Five songs...need mixing critique (previous thread got hosed)

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jndietz

The Way It Moves
My previous thread got screwed up somehow, so I reposted.

Hey guys, I'm doing the recording for our EP. I'd like it to sound at least halfway decent so I'm going to run it by you guys... we have probably three more songs to record then we're done (finally).







I think On the Road to Nowhere has some snare issues. I posted that one a while back and I can't remember if I fixed it in my mix or not... anyways, any advise is appreciated. I tried not to sample too many of the drums, so any tips on making stuff sound better in general is appreciated.

THANKS

~jared

PS: I apologize if the site might be slow.
 
Why don't you narrow it down.. and maybe post one song at a time? You might get more people offering comments/thoughts on your mix.

Kind of hard to ask people to take half an hour or more to listen to songs, then write down thoughts/suggestions on them.
 
I listened to false paradise. There are some herky-jerky timing issues. Especially in the beginning. I think it's mainly the drummer.

As far as the mix, the bass is really bottom heavy, and dominating the mix. The kick sounds completely separate from the song. Toms sound very muffled and distant. Guitars are set back too far.

If I crank the volume, the balance is a bit better, but at lower volumes, the mix is way off.

What kind of room are you mixing in? That could be a lot of the problem.
 
NL5 said:
What kind of room are you mixing in? That could be a lot of the problem.
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Here's the room. Its lightly "treated" with some Auralex. Those awkward black circles are where I sit. Also, yeah, our current drummer sucks. We're getting a new one soon...lol.
 

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jndietz said:
Here's the room. Its lightly "treated" with some Auralex. Those awkward black circles are where I sit. Also, yeah, our current drummer sucks. We're getting a new one soon...lol.
Click to expand...

That pic pretty much explains the mix issues. Can you move your desk?
 
I can, but the big space is where I usually do the tracking. I could probably move it though and make it work.

What do you recommend?
 
i heard blind. i really liked it. i don't think the drummer sucks. he's kind of a minimalist, but sometimes that's a good thing. i could hear someone probably play with alot more fills but i wouldn't necessarily say that makes someone a better drummer. good mix, good song i say.
 
i listened to false paradise to compare with what NL5 was talking about. and he's right. blind is mixed better and performed better. there are awkward timing issues in paradise.
 
I don't know what I did different in Blind Design opposed to my other songs. I wish I did. That song always sounded better than the other ones.

Everytime my drummer comes in to record, he's been up all night, drank heavily the night before, or was up all night drinking. I know that when we recorded Blind Design when he first bought his drum set too. Since then, his heads have been trashed and he never changes them...also he doesn't practice outside of band practice so I think his skill is slipping. We recorded the Blind Design drums a long time ago, maybe a year or year and a half.
 
jndietz said:
I can, but the big space is where I usually do the tracking. I could probably move it though and make it work.

What do you recommend?
Click to expand...

I'd get out of that little box and out of the corner. I'd probably go against the left wall, so rear reflections would be the longest. Put your aurelex at the early reflection points.

greyharmonix said:
i heard blind. i really liked it. i don't think the drummer sucks. he's kind of a minimalist, but sometimes that's a good thing. i could hear someone probably play with alot more fills but i wouldn't necessarily say that makes someone a better drummer. good mix, good song i say.
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greyharmonix said:
i listened to false paradise to compare with what NL5 was talking about. and he's right. blind is mixed better and performed better. there are awkward timing issues in paradise.
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Too funny. I went and listened to Blind in between your two posts thinking that maybe I was a bit harsh. Blind is much better performed and mixed. The two songs don't sound like the same band. The main issue with blind is you are still pretty bottom heavy on the bass, and the bass is a bit too loud. Other than that, Blind sounds pretty good.
 
I feel pretty bad because I think a lot of my recorded songs sound pretty bad..... I hope I can salvage it. The timing in all of our songs is completely jacked because our drummer can barely keep a steady beat.
 
i gave everything a listen. It's so weird how blind sounds so tight and everything fits in it's own place mix wise and all the other songs just don't have that quality. every other song there are timing issues and pitch issues and guitar not playing on time issues. NL5 was so right in saying that it sounds like a different band. did you track the other songs before or after blind? if it's after, it's weird i think you might have digressed as a band.
 
I'm guessing I did a terrible job tracking everything on the other songs. Thats too bad. We've spent a long time trying to get this stuff together...very discouraging.

I'm not sure what to do now. I might send you guys the individual tracks sometime and see what can be had of it.
 
I agree, Blind is much better than the rest. The drummer's timing does get a bit shaky here and there, but overall is good. The bassist however, I think that's where the timing issues are coming from.

As for the mixes... you must have a lot of bass trouble from mixing in that corner. It sounds like you're really pumping up some of the mid freq on the bass guitar tracks to make it stand out in the mix. However, its not translating well to my speakers. Have you tried listening to your mixes in a car, on your stereo etc? Any thoughts?
 
Oh..and blind design was (I think) one of the first songs we ever recorded.
 
So are all the songs bad or what? It sounds like all of you are just listening to False Paradise
 
jndietz said:
So are all the songs bad or what? It sounds like all of you are just listening to False Paradise
Click to expand...

Listened to More to you just now. A tiny bit better than False Paradise, but still leagues away from Blind design.
 
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