Help with an alternative/punk rock rough mix

[Slimjim5792]

Hey all, I'm very new recording, especially mixing. I'm recording a friend's band as a favor to them and so I can have someone friendly to serve as my guinea pig. I've been trying to research and read up on basic mixing principles and have attempted them with this song. Currently I'm at a very rough stage of mix with the song (you'll hear the beginning and end of the song hasn't even been properly cropped yet), but I would like some help to see if I'm atleast headed in the right direction with this mix before I move on. I'd love to get some input from more experienced ears/minds on how my current mix is to not only help the mix but also so I can do some valuable learning, as I have an inkling that I've probably missed some important steps and made some "duh" mistakes. You won't hurt my feelings, I promise, I'm assuming I've basically mixed a train wreck and anything better than that would be a pleasant surprise. To my ears it sounds muddy, small, and the vocals sound plastered on.

If it helps: I'm recording with reaper through a MOTU 896mkiii interface with a mixture of SM57's, Oktava MK319 LDCs, Oktava MK012 SDCs, and an AKG D112.

The drums were done with 8 mics.

The bass guitar is a mix of DI and 2 mics on an amp.

The guitar is 2 mics on an amp.

Thanks so much for any input!



Additional question: is posting the clip to soundcloud a good way to host it for use on this thread? Or is there a better option? Thanks!

 

[JimmyS1969]

Right off, it seems like you may be clipping some of the drum inputs. It is hard to say where this is actually happening, without seeing your setup. Do you have some extreme high end EQ going on on the overhead mics?

The snare seems in desperate need of tuning, but this is just my opinion. If this is the sound the band/you are going for, then maybe I am out of line in commenting.

I would also suggest staying away from reverb on the guitars. Hell, stay away from reverb as much as possible when starting out. A common mistake is to use it to make things smooth out. It don't work. I was guilty myself many moons ago...

Describe what the room you are recording in is like. That will help to give some insight.

 

[ultrasound]

i really like your song

im not any kind of expert in this but what i noticed was the the cymbals seem to be too trebly and loud.

 

[Slimjim5792]

Right off, it seems like you may be clipping some of the drum inputs. It is hard to say where this is actually happening, without seeing your setup. Do you have some extreme high end EQ going on on the overhead mics?

The snare seems in desperate need of tuning, but this is just my opinion. If this is the sound the band/you are going for, then maybe I am out of line in commenting.

I would also suggest staying away from reverb on the guitars. Hell, stay away from reverb as much as possible when starting out. A common mistake is to use it to make things smooth out. It don't work. I was guilty myself many moons ago...

Describe what the room you are recording in is like. That will help to give some insight.

Thanks for you help! The drum overheads both have a high pass at 100HZ, a -6db cut at around 485HZ, and a 3.5db high shelf beginning at around 4000 HZ. I have each of the 8 drum tracks compressed and limited and then I have a compressor/limiter also set up on the drum bus. I don't get any clipping indicators on them, but I could be missing something. What would you suggest?

The drum tuning is one element that I wish we spent more time doing prior to tracking. We did tune them, but I am far from an expert on that subject and the drummer is only a 17 year old kid, he's also rather inexperienced with drum tuning. Unfortunately, the drummer for my band was unavailable that day as he would have surely caught that early. However, the band and the drummer were all quite happy with the drum sounds, so that might be what they are going for. Being a punk rock band they do sometimes enjoy that sort of trashy, garage, beat to hell sound (you should see the drummer's kit, it looks like its seen war).

For the reverb, was there any spot in particular that sounded like it could use it removed or do you mean in general across the song remove it? I only ask because the clean guitar in the little bridge/interlude towards the end of the song has a boat load of reverb on it compared to the rest of the parts in the song in attempt to create an effect (which very well may sound terrible).

The recording room is a large 1st story room in a very old house. The room is about 32 ft. x 17 ft. with a 9.5 ft. ceiling. I'm not sure if any of this helps, but the walls are thick (3 layers of brick think for the 3 exterior walls) and there are 5 old style pane glass windows in the room. It has 2 doorways leading to a hallway which are both on the 1 interior wall about 12 feet apart from each other (this room used to be 2 adjacent rooms but the center wall separating the two rooms was knocked out long before I moved here). I live way out in a rural area so environment noise is pretty low except for the chirping of birds outside. No traffic, no neighbors, etc. I have not yet done any sound treatment on my room, that will be my next project once I recoup some funds after buying all of the other studio gear.

Thank you as well Ultrasound for your observation. I've been trying to mix this in a variety of different ways (using my studio monitors, using my studio headphones, and also using some cheap earbuds) I also noticed how harsh the cymbals were after I switched from my studio headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M50) to just some regular cheap earbud style headphones. I think I'll try to fix that with some EQ adjustment (maybe lower the 4000HZ high shelf on the overheads down a db or two).

 

[VomitHatSteve]

+1 on the drums clipping, especially the kick.

Your vocal FX could use some work. It kind of sounds like the singer is in a small can. Try a few different reverbs and see what helps. He's also a bit pitchy throughout.

Good guitars shouldn't require any reverb at all. They tend to have full enough tone with just double-tracking that reverb just makes it muddy.

 

[JG96]

Kick sounds like it is ducking the other tracks. Not really a fan of the snare sound either its really boxy. It may be time for some drumagog. I cant hear the bass well. Bring it up! Also having only one guitar panned to the side seems strange to me. Maybe double track the part. As you said the vocals don't seem to blend with the track too well. Maybe try a short delay and some reverb to push it back in the track.