First Mix Pass Home Recording New Order style song

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brotman

Member
Hey guys.

I just did a first pass mix on a song my band recorded ourselves, and I was wondering if anyone would like to give me some feedback. I would really appreciate any advice.

Some things that are probably pertinent:

Recorded at our practice space. Drums used OTRF and close mic on kick, snare, under snare.

The kick mic recording probably wasn't the best sound. I went for a higher-end smack sound, pulling out 1-4 gently in a lot of the guitars and synths. Id be satisfied as long as the kick remains audible throughout the song. I also used a lot of compression on the guitars with a side chain to just the first impact of the kick to try and keep it the kick cutting through throughout the song. Just a few milliseconds, I hope its not even really noticeable.

No automation just yet, but I don't think there will be a whole lot of it overall

Used Age of Consent as the main mix reference. I'm not going for a super modern sound, but I'd like the mix to sound basically decent.

Any comments would be helpful!

Here's the super secret link:

https://soundcloud.com/thestammer/low-001/s-10yhp
 
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Overall I think the mix is strong. My only suggestions:

The kick needs more low end.
The drums sound dry, need a little (more?) reverb.
Vocals have a little too much reverb/delay, but the effect does give them a unique quality and maybe that's what you were looking for.
The right ear synth just feels out of place. It's a moody/atmospheric patch, I'd expect it to fill the stereo field on both sides as an accompanying instrument. The way it's mixed here it plays too large a role for its limited contribution to the song. This may also be intentional, as I can understand people wanting synths more present in their music. This is just my take.
 
Pinky said:
Overall I think the mix is strong. My only suggestions:

The kick needs more low end.
The drums sound dry, need a little (more?) reverb.
Vocals have a little too much reverb/delay, but the effect does give them a unique quality and maybe that's what you were looking for.
The right ear synth just feels out of place. It's a moody/atmospheric patch, I'd expect it to fill the stereo field on both sides as an accompanying instrument. The way it's mixed here it plays too large a role for its limited contribution to the song. This may also be intentional, as I can understand people wanting synths more present in their music. This is just my take.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yes, I agree about the drums. I am struggling with the low end of the kick, I will try out Logics subBas and see if that adds anything. I will feel OK with this mix as long as the kick is basically audible, however, I screwed up with the mic placement. I will definitely add more verb to the overall drums, and I will rework the vocals, although I think it should have a slightly over the top quality to the verb. That is interesting about the synth patch, I might try a stereo spreader, definitely will try a reverb send on it to at least get it to the left speaker, maybe wash it out a bit. That is a good idea.

Thanks again! I really appreciate it.
 
brotman said:
Thanks! Yes, I agree about the drums. I am struggling with the low end of the kick, I will try out Logics subBas and see if that adds anything. I will feel OK with this mix as long as the kick is basically audible, however, I screwed up with the mic placement. I will definitely add more verb to the overall drums, and I will rework the vocals, although I think it should have a slightly over the top quality to the verb. That is interesting about the synth patch, I might try a stereo spreader, definitely will try a reverb send on it to at least get it to the left speaker, maybe wash it out a bit. That is a good idea.

Thanks again! I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Hey man - I am a huge New Order fan and bought Power Corruption and Lies on Vinyl when it came out (dating myself:-). Overall you captured a good sound. Few thoughts:

1. I think the verb level on the vocal is totally appropriate to the genre, wouldn't change anything
2. At first I was thinking there was an area where the vocals went way pitchy, but really can't say too much about that after a refresher course on Age of Consent
3. The synth wash on the right - I think adding some verb and panning the return left would be cool. I would *not* spread the patch over the whole field, cause I like it right where it is
4. The drums are bothering me - the kick as you mentioned - but I think it needs some 'click', the snare just seems too out there. The dry doesn't bother me because that is typical of their early stuff
5. Just about every New Order song has a driving guitar, baritone guitar, or upper register bass figure that repeats and pushes the song forward. You have a nice guitar figure, but it is intermittent. Not saying you want to 'mimic' them, but the driving force seems to be missing
6. The little drum stop/stutter is a one trick pony, and it gets used too much. Once or twice would be cool, but in my opinion it just happens to often

Overall the mix sounds pretty good on my setup, and I listen to a lot of this type of music, and even make some myself :-)O

Chuck



Chuck
 
thanks!

chuckduffy said:
Hey man - I am a huge New Order fan and bought Power Corruption and Lies on Vinyl when it came out (dating myself:-). Overall you captured a good sound. Few thoughts:

1. I think the verb level on the vocal is totally appropriate to the genre, wouldn't change anything
2. At first I was thinking there was an area where the vocals went way pitchy, but really can't say too much about that after a refresher course on Age of Consent
3. The synth wash on the right - I think adding some verb and panning the return left would be cool. I would *not* spread the patch over the whole field, cause I like it right where it is
4. The drums are bothering me - the kick as you mentioned - but I think it needs some 'click', the snare just seems too out there. The dry doesn't bother me because that is typical of their early stuff
5. Just about every New Order song has a driving guitar, baritone guitar, or upper register bass figure that repeats and pushes the song forward. You have a nice guitar figure, but it is intermittent. Not saying you want to 'mimic' them, but the driving force seems to be missing
6. The little drum stop/stutter is a one trick pony, and it gets used too much. Once or twice would be cool, but in my opinion it just happens to often

Overall the mix sounds pretty good on my setup, and I listen to a lot of this type of music, and even make some myself :-)O

Chuck



Chuck
Click to expand...

Hey Chuck,

Thanks, yes I came to the same conclusion with the synth very quickly. I just did a reverb send to get a little bit of it on the left speaker for better blending. I also added just a very very slight, short, realistic "room" reverb send for the drums and some instruments, just to get it a little more blended together, hopefully.

I appreciate the song arrangement advice but unfortunately it's too far along in this song to really change it now. I guess this song isn't really trying to be too dance-y, it sort of plods along, for better or for worse. But I will definitely keep it in mind when working on future stuff.

I have another song that will hopefully mixed by the end of the weekend, I hope I can get a take on it from you, you seem to like the same stuff I like.
 
I thought this sounded pretty good in general.

I'd brighten up the snare a bit. Hopefully it'd cut through a little better.

I thought the kick had the right amount of low end energy. I thought the bass was a little too strong in the low end tho.

Kind of weird that the vocal had so much reverb and the drums sounded real dry. But it kind of worked for me.

I thought there were a couple of pitchy notes. It sounded like the synth on the right side was out of tune too - at least a note or two here and there. Not sure how that happens. Maybe it's my ears.
 
Hi, i really like new order (for me it's one my favourit bands where lyrics and instrumental make a really nice combination) and think you've made a very nice song.
I'm listening with common headphones on laptop so i may say something wrong, anyway :
- i'd give a litttle more punch to the kick
- snare could be brighter and needs some wetness.
- The whole drumkit could be more tight and wet.
- I think there is too much bassy and low mid frequencies on the guitars specially the one from the left side (maybe applying a high pass filter)
- I think the synth sound is too much panned on right side. Another layer of synth on left side or a synth reverb sent and blend little with an octave up would create more atmosphere.
- The bass sounds nice, mybe i'd add it a small bit of chorus.
- For me the vocals sounds fine.
- The hats are too much centered. I'd give a little "stereo feel" to the hats.
Well that's just my opinion and it's always a matter of taste but nice work overall.
Best regards.
 
Thanks! I addressed most of this stuff in the final mix. I will focus on making a brighter snare next time, does that usually mean EQing away some of the lower mids? I used a slight overdrive send on this one with a high setting to add some higher harmonics but I guess it wasn't enough.

What does it mean for vocals to be pitchy? Just out of tune? Or weak? I will try and focus on this in the future, I need to get more experience with singing.

Thank you for all of the criticism, I really appreciate the time you guys took for feedback.
 
It sounds like a little too much of the low end has been edited out. Could we bring some of that back a bit?

To get a punchier kick, try overlaying various samples. You can use one where you like the low end (low shelve most of the high end out), one where you like the high end (low shelve most of the low end out), and one to give it just a bit of extra sparkle (make this one barely audible).

Since the kick is the skeleton of the song, it's very important that you keep it strong.

JJ.
 
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