New song for critiqueing...mix for full length album

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producerkid

New member
Local band Chasing August wanted me to record their full length album. Here is a track off that record that I test mastered and I think it's some of my best work yet. Tear it apart. I think it may be a little bass heavy but thats for you guys to decide.

 
producerkid said:
Local band Chasing August wanted me to record their full length album. Here is a track off that record that I test mastered and I think it's some of my best work yet. Tear it apart. I think it may be a little bass heavy but thats for you guys to decide.

Click to expand...


Sounds really full! Great Job! My only nit pic is that the vocals don't seem to fit quite right in the mix. They seem a little dry compared to the music.
 
Yeah the vocals have been bugging me as well but the guy has a strange voice. It's kind of thin by nature. I think having a better mic and a little thicker pre would have helped it sit better. But as it stands now, if I turn the vox up anymore they are too loud, so this is about where they worked. This isnt a final mix though, I will try some more drastic EQ next time around maybe.
 
Oh btw, there is a little catch with this mix that I will reveal if this thread gets a few more responses from some more members. Particularly more well known people because chances are they will laugh when i reveal the catch.
 
producerkid said:
Oh btw, there is a little catch with this mix that I will reveal if this thread gets a few more responses from some more members. Particularly more well known people because chances are they will laugh when i reveal the catch.
Click to expand...

(Singing in a kid's teasing way) I know what it is, I know what it is! hahaha

I love this. Wow. Great mix, IMO. But I agree with Ruth on the vocals. It kinda makes the background vocals not very distinct. But, since I know the secret, or 'catch' as you say, I'll let it go. :)

Great freaking job! Nice double kicks. I love double kicks.
 
this is a pimp mix
occasionally i can hear mix compression

the kit is almost to good
i'd like more bass, i think it's got some distortion on it.
maby on the guitars too
 
sounds great, errors are under my threshold of comprehension.
not my favorite song, but recording wise sounds really nice.
C.
 
How the hell did you record these drums? What mics?...And what kind of set is it (if you know the heads too, that would be nice)?
 
It's not loud enough.



















































hahahahahahahahhahaahhahaah...




kidding, it's plenty f'ing loud. Sounds really good man. I'm not a fan of that severely gated snare sound, but it fits. I'm getting some phasey sounds on the top end which shouldn't be there with a 192kbps mp3, but I have no idea if those are even real drums b/c I'm pretty dense about that stuff. I'd like to hear an actual bass more than just "low end," but again, I think you hit what you were aiming for.
 
producerkid said:
Oh btw, there is a little catch with this mix that I will reveal if this thread gets a few more responses from some more members. Particularly more well known people because chances are they will laugh when i reveal the catch.
Click to expand...

:confused: Mysterious?! I'm suspicious of the drums, mostly. They just seem to be from a different planet, soundwise, and the panning is odd. The vocal harmonies are nice, too. Perhaps auto-tuned (though you obviously didn't do it to the entire track cuz there a couple of slightly sour notes on the lead vox). Dunno. I'm stumped. Whatever you did, it sounds good. Keep it up, man!




































Oh, and get to work on my drum tracks, you lazy bum! :p
 
Guitars sound awesome. Good work. I'd lay off the reverb on the snare a bit. I'd like more kick. Something about the snare doesn't right to me. Maybe too much crack. Vocals seem a little weak in places. Like he wasn't 100% sure of what he was doing. Did you trigger something in the drums. It sounds like stuff is being prematurely triggered. I REALLY think there's a trigger on the snare. Possibly the toms too. Maybe all of them. Something's gotta be triggered. Ha.

Overall, it sound pretty damn good. Mainly the guitars. It's a really generic tone, but you nailed it. What was used? What processing did you do? Bass is a little buried too. I don't think it's bass heavy at all.

Good job, dude.
 
Great work on the guitars. Vox were nice too.

Is it me or is the bass drum and bass guitar mixed just tad low? Lots of mid range energy here but the bottom end seems a little weak.
 
Phyl said:
Is it me or is the bass drum and bass guitar mixed just tad low? Lots of mid range energy here but the bottom end seems a little weak.
Click to expand...

I agree, i was wanting more bass on that track all the way through, i say get those low freq's up in the mix :D

Overall, Nice work man, makes listening to my mixes sound like it was done on Windows sound recorder :( :(
 
sounds like this music normally does......minus the drums. i really hate the drums. definitely sound triggered, or like a drum machine.
 
Ok let's address a few things, shall we? lol

The drums:

Completely acoustic. No triggering at all (at least no this song). The setup was pretty basic and cheapish actually. Heres a list of the stuff he used in his setup:

Zildjian Scimitar Bronze 20" Ride as Crash #1
Paiste 302 20" Ride as Crash #2
Zildjian Z Custom Mega Bell 21" Ride
Solar by Sabian 18" China (lol, yeah i know. but hey it sounds decent)
Zildjian Scimitar Bronze 14" Hats
RMV (Brazilian custom drums company) Drum Kit - 22" Kick, 10" Rack tom, 14" Floor tom
Tama Fibrestar 14" Snare.
Toms used Evans G1 clear heads and RMV factory resonants.
Kick used Evans EQ3 Batter head and Aquarian ported front head.
Snare used Remo Emperor batter and Remo resonant head.

For micing the drums here is the setup:
Overheads: Behringer B1 condensers in XY
Snare: SM57
Toms: SM57
Kick: AKG D112 about 3 inches away from batter head inside drum. Yamaha 8" woofer mounted to mic stand in front of port (homemade subkick).
All this directly into my Aardvark Q10 into Nuendo.

For guitars:
Peavey 5150 II into Mesa Road King Cab
BBE Sonic Maximizer 382 in the loop.
Mic'd with SM57 on outside edge of the cone about 2 inches in. Top left speaker.

Ready for the catch? Here goes:











The final mix was run through a BBE sonic maximizer AND.......ready?....AND an Alesis 3630 for overall compression (I intended to smash the mix a little bit by the way for those that heard mix compression). I used two of the most unviable pieces of equipment according to most and I think it sounded great. I guess its just all about application. And I am quite sure if you saw how i mix things you would all laugh at me. lol. I break about every basic guideline in recording. Upon many, many listens I do think the bass drum needs to come up a bit. The bass might be retracked. It was recorded direct from the bass into the Aardvark. Anyway hope I amused some of you. lol

the kid
 
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I don't know why it sounds triggered. Heh. Did you anything special in processing on the guitar? Or is that all the BBE? Maybe it's just because of the nice cab. My Behringer is meh.

I still think the snare has a little too much crack, that may just be me though.

Those Scimitars are AWESOME as crashes. I wish I didn't crack mine. :(

Those B1s don't sound bad at all.

Seriously, good job.
 
Adding to the last post just a couple things I forgot.

One is that for the wierd panning thing (scrubs), that wasnt intentional and I didnt realize it until you said something. I'm used to mixing drums toms L-R and overheads the same. But what was different this time was that the drummer was left handed. lol. So I forgot to reverse the overhead panning to match the toms which is why the hi hat is beside the floor tom in the mix. haha. I'll fix that next time around.


Oh and for whoever asked my age, I'm 17.

the kid
 
Well, on the guitars I did throw a speaker simulator on the tracks to focus the sound a bit more and put some midrange in them as well. Plus I did a 5k ish presence bump.
 
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