I need some serious help on this mix

K

Kronpox

New member
http://media.putfile.com/The-Masters-Apprentices-demo

This is the first four minutes or so of The Master's Apprentices, by Opeth. The drums and bass are MIDI (When I record the final version, I'll have DKFH drums and real bass), and the guitar parts were recorded on my BC Rich NJ Neckthru Warlock with Dimarzio pickups, through a Randall RG75 SS combo. I used a Shure SM57 and another mic that I'm not sure of the name of into a Behringer UB1002 mixer and into the soundcard. I recorded 4 tracks of guitar, panned them 75/75 and 25/25. I added some post-recording EQing in Cool Edit Pro 2.0.

I'm really trying to get more a more professional sound- I know the first step is a gear upgrade, but until then, is there anything anyone can suggest to help my mixes sound better?
 
The recording in its current state is by no means BAD. I'm not familiar with the original (which is odd since I like heavy prog stuff, just haven't had time to check out Opeth yet :( ). I know what sort of sound you're looking for though, and can probably help a little... BTW, you don't need the best gear in the world to make a solid recording. I'm proof of that. lol I have a comparable setup to yours, and knowing how to use the software and effects in post production is going to be the key (assuming you have a decent recording of the instrument to work with).

Don't be afraid to compress the guitars a tad more, but before compressing you should get the tone you want (EQ'ing after you compresss may overdrive the track). I definitely think you could use a little more bass on the guitars. Maybe try 3+db bumps at 100, 150, and 250 hz. See if that separates them a little more, then compress them (try different levels of compression to see what works). Compression is the key to getting that 'in your face' tone you want. Sonic Foundry's basic compressor works fine for my uses. I think I'm still stuck on soundforge 5. But don't fix what aint broke! :p

Anyway, the drums seem washed out. The kick could use more definition, both in more low end thump and some percussive hit. Bump that 6db at 50hz, 300 hz, and 1khz to see if it sounds better. I think they're electronic drums (correct?), in which case you're going to be slightly limited depending on how they're tracked (adjusting the EQ across the entire set of drum sounds will cause other elemtns like toms and snare to change). I'm new to electronic drumming but have a good pair of vdrums I've been using a lot in my last recordings. They're more flexible than people give credit.

The bass seems to fade in and out, unsure if that's intentional. To keep a solid groove you can't have an instrument present only to disappear. That bass sound/feel needs to ride in the pocket the entire time. Obviously, during changes and melodic runs that rule is null and void, but it wasn't during changes I noticed this. The heavy bass sound works though.

The vocals need to be doubled and panned to give a false chorus effect and better presence. They sound fine otherwise and should fit in the final mix well.
 
wow, thanks for the detailed response.

I've tried compression distorted rhythm tracks before, but it ended up sounding pretty bad. However, this was before I really started to get into tweaking compression (I just used presets), so I'll try it again.

Yeah, the drums are programmed MIDI from Guitar Pro 4 (Not exactly the best software for realistic drum/bass sounds...). I know they sound terrible, but I use them for a lot of my songs, so thanks for suggesting how to make them sound better. I've really got to get DKFH up and running...

Oh, and, you haven't lived until you've checked out Opeth!
 
For the sake of asking, Pinky (or anyone else) do you have any recommended settings for compression on the rhythm guitar tracks for me to start off at? I know about attack and release and what everything does, but I'm unsure of where to start off on ratio and the frequency range. Thanks for helping a newb out.
 
I've been using the ratio presets in my compression software for ages. The larger the ratio the more compression. I haven't needed to get so fine that I had to do any other tweaking. I'm not an effects guru. :(

As for the tonetest, it still sounds like the guitars are lacking bass. Are you using heavy gauge strings? What sort of pickups? It may be a gear issue if you want that real monster sound. I'm fine with medium gauge strings for my rock style, but for heavier and thicker metal (without sounding mushy) you'll want some legitimately heavy strings.
 
I used to use heavy guage strings, but I recently tuned the guitar I'm using (w/ Dimarzio X2N + Air Norton pickups) to standard (from C), and I just got a pack of 10s to throw on while it's in this tuning. My amp's pretty bad, AND it's solid-state, which is probably a lot of my problem. I'm also using built-in mic pres in my Behringer mixer, which are also pretty bad...

So I know where most of my problem lies, I guess I'm just looking for ways around it while I scrounge up enough dollars to fix that problem.
 
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