My mixes are always softer than commercial music of the same genre

  • Thread starter Thread starter XeroTalent
  • Start date Start date
Thanks again for all the tips guys. I've re-recorded a song with things turned way down, and I'm amazed.... The drums are crystal clear. It's night and day.

A different topic I'm sure, but are there any good tools (other than one's ears) to "carve out" niche frequencies for each instrument, like a graphic EQ that can stack multiple tracks to show you which frequencies each track is using?

I find the guitars are a little muddy together, and it's lacking that "full tone".
 
Hey Xero.
There are eq plugins out there with active frequency displays.

I'm fairly sure the stock logic eqs do that.
Personally I do not like it. Once in a blue moon I'll pull out an analyser plugin because the low end is baffling me or something, but 99 times out of 100 when I use an eq, I want to use my ears.

There's no harm in visually referencing, but if using your eyes is your gut instinct, I'd really try to get away from it.
Hell, I turn my screen off to listen to mixes nowadays! Definitely gona get a control surface again some day.



RE- the guitars....Most people (myself included) will bang on about getting it right at the source, but I still use eq's a hell of a lot.
With electric guitars, though, I'm convinced you just have to get it right at the source. Experiment with the mic choice and placement, the amp gain and tones etc.
I just never seem to be able to eq the sound I want out of electric guitars.

Moving the mic from the cone to the edge, or off axis 45 degrees is arguably a much more usable eq than any plugin.

PS: Glad you're getting on well. :)
 
Massive Master said:
:guitar: S'more like it. "dB" means nothing on its own... Well, it means a tenth of a Bel, but it's fairly meaningless without some sort of reference.
Click to expand...

And don't forget to capitalize the B.

If you're on a classic Mackie board then 0dBVU = 0dBu.
 
Steenamaroo said:
RE- the guitars....Most people (myself included) will bang on about getting it right at the source, but I still use eq's a hell of a lot.
With electric guitars, though, I'm convinced you just have to get it right at the source. Experiment with the mic choice and placement, the amp gain and tones etc.
I just never seem to be able to eq the sound I want out of electric guitars.

Moving the mic from the cone to the edge, or off axis 45 degrees is arguably a much more usable eq than any plugin.

PS: Glad you're getting on well. :)
Click to expand...


You're help (and everyone else's) has been extremely helpful - thank you again!

I'm not going through an amp (I don't own one - I'm a drummer who has picked up guitar, so I'm limited). I'm plugging my guitar directly into my TASCAM, and then applying an amp sim VST. So all my analog guitar sounds are just clean guitar, and them I'm processing that signal.
 
Ah yes, Sorry. I should have remembered that.

Well, eq the balls out of it then. :p

Seriously though, most amp sims have these options built in, or at least some of them.
Your gain, cab choice, mic choice etc will make a big difference.

You have the drawbacks of a sim never sounding like the real thing, but the luxury of tweaking in real time and in context.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Ah yes, Sorry. I should have remembered that.

Well, eq the balls out of it then. :p

Seriously though, most amp sims have these options built in, or at least some of them.
Your gain, cab choice, mic choice etc will make a big difference.

You have the drawbacks of a sim never sounding like the real thing, but the luxury of tweaking in real time and in context.
Click to expand...

The off to the EQ I go :)

Have you ever used any amp sims? Would you recommend any? That one I'm using, FreeAmp3 is pretty damn good, but a bit of a resource hog. When I have to load it up on 3 or 4 different tracks, it really starts to eat at processing power. But I suspect most amp sims would.
 
XeroTalent said:
The off to the EQ I go :)

Have you ever used any amp sims? Would you recommend any? That one I'm using, FreeAmp3 is pretty damn good, but a bit of a resource hog.
Click to expand...

I'd say most of them would be.
I'm not really qualified to recommend sims. It's rare that I want dist. guitars and usually it's pretty well hidden in the mix.

I've used guitar rig in the past and it seemed to have everything you'd ever want.
Nowadays I use eleven free or just a sansamp for a bit of grit once in a while. They're so-so.
 
No problem at all. :)

You know, I started a thread asking about amp sims because I was gifted a Behrry V-amp pro.

Now, I didn't contribute much, but I know guys like Greg, Lt.Bob etc had some great info.
May or may not be useful.
 
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