first time recording an other band - help with the mix please

L

Laynestaley

Newbie Shmewbie
A friend of mine is in a good rockband. They recorded a demo a in a studio, paid a lot of money for it, but the quality was pretty poor so they weren't happy with it. Now they wanna do it themselves so I offered my help, I actually have never worked with someone else's stuff.
They brought me the tracks they made themselves using a roland 8-track recorder. Drums were recorded with only 2 mics, one for the kick and the other one for the rest. I was surprised of the quality they got.
It's a five man band; bass, 2 guitars, drums, keyboards and vocals. They are experienced musicians.
I'm looking for any help with this mix. Thanks.

The song is called 'Drooling'.
http://users.skynet.be/fa260404/Koen/
 
Nice song, reminds me a lot of The Smiths. Everything sounds like it was recorded and mixed pretty well. The only thing that sticks out to me is the bass, which seems a little overbearing at times. It's possible that's just because of my crappy computer speakers though, so don't just take my word for it.
 
Took a listen through my nearfields....

Nice song!

Like the drums sound.

Main thing: kick and bass seem to be dueling a bit. Try shelving off the bass or kick (not both!) a bit around 80-100Hz and see if that helps.

Minor quibble 1: a bit of pitchiness on the vocals, especially towards the end of a note. It made the singer sound bored. A bit more support could add a lot of fire and passion to the song.

Minor quibble 2: Is the lead guitarist shy? I can understand wanting a good take, but these guys are tracking themselves, and a few muffed leads aren't going to cost anything. Tell him don't be so dang conservative! Let it rip!
 
i agree with moonrider about the lead... there is potential for sme good riffs in this song.

got to be honest, i don't like the voclas much, didn't sound like he hit the right notes very often, sounds like somebody on karyoke after a few brews. good recording and mixing though
 
I'd agree with the comments about the vocal. It sounds like stylized boredom (can't be bothered to hit the notes on pitch, too much ennui).

The drums sound very good to me, but the crash cymbals don't. I don't think there's anything you can do about that - he/she just needs different cymbals.

Enjoyable listen though.
 
You will want to rip open the stereo field with that bass guitar. You could set up a real nice stage with these tracks. Try just experimenting with a multiband eq, but dont overdo. If you want to get really picky, you could use antares auto tune on a few of the vocalists notes ones you bring up the presence a bit. The lead guitar would work a bit better if brought the lead guitar up a bit, in the 1:50 section. But cut a bit of the high end, since its quite crunchy sounding already. The drums sound neat, its gives a dirty sound, I like it. You are definitely going to want to try eq the cymbals, the sound a little muddy on the crashes sometimes.The bass is a little overwheaming sometimes, but then again, thats bein kind picky. I'd like to direct you to blue bear sound's Mixing 101 page:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/bvaleria/bluebear/articles/mixing101.htm

This will probably help you experiment a bit with multiband eq. Its tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you can make most tracks sound pretty decent, providing they were recorded decently to begin with. Good luck.
 
I have to say, I am strangely drawn to this song. I like it. Can't say why. I guess it doesn't matter.

Only nitpick was the singer trailing off the end of the line. He was kind of hitting the wrong note or sharp/flat.

Oh and the splash cymbal was pretty grating.
 
overall nice...

but I believe I commented on another of your mixes (Audio Slave)... again IMO the kit lacks definition... sounds muffled... definitely needs some space and imaging... kit is too much up the middle (mono)
 
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