Me, the gear, or mastering?

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G-Jay

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I'm mixing my band's album at the moment. I've been mixing for a few years but am still trying to crawl up the learning curve.

I have a mix which I'm pretty happy with. However, comparing it to a commercial track - "Bullet in the Head" - it seems to lack something. I'm a huge fan of Andy Wallace and love how his lows are so tight and the highs are present and glossy but not distracting.

My mix seems a bit 'crunky' in comparison, the highs sound messy and a bit splashy the low is there but lacks a certain oomph.

I know Andy Wallace uses a ton of compression, even on the stereo bus. Is that what I'm lacking? I've tried it before but my mixes sound hollow and queasy even with just a few dbs of reduction on the mix bus.

I find myself wondering is this fault with the mix down to my lack of skill (highly likely), budget gear(MXL and Rode Condenser mics and ultra cheapo preamps), or will mastering make up some of the difference?

The mix is here

http://www.driveway.com/i1t3r8t0b9

and I'd love to know what you guys feel is missing. We will be looking for a mastering engineer - would mastering make a huge difference to this track?

Cheers,

Tony
 
Can anybody help me fellas? I'm kinda losing sight of the forest for the trees on this one.

I know all you guys are busy with your own paid work but any help would be gratefully received.

cheers,

Tony
 
Can anybody help me fellas? I'm kinda losing sight of the forest for the trees on this one.

I know all you guys are busy with your own paid work but any help would be gratefully received.

cheers,

Tony

Fear not, I will check it out this evening. Give me a few hours.
 
G-Jay , I had a listen to your mix. These things stood out for me:

The bass is not clearly distinguishable and level shy.

The guitars could benefit by cutting some of the lows.

Later , if I have time , I may pm you a rough mastering.
 
Turn off the guitar and vocals and get the drums and bass to really kick together. You need more compression on the kick to get it to be more consistent. The attack is only there when he really hits it, which isn't that often.

Once the bass and drums are strong enough to carry the groove of the song, then bring in the rhythm guitars (not the jangly part that starts the song, the bed rhythms). EQ them so that they don't fight with the bass guitar. The lows should come from the bass. Now sink the guitars into the bass and drum track. The main thing that I noticed on your mix is that the guitars are too loud, which made you mix the vocals too loud on top of them.

Now add the jangly guitar that happens in the intro, do the same low end EQ that you did on the other guitars, but you might have to do something different with it in the midrange to distinguish it from the other guitars without having to have it louder.

Set up a few group busses. One for the overheads, another for the drums, another for the guitars, bass, leads, vocal, etc...

Send the appropriate channels to these busses

On the overhead buss, insert an EQ and compressor. (in that order) EQ out the muddy low end (assuming that you close mic'd the toms, if not send these channels to the drum buss) and compress until you get a nice decay on the cymbals.

On the drum buss, add a compressor. Set the compressor so that it pumps in time with the music and gives the kick a good solid thump while giving the snare a good crack.

Bass buss: Compression, just to get it under control and solid.


Re-adjust the mix and add the vocals. (it's easier if you create the group channels first, them start creating the mix)

You might need to go to the guitar buss and EQ out a little 2k to give the vocals some place to sit in the mix.

Compress the vocal buss to give you an even performance.

The idea is to get a solid foundation and then start piecing the mix together like a jigsaw puzzle with every instrument having it's own sonic space to sit in. That way, nothing has to be much louder than anything else to be heard.
 
That is some great advice there. Thanks so much. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to listen and offer your feedback. Mixing is something I desperately want to be good at - so much so that it hurts!

Special thanks to Farview, I'll be using your step by step guide as soon as I finish my 'real' job.

Quick question though... I've never really got to grips with buss compression. When I put it on it seems to kind of dull everything or make it sound hollow... How much gain reduction should I be looking for? Ballpark figure of course.

Thanks again,

Tony
 
Your mix isn't all that bad, actually, especially considering the level of gear you were dealt.

In addition to everything that Farview said, Andy Wallace usually has a very large budget to work with. He can pick whatever room, drum, mic, and pre he wants.... And too often these days, especially with metal bands, all of that is for naught because the drums just end up getting triggered anyways. I bet if you triggered your kick, it will end up sounding much more Wallace-y.

EDIT: Upon further review, it looks like he doesn't do much triggering. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_andy_wallace/
 
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man, that's like the best interview/article EVER...

anyways, you have to realize first that an amateur engineer with amateur gear is NEVER going to be able to compete with the level of an andy wallace mix...and especially not with a masterpiece like the 1st RATM album

as for the buss compression, use whatever you think makes the whole thing sound like a cohesive mix. guys like wallace use that shit for more the effect than they do to get a louder mix...and if you don't like effect it's having, just turn it off
 
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