Need to deliver tonight!!Please critique my mix...

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JRcruz

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Hello Guys! I'm kinda new to this awesome forum and I really need your input. This is my first mix that I'm doing for my friend's band. . Anyways this is what I used.

Drums:Sm57 on snare, beta52A on Kick,Beyerdynamics on toms,beyerdynamics OH.
Bass: Warwick direct on UA710
Guitar 1:Les Paul Classic ,Marshall jcm900,sm57 off-centre 1' from the grill running into UA710.
Guitar 2:ESP LTD,Mesa triple,sm57 off-centre 1' from grill into UA710.
Vocal: GT66 into UA610.

PS: This is a Brazilian pop-rock band and the lirycs are in portuguese.(Hope Ya'll don't mind).

Thank you in advance...

 
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Not a bad power-pop tune, man! My main nit is the lack of spatiality in the mix. It sounds like the band was recorded from underneath a blanket. I'm not entirely sure why this is, but ya gotta take the blanket off. I'm not sure how to do that, either, so... Not too helpful, unless you know what I'm talking about and how to fix it.

The drum overheads seem way distant. The drums' overall feel seem to be kind of dead.. Might be your mics.

The guitars, I think are adding to the "boxiness" or "under a blanket" feel to the mix.

That's about all I can figure out... The song itself is pretty well written and played well, too.... Just gotta get a mix that'll let it *pop*!

Sorry I couldn't be more specific... I hope this was helpful. Keep at it!
 
Hey Man! Thank you for your input! I do agree that it needs more clarity and spatiality! My room is horrible and as dead as it can be... I've trying to get a good tone on those guitars and just can't get it right. This is my first mix and it's going for mastering on friday. I just can't get it right!! I'll be going back to the studio tonight and I'll re-post it tomorrow.
Thanks again man...
 
Great music!! Sounds very hollow. Really needs some better eqing. I really don't know where to start with advice on the eq itself but every instrument needs it bad. The bass sounds sick (not in a good way) The guitars lack any sparkle. All are very hollow and mid range. Both sound 'warbly'. Not sure if it has to do with the mixdown to mp3 but it makes it sound very low quality. The drums lack beef. Don't hear much kick. Everything kind of blends together. Vocals are not too bad. Probably the best part of the mix. If this is just a demo for gigs it's probably fine. They don't usually care about quality of the mix as much as the music itself. The music rocks. No problems timing wise. The mix needs tons of work. Wish I could be more helpful. :rolleyes:

Dave
 
Hey Dave! Thanks for taking your time to listen to this track. I'm on a deadlaine and don't know where to start. I'm going back to the studio tonight to see if i can improve this mix. To my years there's to much 500k going on with the guitars,and the drums are muffled. I've tried different aproaches but nothing seems to work. I guess i suck at mixing! lol . Thaks for you input.
Rock on....
 
Compared to pro, or semi-pro, or even many amateur mixes, my songs lack high end... and low end. They sound weak if i cut some lows, but still lack the high end detail of better recordings. Or if i leave the lows, they sound muddy and shitty... I probably prefer the muddy over the brittle, weak and harsh trebley ones, but still... what can I do to make my guitars have more high end but not be piercing, bass be fat but not muddy and undefined, cymbals add nice high end sheen but not be just a wash of white noise, and vocals be clear and full of high end but still decently strong? and the whole mix to work kinda well...

Someone else asked this question,but this is exactly what I wanted to ask you guys...
 
Try this:

Open your link and get the tune playing on WMPlayer. Use the 'bars' display along with the 'graphic EQ' feature to tweak the EQ of the overall mix.

I tweaked thusly:

31Hz +8db

62Hz +7

125Hz +5

250Hz +4

500 +4

1kHz +3

2kHz +2

4kHz flat

8kHz +2

16kHz +3

Try that. Not a perfect...but it sounds a lot more moving and robust to me.

You gotta deliver tonight....so remaster, drawing the 4k area down about 6db, and tailor the other bands using the WMP sketch as a rough idea.....

A better idea would be to go back and undo what you did to each track to kill the guts , pumping 4k...or re-EQ to get what's obviously missing....bottom mostly...and a little high end, when it's all thrown together.

MHO
 
Read the new last post you made...you're onto it. My opinion: good pump in the overall mix trumps poorer quality of the individual parts [muddy guits, etc.]
 
Hey Jeffmaher! Thank you for your input. i'm fairly new to this and every opinion is valid. I'll try to remix it tonight from the scratch. Since you already listened to the material,any suggestions on eq and processing for individual tracks ? When you say pump 4k you mean on the overall track or should I apply on a particular track. I'm sorry if I'm not making sense here,it's just that I'm kinda confused. I'll repost it tomorrow. Thank you so much...
 
I got you confused with another poster who said he had to deliver a mix tonight....so I was just suggesting an EQ adjustment to the mixdown to save time...my bad.

The whole together, if you didn't fudge the EQ in the master, is way high, with a peak @ 4k.....and really scooped in the lower mids. Everything sounds thin. Did you track everything flat? Did you tweak EQ before a mixdown?

What is you MO. Some of the more experienced fellers could steer you to a better plan.

I generally record EVERYTHING flat. Do all my tracks. Mix, master, and look for problem areas in individual tracks after all that....never touching EQ until then. If you EQ as you go, maybe that's the problem. I think that's a pretty standard thing to do...at least at first, when you can't reasonably anticipate how mastering will affect a mix. And my recordings got a lot better when I figured that out. If I can not go to the EQ or anything else, and come up with work that sounds good, that's a good thing.

Mostly, remember that you gotta destroy a hundred recordings to get to work that doesn't suck...experience. Do your best, and move on.
 
That was actually me who was supposed to deliver it tonight but I had to call it off as the results were not what I expected. I'm going back to the studio tonight to see if I can improove it. I really thought that the problem was the guitar that was little honky at 500k. I'll try to add a little bottom to the mix and i'll try to beef up the drums as well.
Thank you.
God Help me! LOL:D
 
I tracked everything flat and didn't really boosted any frequencies at mixing stage. Always cutting it. The guitars sound really honky in my monitors and I can't get the kick and bass working together. I guess i really suck at mixing:laughings: But anyway I keep trying.
One more thing I don't really know what MO is(excuse my ignorance).
I apreciate you help man...
 
Modus Operandi......the steps you use to get from beginning to end when constructing a recording...or anything else...the 'mode of operation'.

One of the things that experience brings is a unique series of steps you take, with ever more predictable outcomes, to maintain quality and perspective when building a recording. And the only way to get there is to make the them over and over, and read and listen and experiment and find your own way. And the toughest discipline is to not do anything to tracks when there are so many things you can do to them!

PS...I'm only 50 miles south of you.

PPS...You won't always suck at mixing, if you never stop mixing. I have about 25 recordings to get through my horrible one-hundred. Waiting for the fairy-dust.
 
Thanks for the wisdom man! I really love this stuff with all my heart and I'll never stop doing it. I know eventually my mixes will translate the way want them to. Thank you for you kind words...
 
I think it sounds good. But I agree with a few others about the low end. Bring it up some more. Its like the drive for the song and that is a driving song if it had some overall low end added to it. Try that first. Im a newbie but thats just what my ears are saying. Other than that good job Bro...
 
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