Mixing gone wrong?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ManInMotion711
  • Start date Start date
What kind of mic are you using? Also, I think the fact that you're using a distortion plugin has something to do with the fact that there's no bass on the song. Are you able to use distortion on your amp at all? I think that would be a better idea.
 
I agree that it's important to know how the song was tracked, but in this case, I think it's safe to say the problem is post tracking. Every element has the same thin, strident sound--whether it was tracked with a mic, or triggered with midi. That suggests something in the mixing/monitoring chain.
 
I'm suspecting some sort of weird filter on the master channel.
 
I was using my AT2021 about an inch away from the amp of center of the speaker and the only thing I have on the master track is a slight delay I believe
 
I just put this in Cubase, and placed a 24 db reduction at 3.6k with the widest Q. It was almost tolerable.

You must have some incredibly 'over' boosted eq going on in the upper midrange. The low end info was there, just completely buried with the upper midrange boost.
 
My advice would be EQ those guitars. Find the most offensive frequency and cut it. Get some bass in the mix.
 
It's not just the guitars man. It sounds like there is a huge boost on the master bus. The drums are also whacked with upper midrange.
 
If you only have laptop speakers to mix on don't bother mixing. They don't have enough bass response . You aren't going to be able to hear what you're supposed to be eqing. It would be like trying to paint while wearing 2 pairs of sunglasses. If you're going to have access to something better to mix on soon, just wait. The song isn't going anywhere and you'll be able to do a much better job when you have something better and anything will be better than laptop speakers.
 
You're not a drummer, are you? Take the drum track first. If it is stereo tune out those highs, pull them way back. My guess is you mixed this all at once and your ears were fried for the highs so you overcompensated. Look at the eq on those tracks. My guess is you'll see you turned the highs up. either your speakers are weak in the high frequencies or you tried to make the drum track punchy and it overdid the hi-hats. If the drums are on separate tracks, pitch the hats down until they don't wipe out all that great guitar work in the intro. Why did you take out the bass? When was the last time you heard a band like this play without a bass? My guess is it was the bass line, not the sound. Rethink that decision and either bring in a bass player and let them come up with a good bass line or work until you get something that works. On first blanch I would say just pump the bass on the low root note. Good luck.
Rod Norman
 
I like the music, but of course I agree with the others here mixwise. One question seems to have been overlooked: What kind of headphones are you mixing on? I have been struggling and done the same thing you're doing, fighting with the EQ making the mix sound worse than ever. I think, in my case at least, it has to do with the gradual nature of EQ'ing, you listen to the mix over and over again so many times you stop noticing how bad it sounds. Try leaving the mix for a week or something like that, and listen to it again. I'm sure you are getting obsessed with this bordering to madness like I did :D I'm still not much of a mixer myself but I know this from experience: Let it go for a while and come back to it!
 
Hope we hear back from the OP. I would like to know what he figured out....
 
so i recently got my hands on a decent pair of noise cancelling headphones and holy crap what a difference, i think ive got a decent comprehension on where i screwed up and how to fix it
 
Back
Top