Mixing Help?!?

[Dracon]

I took a mixing recording class about two years ago. Due to circumstances I have not been able to mix since and in a month or two I'll be able to mix again.

Anyway, what I recall from two years ago is that I did a mix.

(Used a MXL V67G > Mackie 1604 VLZ > Delta 44 > Computer Software )

The sound coming from the Monitors (Mackie) was nice and exactly what I wanted (I have set so that I'm sitting in the sweet spot).

I recorded it to a CD and when I played it in the bedroom stereo it sounded horrible. The Bass was too high, the voice barely audible and the whole thing was just plain bad.

I wish I could tell you what the settings of the Mixer were, but this was over 24 months ago and I have no idea (although pretty sure I didn't change much).

What I recorded was a reading voice and then used music in the background for mood. The music was prerecorded by a professional studio (and it is not the music fault or problem) and it sounds great. The environment I recorded the voice is simply a room in my house which is untreated (carpeting, drywall, and French doors).

now the problem may lie in the fact that the 'recording area' lies in a odd shape place in the room which may amplify the low frequencies. However, I could not hear anything in the vocals to indicate the problem.

The way I mixed it was that I recorded the sound and then ran it through the mixer to what I wanted (soft low mood) and then I mixed the music trying to keep it as a background music.

Any clues or ideas would be great (I apologize if I'm vague on how I did my mixing).

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

The sound coming from the Monitors (Mackie) was nice and exactly what I wanted (I have set so that I'm sitting in the sweet spot).

I recorded it to a CD and when I played it in the bedroom stereo it sounded horrible. The Bass was too high, the voice barely audible and the whole thing was just plain bad.

More often than not when I see the set of symptoms that say that the mix sounded great at the console but the bass was too weak/too strong (either way) relative to the rest of the mix on playback in another environment, what jumps to the top of the list is a bad acoustic environment at the time of the mix. A little acoustic treatment in the form of bass trapping in the corners of the room along with diffusing some high-frequency first reflections from the sides and top of the mixing position would go a long way to fixing that problem.

G.

 

[Dracon]

More often than not when I see the set of symptoms that say that the mix sounded great at the console but the bass was too weak/too strong (either way) relative to the rest of the mix on playback in another environment, what jumps to the top of the list is a bad acoustic environment at the time of the mix. A little acoustic treatment in the form of bass trapping in the corners of the room along with diffusing some high-frequency first reflections from the sides and top of the mixing position would go a long way to fixing that problem.

G.

So the mix sounded good in the room but due to lack of Bass trapping I got the Bass wrong or because of how I recorded. Granted my 'record room' and my 'mixing room' are one and the same.

Now come and think of it my computer sits on one of those cubicle units (yes it is my house - but my old job was throwing these cubes out and I needed a desk for my office) which are set up to have you computer on the corner.

I'm going to move here in a month or so, but I will take that into account in the new place. I'll have to see what environment I'll be in when I get there.
I'm looking at house with a Basement and perhaps that might be a better place (since it's most likely all concrete block).

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Nate74]

I'll let Ethan's "Bass Trap Radar" bring him in here, but I'm gonna venture a guess and say you most likely will be able to work with the bass you got on tape once you get the acoustical environment of your mixing area under control.

 

[Dracon]

I'll let Ethan's "Bass Trap Radar" bring him in here, but I'm gonna venture a guess and say you most likely will be able to work with the bass you got on tape once you get the acoustical environment of your mixing area under control.

That would be nice (although I could always record the reading again).
Is there a way to test to see how to minimize my Bass issue. In other words is there some software (or hardware) that I can use to test and find out by how much I should treat the room?

I guess what I'm trying to find out is if there is such a thing as trapping too much Bass and how would I know? Since I obviously couldn't hear that I had too much Bass in the mix I will also will not be able to hear that I do not have enough Bass in the mix either (going from one extreme to the other).

Any suggestions?

 

[Nate74]

I'd suggest downloading the test frequencies off Ethan's site:

http://www.realtraps.com/test-cd.htm

Then you set up an omni-directional mic and put it in your mix position. While you play back the frequencies, record to a new track. Then by looking at the wave form you can see where the dips and peaks are at various frequencies. I think the frequency test tones modulate 10Hz every second or something like that. So by knowing where they start and how many seconds into your recording you are, you can figure out what frequency ranges have the issues.

Do some reading on Ethan's site. Seriously, for about $200 I built a full set of bass traps for my mix room and it improved my mixes exponentially.

As for trapping "too much" bass, I don't think that's how it works. Again, read up on Ethan's site.

 

[Dracon]

I'll read up and find out.
I have heard of the mixing room being too dead or neutral although I don't know if that's a bad thing or simply something uncomfortable for humans since we are not used to dead space (sound wise I mean).

 

[Nate74]

I've always heard the same thing about a room being "too" dead, but I think the bass issues you're describing are a far different thing. To me, "dead" is up the frequency range a bit. Ethan's site even has a comment like "you can never have too many bass traps."

I've currently got 5 2'x4' 4" thick traps in the corners (3 side, two ceiling) plus 3 2'x2' 2" thick baffles on the wall, and 2 2'x4' 2" clouds above my mixing position and even with all this, I have a pretty bad dead stop at 230-240Hz. I have plans to add two more 4" corner traps and a couple more 2" (to be hung 2" away from the wall).

I'm almost wondering at this point why I bothered painted the walls...

 

[TexRoadkill]

I guess what I'm trying to find out is if there is such a thing as trapping too much Bass?

Nope. In a small room you can never have enough because you probably don't have enough trap depth to acheive a flat response. When you see a properly built control room there is usually a couple of feet of space behind what you see as being the walls.

 

[Nate74]

Nope. In a small room you can never have enough because you probably don't have enough trap depth to acheive a flat response. When you see a properly built control room there is usually a couple of feet of space behind what you see as being the walls.

Very true. Plus you don't see right angles... I still remember the first time I went into a "real" studio and just laughed at the funny shape of all the rooms and espeically the ceilings.

Back to the OP, bass traps (especially the DIY type) are worth about 1000 times what you pay form them... especially when that first great mix comes out of your studio and your band goes, "s*%t, we sound great." And you think to yourself "yeah, we do now."