Mix in Progress

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BassyBassyBass

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Here's my mix of a cheesy metal song I'm working on. Please note, the "vocal hole" between the two solos is intended for some vox that have not been recorded yet.

http://joshbass.com/ChemicalFire.mp3


(it gave me an "upload failed" message when I tried to upload it directly to the forum. . .I thought 10 MB was now the limit --this one's 6.5 MB) This is a link from my own site.

Song was discussed in this thread:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=313537

WARNING: I don't know what levels you guys are used to, but this is normalized to whatever logic express 8 defaults to (-3? 0?) so adjust your speakers/ears/volume levels accordingly. I don't want to kill anyone.
 
Hi, I was following the thread about mixing your vocal and it being masked by other instruments, it seems ok here but to be honest that's not the problem. The backing is all ok at least there's nothing glaring (although I am listening on headphones) but the singing needs some work. It to me (this is just my opinion and I think honest advice is the most helpful) sounds a bit 'put on' like it's not your 'true voice'. It's in tune as far as I can tell but has a kind of 'angry toddler' feel to it, sorry I just don't know how else to describe it. It sounds quite tense aswell maybe relaxing your throat might help.
 
Hi guys.

"It's in tune as far as I can tell"

This is the sweetest thing I've ever heard about my vox. Take that dad!

Anyway, tongue in cheek, yes. Bad vocals, yes. Put on? Yes. Straining? Absolutely. If I sing in my "true" voice I'm like a 30 year old Justin Bieber or something. There's maybe an "A" somewhere I can actually hit, but other than that, no. I need that straining etc. to get any "grit" in there at all. Even getting these vox took literally probably 50 takes. I will work on the mic technique for next time, however. What with the the turning and the tilting on the consonants and such.

This whole thing is a hobby, not for commercial purposes, and as such I realize my voice blows donkeys and I'm cool with that.

What I'd like to know is, how do I make my donkey-blown vox cut better? Or do they already?

Also, how's the rest of the mix?

I'm monitoring in an untreated room, save for some egg crate/mattress covers that cover the two walls in the corner of the room where I mix and where my computer area is shoved into. Using Behringer Truth 2031a's, set up in the perfect triangle configuration, about 5' apart.

Thanks!
 
lmfao!!!!!

This might be the funniest song in the world..its perfect dont touch a thing!
 
Glad you like the humor. But is the mix really as good as it could be? I still have one more part to add, a vocal bit that someone else has to record, then I'll post the "final mix".
 
The guitars and bass sound real nice! But I think like others have said, when the singing starts it's like WOW where did that come from!

The background vocals are a real nice touch and I also think you should leave it the way it is!
 
I made the mistake of reading the comments before listening. Because of that, I expected the vocals to be REALLY bad. Turns out that, yes, they're a little strained and sound a little "parody-ish", but they weren't anywhere near as bad as I expected. Again, my expectations for suckage were very high, so I don't mean that the other guys are wrong in their critiques.

Besides that, I wouldn't change much. It sounds pretty good. Kik sounds good, guitars might be a little sizzly, but I'm no expert on guitar sounds. I have enough trouble just being able to tell when I get a good or bad guitar sound.

Cool and funny tune.
 
Thanks. I'll put the extra vocal bit in and repost when it's done.
 
I didnt think the mix sounded bad....not sure on the novelty aspect but theres some good clarity there
 
ok ok..for real...

bus your your drums into an aux stereo track and compress them a bit..they pop out sometimes in a bad way...also take some time to eq some low into your guitars..they're crispy thin....bass is non-descript define or turn it up more.....vox are good really...they are the reason the song even makes sense so make sure they are karaoke loud :)
 
Interesting. Of all the problems I thought of, never thought of the drums. Is there a particular unit that pops in particular? -- I took the trouble of putting each one on its own midi track so I could treat them differently.

And I'm also wondering how this could be since they're all identical MIDI samples, and should therefore all have the same volume/charateristics (I don't think I used automation on any drums).

I thinned the guitars (hi pass with sharp cut off around 200, several other parametric dips at various freqs) to make room for Bass, kick, and to further help with non-interference with vox. Guess I went too far.

I'll see what I can do with the bass. Thanks.
 
About that. . .are they problematic everywhere? Or is there a certain place you really hear them poking out? The end is where I start to hear it. I ask because it's hard to tell if my compression is doing what it's supposed to to fix this if I don't know what I'm listening for.
 
I think one reason why the drums pop out for you is because they're panned to wide. Especially the cymbals and hats. Also the guitar is center channel...maybe? Anyway, you might want to double track that guitar and panned them hard left and right. Or however wide you want them to be. The guitar track also sounds a little dull brighten it up a bit with some eq.
 
Ok. . .I thought some things (like those drums) were good to pan wide 'cause of separation?

Anyway, yes, crash (I think it's the crash anyway. . .I'm a guitarist who picked up bass two years ago and sings terribly. . .not a drummer at all) is panned full left, hi hat full right. I found advice and pictures of a typical kit setup online somewhere and panned according to those.

Guitars are actually double tracked, one panned 70% right, the other equally left. I had them all the way out there on each side, but to me it sounded too "textural. . ." you could hear the guitars scratching at your ears, but couldn't really make out what they were "saying". . .the melody/notes that well, so I moved them in.

PS my panning is based on logic's weird 64 units of pan measurement. I'm assuming 64 in either direction is full left or right, depending on the side, and that therefore 32 would be halfway, etc.

Oh yeah, and I've been meaning to ask. . .what's the minimum percentage of panning separation where the ear can actually tell a difference and feel "this thing is in a different space then that thing"? 10%? 5%? 1%? In other words, if I have an instrument at 10% right and 20%. . .do they sound separate? 10% and 15%? 10 and 11%?
 
The guitars and bass sound great. What are you using to record them?
 
Thanks.

Guitar was sm57 6 inches from the grill, pointed at a point halfway between center of speaker and edge of cone, using a Fender Deville 21. Guitar is run through a POD X3 for distortion, on a modified "welcome to the jungle" preset (comes with presets for all kinds of things).

Lead was, I think, the unmodified welcome to the jungle preset, mic 3 inches from cab.

Bass run through POD directly into apogee duet, on a preset from the previous owner. Added a little distortion in Logic Express 8.
 
Ok. . .my bad.

Crash was actually 50/-64 or 78% left, not full. Hi hat was full right. I moved it a little.

So do we not want anything full left/right ever? Or generally ever?
 
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