I don't know man, I think you may be over criticizing your own songs. Comparing the song you posted and the Luke Fitz one, I actually prefer yours. Both actually have very little going on in the sub frequencies but it seems that is the -for lack of a better term- 'Beatles' type of sound you are going for. In fact, I had to run behind my desk to make sure my sub was even on, because I noticed no difference when I switched it off from my monitor controller.
I would agree your bass tone is kind of bland, but that is likely just the guitar itself. I have had great results giving life to direct bass guitar with PSP Vintage Warmer. Not that it is advised to throw plug ins at everything that doesn't sound good, but I pretty much use this on every record I have produced. Just the 'Bass Line Track' preset is my initial goto for bass guitar. I would try the 30 day trial before spending the $150 for it.
As far as Fitz recording in rooms without treatment. It is not as essential to have treatment in recording rooms. In fact, more often the room can give character to instruments. He may just be lucky in the size of his room, or just has spent time learning to get his mixes to translate to other systems. In my personal opinion, from that video you posted I would not necessarily call that professional sounding. It seems to work for the song though.
I am currently working on funds to rebuild my control room. I have already paid for design drawings and purchased a bunch of the materials to do so. In the process of that, I learned that in my current room size, I have to shorten my length by 8'. The room modes for the existing length basically leave me with no 80hz at my listening position. It is cancelled out. Mixing in this room for the last 10 years, I have been able to compensate by trial and error, but will be amazing when it is complete without any room issues messing with what I hear. I'll likely have to re-learn the room. I digress...
Now, as far as your treatment and listening position from your photo there, there are some issues that are misguiding your judgement. First off, those Prime Acoustic panels are high density fiberglass panels that are good for absorbing mid and upper frequencies, but actually reflect lower frequencies. What is in your DIY bass traps? How are they constructed? Your speakers are very close to the front wall and corners, so you are in likely the worst place you could be to have any sort of accurate representation of what your low end is doing. Nothing you have for treatment there is helping you at all under probably 400hz. I realize most don't have the space to properly treat for low end, but the fact that you are tucked into that wall right in the corner is going to make things really hard to accurately know what you are listening to. Even if you could get those monitors off the front wall a couple feel would possibly help. Ideally you want your listening position at 37% of the length of the room. Not typically possible in a small bedroom size room I know. You stated that your monitors are placed well off back wall. I assume you meant front wall? In the picture you posted it appears they are almost right against the wall. Is that maybe a picture of an earlier layout?
Don't go rolling off any more low end! There isn't any there. 'Fool Up' has nothing in the bass guitar supporting the low end at all. The snare is the first thing that to me isn't sitting right in the mix. 'Better me' is much better to me. Still, there isn't much support in the mix from low end of instruments.
I'm not very busy right now. If you are interested, maybe send me the raw tracks for one of your tunes and I can see if I hear something that sounds off to me. I can throw down a mix from a different perspective that might give some insight into what I hear differently than you.
Anyway, good songs man! It seems like just getting those last little things sitting right in your mixes will take them to the next level.
Cheers man!
Jimmy
Thanks Jimmy, very useful advice. I wanna talk about some things you said but first on the speakers and the treatment. I', gonna attach 3 pictures that show the setup more clearly, I hope. I'm not really in the corner of the room...as you can see...it's something of a horror show...the room is small but my listening position is as good as I can get it...I went for that 37% concept. Also you can see that the speakers are roughly a foot and a half off the back wall. In each front corner behind the speakers I DIY'd acoustic polyester "bass traps" which are 2 feet wide and 40cm deep. They go from floor to almost ceiling. Now, to be honest...I simply have not been able to find stuff like Owen's Corning 703 or 704 or whatever the good stuff is. So this stuff that I've used is stuff recommended to me somewhere down the rabbit hole of room treatment. I'm the first one to admit it's not the best stuff for bass treatment. But it's literally all I could find in Australia.
What you said about the PrimeAcoustic stuff, yeah, I agree...I bought the London 10 kit 4 years ago, plus two of their 3 inch bass traps (these are sitting on the front of my DIY corner bass trapping)...and sometime after I bought it I read somewhere that "oh that PrimeAcoustic stuff is great...great if you want to treat the waiting room of a dentist". In other words...it's simply not good. It'll do something...just like you said...but it won't solve my issues.
As far as Luke Fitz and his songs...man...I'm his biggest fan. He's in Australia too. I contacted him some years ago just blown away by the songs he writes. I was trying to pick his brain but he wasn't into talking about his processes. He actually recorded a cover version of one of my songs. He's a mega talented muso...plays drums, guitar, piano, sings great, bass etc. In my eyes the guy's a freak...incredible songs. As for me...I'm more a plonker. I won't kind of go down the "wo is me" thing, but hey, you know, I know my limits musicianship wise, and I'm ok with it. I just strongly believe that I CAN record and mix my songs so they SOUND sonically fine, regardless of how good the songs are. Hell, there's a million songs on the radio I don't like that sound fine.
As for rolling off more low end...actually, I often use an eq on the master and I bump up the low end from 100hz or 12hz or so...bump it up by 1 or 2db, trying to get a fuller sound. But maybe my room is telling me there is plenty of bass...and that's why my mixes are bass light or something. Not sure.
And the bass being bland...well that's a Fender P-Bass! I thought they were supposed to be pretty cool. But yeah...I've been underwhelmed with it. Recording DI (and this is across the board with anything I track...which is all in this room) is lifeless it seems...especially the bass guitar just seems to be a wash of low frequencies where notes are inarticulate...kind of boring. I can say the same about recording vocals or acoustic guitar (not in the low end wash so much) as in the recordings seem bland. I just don't know how I excel in achieving this with the sweet gear I have.
As for the sub frequencies...well yeah, like you said, the stuff I do, I don't think, is sub bass kind of stuff. What I sometimes think of in terms of overall sound is something like The Ballad of John and Yoko...just a great recording. The bass is rich and deep and everything is just so nice. That's the kind of blend I try to imagine. But yeah, as I said, my tracking tends to be very bland. That might (probably is) me and how I sing, play etc.
And man, your offer of a mix...I'd love to take you up on that. I could send you the tracks. Is there one you reckon you'd be interested in? How about Consecration Day? Or maybe Company Stranger? That's relatively straight forward, not too many tracks, so it might be better. Up to you. And also, if you get my raw tracks and listen to them and your feeling is "hmm most of this stuff needs to be re-recorded, it's just not mix ready"...then tell me straight up. Because that's an area that likely needs a lot of improving...the tracking. But, if you're up for it, sure, I'd love to send you a song to mix. Thanks dude.
Here's the pics I spoke about before...