Melodic/Post hardcore help

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ahfsam

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Hi this is my first post hoping you guys can give me some advice. I'm mixing this little outro/short song for a friends band and would really appreciate some advice. Not sure what genre you'd really class it but they call is melodic/post hardcore so will stick with that.

I've only just started mixing it and it's a very rough first mix which i have done purely to give the band something to listen back to.

Having recorded it and then spent a few hours mixing it, i'm sure my ears would have tired and when i listen back tomorrow i will be appalled but none the less advice would really help for what to tinker with next.

Firstly, the recording is all multi-tracked and i have the following channels:
Drums
Kick In
Kick Out
Snare Top
Snare Bottom
Rack Tom
Floor Tom
Overhead Left
Overhead Right
Room Mic
Strings
Bass DI Clean
Bass Amp Clean
Bass DI Distortion
Bass Amp Distortion
Delay Guitar Clean
Guitar Dist
Guitar Dist double track
Lead Dist Delay Guitar
Vocals
Main Vocals
Double Track Vocals
Backing Vocals 1
Backing Vocals 2
Backing Vocals 3

So Issues i am aware of firstly the band insisted on recording guitars already with delays and reverb on instead of dry signals, slight issue is the first guitar you can hear delayed fret buzz which i really doubt i can mask in anyway.
Secondly the Floor tom sounds hideous had a really awful boing(best way i can describe it) around 200Hz and my the only way i can hide it has resulted in the tom sounding really damped and dull.
Thirdly i'm not a fan of the distorted bass but it's what the band were looking for and they seem happy enough with it.
Finally the last two back vocal tracks are intentionally low in the mix as they weren't too keen on the sound (vocalist voice not recording) and asked me to keep them low in the mix so can only hear a little amount.

As for my mixing i think the overheads sound really harsh? could this be down to poor use of compression? or purely poor recording technique? i've also feel having listened back that maybe the whole track has too much low end.

The whole track seems quite flat and dull to me. I'm sure when i listen to it back tomorrow with fresh ears i will dislike the mix even more but what do you guys think? How do you feel i could improve the mix? It's worth mentioning i'm not after feedback on the song structure purely the mixing side of things, i am also very aware that i am no expert any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sam

Oh also if i have posted this in the wrong place i apologise, a i mentioned before this is my first post.
 
I agree that the song has a tad too much low end, and I'd say the clean guitars need to be made brighter, at the moment they lack clarity, and while I understand you want the delayed reverby sound, giving some more in terms of the high end would greatly help.

One major issue I find is that the distorted guitars are rather low in the mix, you might want to consider bringing them up, one of the problems you stated was that it felt dull and flat, bringing up the distorted guitars could certainly help with that, because at the moment, the track doesn't really change in terms of dynamics, stays very much the same throughout in terms of dynamics. It's also hard to critique how you have mixed the distorted guitars in terms of tone because they are so low in the mix.

The vocals lack presence at the moment, it sounds less like someone is performing in front of me and more like I'm hearing it from the room nextdoor, perhaps try working on their EQ some more, you've compressed them well though, they are certainly consistant, just in need of a tonal change.

Personally I feel like everything could do with a little work, though you've done a great job so far, it just needs more polish. May I ask what processing you have performed on the drums? They sound rather raw at the moment.
 
my recommendation for the mix is as follows:

the vocals could do with a slight boost and some automation to keep them more in control and more in your face, despite what the singer says they need to be more forward.

the guitars need some of the bass removed and a boost in the high mids somewhere around 3k,

the bass guitar could do with less sub bass and more low mids but keep the edgy distorted sound, that's nice and long as you don't go overboard with making it cut through.

the drums are a little muddy in places, cut out some of the lows using high pass filtering and it will clean up, and try cutting a little 8-12k in the overheads to remove that harshness, instead of boosting there try boosting at 16k or above, it will sound far smoother without the same harshness.

the other thing is lack of reverb and delay on the vocals and snare, overall it's a little dry and that makes it lack depth

just some thoughts, hope that helps.

Ben.
 
Cheers for the advice guys The only processing i have done of the drums is some compression and EQ and a very small amount of reverb, is there anything else you'd think could help? I've done a second mix now and feel a lot happier, still not quite there but much better. I've attempted adding more presence to the vocals which i think brings them out of the mix better ( i still need to automate the vocals as a few little inconsistencies) i've also added more reverb than i had initially to give it more depth like you mentioned, may have gone a little far on vocals? but need to listen on some different speakers and see how it sounds.

As for guitars i've cut out some of the low end to try and give a bit more clarity to things. I've bought up the distorted guitars as well do you think they need to be louder still?

Cutting around 9K on the overheads really helped aswell, i'd never really of thought to do it but it does take away some of the harshness.

What do you think of this mix? still not quite there but i think it sounds better than the 1st mix.

Also what are your thoughts on mastering? Everytime we asked about it at college our lectures tried to dodge the question haha, all i was ever really taught was adding some subtle EQ and then using Maxim (i'm using Pro Tools). Have you got any better thoughts on mastering techniques?
 
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