I just need to turn the bass down in the mix, and compress it less? Would it help by emphasising different frequencies on EQ for the bass and kick?

Oh.. and is it more usual to EQ before or after compression?

James
 
jmstone said:
Cool. Thanks for your comments. You have to realise I am a complete beginner at this! I will have to look into getting some semi-decent monitors.

Do you think the problem is at the tracking stage, or do I just need to turn the bass down in the mix, and compress it less? Would it help by emphasising different frequencies on EQ for the bass and kick?

Oh.. and is it more usual to EQ before or after compression?

James
Click to expand...

I think that it's entirely possible you may need to just retrack everything. Forget about compression for now. Work on your source sounds and maybe some EQ with the kick and bass. They use up a lot of bottom end. In my experience, I've found that a good sounding kick or bass will need little to no low end EQ enhancement. They're naturally low end instruments. Boosting low frequencies usually ends up bad. If it were me, I'd probably lower and high-pass the bass to about 350hz and wide EQ scoop the kick from 250-500 and see if the kick shows up. If it does, you're on the right track and can fine tune from there.

And if you just have to use that compressor, I'd say EQ before compression.
 
jmstone said:
Thanks for your comments. The second mix (red.mp3) I thought was far too bass heavy. (and I think it's actually got more compression/limiting than red2.mp3) but I take your point on the overall sound - the guitar sounded a bit too bland on red.mp3 as well - do you agree?

How would I go about separating the bass and kick in the mix?

James
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree... the guitars a too softs. To separate the kick from the bass you have to take away the frequencies that are shared. Use an Spectrum Analyzer to "see" the similar frequencies, and then start playing with them until you hear the bass and kick clear. There are tons of manuals on the internet about kick and bass sharing frequencies... so go and take a look...

And by some monitors.

Good luck
 
ugh, i don't like this dude. the sound is annoying - in terms of mixing and the song is way too repetitive. i can't seem to enjoy it (with the way it was mixed and constructed). the content has potential, but the way your idea came to life was not the best. i got a headache listening to the song.. not because the content is bad (because it has potential), but the mixing sounds all cluttered if that makes any sense. the rhythm is annoying, and it plays through the entire song. some cuts, adding extra rhythms or synths after 4 bars, removing/adding certain sounds after a while .. would have spiced it up.

can't give you in depth mixing suggestions right now cause i'm on my macbook. good luck. keep at it.
 
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