First time recording / mixing a whole band - any advice? soundclick included

braden_

braden_

New member
Okay so this is the first time I've ever tracked and recorded a whole band (my band - figured it'd be the best place to start). Anyway here's what I used:

DAW: Windows 7, Presonus Inspire
Drums: Glynn Johns method with 2 AT4041sp's
Guitars and bass: amplitube 2 (considered cheating? probably, but it sounds pretty good)
Vocals were done with a sm58 and a double pop filter.

Any advice you guys can give me on mixing? I've boosted the lows on the drums a bit to bring out the kick a bit more and also played with EQ on the guitars and bass. The vocals I used a condenser and a bit of reverb.

pretty sure everything was recorded like 2db too loud.. there's a little bit of clipping i think. it hits the red sometimes. =(

here's the link, if you guys have time to listen and give some thoughts:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=1083387&songID=9352671

thanks!
 
PS: there is an "f bomb" in the song towards the end if anyone has a problem with that.....
 
Daily: The bass sounds too hollow. Add some low-mids. Good guitar tone tone. These vocals could use some more compression. They would sound much more in your face. There are some parts of the vocals where they are double tracked. They sound like they aren't aggressive enough.

The Gambler: The vocals need some high frequencies. Snare doesn't pop enough. Maybe cut some mids and boost the volume.

Kubrick's Vision: Cool song. The vox are a bit quiet.

Conspiring to Incite: Again the vocals are a bit quiet. The snare sounds distant. The kick is a bit too scooped and clicky.

Pure: Same kick problem.

Dissonance Training: Sounds like it's just a demo, so I won't comment.


Great job for first time. A little bit of tweaking here and there, but that's to be expected.

:D
 
I had to listen to it pretty low, my son is about to fall asleep, but I really liked it. I'll give it another listen later on and try to give some criticism. Very At the Drive-in esque. I dig it.
 
Not bad.

Pros: Guitar tones are good.

In betweens: Vocals still sound far away. Take advantage of the proximity effect.

Cons: Snare is panned too far left.


Did you compress the final song?
 
It sounds pretty good. I enjoyed the vocal performance. Guitars sound good. You've got everything in its place, nothing odd or out of balance. I love symmetry, so that's important to me.

I'm not hearing so much of the bass or kick. They're there, just not upfront like they should be for this song. Cymbals are kind of harsh. Makes me think your mixing room is not treated to tame the low end. Your monitoring environment is important.

Good song, though. Way cool!!
 
I'm glad to hear the guitar tones are good... makes me feel like it's okay to use amplitube if the results are good. =)

chili, about the bass and kick, i agree. the bass i can play with a bit, but there are some spots where i think if i brought it out more it'd be too much. not sure. definitely do need to play with it some more. about the kick drum... not much i can do =(. only used 2 mics cos that's all i have on my interface. thought about micing his whole kit and then bouncing down from the mixer to the inspire but then thought i might get screwed with having something not be how i want it that way either and not being able to do anything about it.

squibble, do you have any more specific suggestions i could do with the vocals? i want to redo them with a condenser... i think i'd like them better. and i did not compress the whole song, is that something i should always do? the snare should be in the center of the mix... i'll listen again. i did pan the two mics on the drums but they both pointed straight at the snare and i was pretty careful about matching distances and levels on them ( i used the "glyn johns" method).

thanks for listening and responding guys... and for the praise on the song! that's always good to hear, too.
 
From the very beginning, this song's drums have problems. Not too terrible for your first time recording a full band, but you've really got to work on your drums.

The snare has no attitude at all. It's just ... flat. The kick is all but non-existent. Gotta give it some presence.

Your drums are also leaning very heavily to the left.

It's also necessary to make sure your drum kit is in tune. If the drums aren't tuned, then it's almost impossible to make them sound good. Your drummer doesn't suck, but the kit's sound needs a lot of work.

I like the bass tone. Nice, crunchy and full.

Keep workin' on it!
 
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