First project after month off of mixing.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ex3vious
  • Start date Start date
I remember your bass thread a couple of months back. You were worried about your bass tone, but actually the problem turned out to be that your guitars were too loud in the mix. I don't hear that problem on this track.

I'd get my rhythm tracks tighter. Sounds like your bass is pushing here and there, and there are some drum and bass notes where the timing is just off. All that unsettles the groove, and groove is what this kind of music is all about. You can fix those issues by editing the tracks and shifting things a little bit one way or the other, but it might be easier just to cut another take. Let your bass sit a tiny bit behind the beat to really get that blues groove going. I have the same trouble. Beyond that, the track sounds okay. The guitars are a bit nondescript. But the more important question is, where are you going with this? If it's to be more than just an exercise, it has to become a song. Get some vocals going and take it from there.
 
Thanks Robus, I will work on getting the bass to sit behind the drums, I may redo the guitars as well
 
nice guitar tones,really like the high gains too when they kick in :D ,have a pure sound about em :)

try sticking the intro left guitar in the middle,then double track the right guitar and pan it left
 
Drums sound good. I think guitars are "too much in your face"...too far forward, or too much presence. Bass gets lost trying to compete with the guitars. You have a good groove going on...just play around with the levels a little.
 
Yeah the guitars are a wee bit loud and are covering up the bass a bit. And the groove comment is spot on - this thing really has a good groove but it slips out of the pocket here and there.
Has potential - I could have listened longer and despite the small nits I enjoyed the feel and the sound.
 
I'm considering re-recording both guitars to try and lock in the rhythm just a bit more
 
#2 sounds good to me, maybe a little muddy down low but I can't say what I'd do to try to fix it. Maybe it's the guitars competing a bit with the bass?
 
Ex3vious said:
I guess that's a good thing, hows the groove?
Click to expand...

That is a good thing. The timing glitches on bass and drums that were disrupting your groove are much less now. I still hear a few--for example, listen to the bass notes at 0:28 and 0:39--hear how they fall a little early?. I'll bet if you zoom in on the wave form, you'll see the note begins ahead of the beat marker. But this definitely grooves better than the previous one.

A lot of blues style tunes have some kind of shuffle going on, even if it's just implicit. It can be subtle. You're playing quarter note patterns on the kick, snare, hats and bass, whereas a shuffle lives on the eight notes. So there is nothing obvious that screams "I'm a shuffle!" But the shuffle is there, implicit. Hear it, and your timing will improve.

Here's where I'm coming from. I've played guitar since I was a kid, and messed around on bass for a long time without really working at it. A bit more than two years ago, I decided to get serious about studying bass. First thing I discovered was that my timing sucked. Timing that may be good enough for guitar is not good enough for bass. I had a habit of playing ahead of the beat that was difficult to break. I've spent the last year working specifically to improve my timing, and have. It's better, but still not great. I continue to work at it. So the advice I'm passing on to you is advice others have given me that has proved helpful.
 
Really good feedback robus. I'm similliar to you. Guitar player for 6 years I only play bass to supplement my guitar recordings. Bass is very different.
 
Fun too, and addictive. These days I pick up the bass more than the guitar.
 
I don't think bass will ever replace guitar for me, guitar is way too much fun.

---------- Update ----------

Hey since we are on the subject of bass what do you think of this track I made about a month ago, I thought the bass was good on this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgdOpRRqfWI
 
It's got a nice groove to it. All the instruments sound good. Bass is pretty much in time. I like it. You should do something with it.
 
Now we're talking! You're playing a shuffle on bass, which fits the natural feel of the song. Feels better, doesn't it?

You're still rushing. Listing to the part that starts about 0:34. Feel how the bass shifts ahead of the beat and messes up your groove? Zoom in on the wave form and you'll see it. It never quite settles down after that, even into the change up. When you go back into the first part around 1:40, you're consistently pushing the beat.

It's it a tough habit to break, but now that you're aware of it you can work at it. What seemed to help me was listening more to the drums. Focus less on what you're playing, and more on what you're hearing. Think of the bass as a kind of extension of the drum kit, and just let your fingers find a place in that groove. (I know you're playing with a pick. Man, you should try finger style. It's massively more fun to feel connected to your bass through the fingertips rather than a piece of plastic!)

Are you monitoring the guitars while you lay down the bass track? If so, don't. Just the bass and drums. It's easier to track bass if you don't have any possible timing mistakes on the guitars messing you up.

Here's another idea if you're trying to get your bass locked in with the drums. On a lot of blues shuffles the drummer will lay back behind the beat on the snare backbeat. It gives the song a kind of swaggering, laid back feel. I try to listen to that snare and cop its timing. That will get you playing behind the beat instead of rushing. Something that's fun is to do an eighth note shuffle on 1 and 3 while the snare lays back on 2 and 4. Like: ba-bom (whack) ba-bom (whack). It's easy to lock in because it's a kind of call-and-response thing, between the bass and snare.
 
didn't read the comments above, sorry if I repeat anything.

the first segment seems very pushed back. sounds a little better when the next rhythm section comes in with the distorted chords. kick is very quiet as well. i was hoping for some solos :0
 
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