New recordings, I need your opinion!

[Khobrak]

We're a Stoner Rock band from Québec and finally recorded some of our compositions. This was recorded on 1/2" reel tape and we were looking for a sound a bit like Kyuss, Funchu, Monster Magnet, that kinda thing.
We used a professional to do the mix and I think he did a pretty good job. We still gotta make some ajustments here and there and do the mastering but before I would like to have you guys opinion on how it sounds overall.

We got some songs on our myspace :
myspace.com/evilcanevilband

Thanks a lot!

 

[killthepixelnow]

Hey man, this forum works like this: You ask a question but you also must collaborate with others. You posted a threat two days ago and then disappeared on thin air. Don't expect too much with your attitude.

Well, back to the music.
1. In general guitars sound muddy (and weak). Did you use an stomp box like the Big Muff Pi? Well, that kind of stomp boxes work better with good pickups (Duncan Distortion, EMG 85, Dimarzio Super Distortion) beacuse they capture the dirtiness but also the high end, and that's what your tracks are lacking of. If you recorded a clean DI backup track you can re-amp the thing. If not, play with a parametric EQ to cut those undesirable frequencies. remember, cut is better than boost.

2. Drums are the best part of your music. Be careful with the panning, your ride cymbal is sounding at the center of the sound field. "Correct" position should be like 9 or 10 o'clock.

3. I assume these are rough mixes because the overall level of your tracks is a little low.

Hope these advices help you to get a better mix.

 

[Khobrak]

Thanks for taking the time to give your input its very appeciated.

Sorry if I seemed rude, im more of a lurker type of forum visitor, posted while I was bored at work this friday and didnt have much time to check forums this weekend.. Anyway ive been visiting for a while even if my post count and join date say otherwise.

These were first recordings for us so we kept it relatively low budget, we rented some good mics and preamp but we didnt have any technician or a professional studio. Myspace seem to use a pretty craptastic bitrate too, ill try to find something else to give a better idea of the mix.

For the drums I see what you mean with the ride being in the middle, we didnt mic the ride specificly, it was picked up by 2 overhead and a 2 room mic. We'll have to find a way to pan it like you said without screwing up the rest.

For the guitars, im not sure exactly of their pickups and everything as im the bass player but heres what I remember.
Rhythm and lead were done in 2 sessions and we couldnt rent the same equipment.
Rhythm guitar didnt use any pedals, it was played through Seymour-Duncan amp, in a Royer SF-1 mic with a Amek 9098 preamp.
Lead used a Morley Wah pedal through a all tube crate amp. We used a SM-57 mic in a Avalon VT-737SP preamp.
All this was recorded on a Tascam 58 with 1/2" 8 tracks tape

This is a semi rough mix, we spent only a day with the guy doing the mix and are presently in the process of identifying what we could improve.
All our friends and family who listened to it said its very good but we know its biased opinion Thats why I finally created an account here to some external opinion.

So for the guitars what do you recommend? We dont have a clean DI so we'll probably gonna have to go the EQing route. So to remove the muddiness we should cut some of the lows, low mids?

 

[killthepixelnow]

You rented an Avalon PA? That's slick!!! Well, back to business...

Guitars first (because I'm a guitar player)
Best way to obtain a great sound of an amp is chsing the right mic. The SM57 arguably the bst for these purpose. In combination with the right guitar and the tone of your amp, everything is gonna be allright and you're not gonna have to touch the EQ to shape your sound but to slightly adjust you ttrack to sit in the mix.

It's very advisable to record with the same instrument in the same room with the same mic in the same position. Why? Beacuse, from one session to another you're not gonna capture the same soundwaves. You move the mic an inch and you coul ednd with phase issues, ruining all your performance.

For the knd of music you play I'd say a Gibson Les Paul will do a great job in getting a nice tone with a sweet distortion. Ibanez and PRS have nice models that can do the job too. Avoid singel coils if you're looking for a crunchy sound.

If you need to get rid of the mud in your track use a parametric EQ. Use a narrow bandwith (Q) and turn the gain to the bone and sweep the low and low mid frequencies untill you find the shit. Then, cut that frequency and listen carefully because it's posible that you also cut some good frequecies in the process.


Drums
You have two overheads. Well, if I'm right the left overhead is capturing more cymbal than the righr overhead. Same goes to the room. Try balancing these tow signals to avoid the "mono effect"
Other solution is to record your ride again, only the ride, the apply room digitally and try to blend this track with the one you already have.

More on this subject could be asked to the expert in this field : Greg L.

Good luck!

 

[Rokket]

My advice, don't DI the guitars at all. Too hard to get them to fit into a mix with guitars that you mic'd an amp on.

Guitars are midrange prominent instruments. Mud usually occurs when you have eq'd them all the same: same cuts, same boosts. As far as eq goes, it's always better to cut than to boost. Because realistically what you are doing with an eq is boosting the dB level of that certain frequency, which makes it LOUDER in the mix. So if you do cut or boost, you don't need large amounts of either to make them fit. Solo the guitar tracks and see how they fit with each other. If you can hear each one in the mix, and they give the overall impression of fullness, then bring the rest of the mix back up and see what it sounds like.

One more thing: the most important part of your mixing chain is what you are listening to the mix on. Good monitors that you are familiar with are a must. You can't get a good mix on crap speakers without a lot of work. Render your mix to a CD and take it to different sources and listen to it. Everything from a small portable CD player to your home stereo and you car. Compare what sticks out as bad on each system, and then make adjustments and try again. You may go through a crapload of CD-R's, but the end results will be worth it if you are serious about your music.

 

[killthepixelnow]

My advice, don't DI the guitars at all. Too hard to get them to fit into a mix with guitars that you mic'd an amp on.

Hey Rokket, I was not advicing to mix the DI sigal with the processed guitars. I was talking about reamping the DI signal and replacing the actual guitar tracks. Peace.