New tune...need some input on..

S

sjcrts

New member
My MP3 ...need some input on..

This is something new I'm working on, it's a song titled "dust".

I'd love some input on the mix, especially the bass. I have a hard time not drowning out my bass with my guitar. Is there a good way to get the bass more "up front and tight" without it getting boomy and overpowering? When I boost the bass in my mixes I usually get mudd.

Is it better to lay a bas track with compression? Compress it in the mix? Both?

I guess if I can improve how I record bass tracks, I'll learn to improve my guitar tracks as well. These guitar tracks are recorded direct, no mic so there not exactly final.

Any help/input would be appreciated!

again the song is "dust", a work in progress.....

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2356&alid=370


thx
 
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You have a very nice tone going on the guitars and the drums set in the mix about right.

As far as using Compression before a mix, the general rule is to add effects while mixing.

If you are having probs getting the bass volume up without it becoming overpowering, bring the other instruments down to where the Bass is setting right in the mix and then bring the volume up using Output Compression and/or Peak Limiting to avoid clipping.

Nice sounding tune, Dude!

CR ><>
 
Thans! I'll give it another try.

I appreciate the suggestions, keep them coming....I'm a recording noob :)
 
If you have access to a spectrum analyzer in your software, try playing a track at the time and look closely at what low end frequencies are being used at the same time by Kick drum, bass, and guitar. I`d start by decreasing the bass freq on the kick drum and let the bass guitar use those freq's, or take some off the bass and it will let that big kick sound your using come through. I think the guitar doesnt need frequency enhancement down in the bass guitar range, so you could pull a bit of that out as well and see if your mix cleans up a little.
 
Well, I don't have spec analyzer softeware. heh I'm a total noob but I do know what you mean. I'll try messing a bit with what my digital multitrack has to offer. I'm learning how to use the recorder as I record my music.

Also, I see what I can do with the drum sounds. Being a drum machine I'm not sure what tweaks I can make. Maybe just some eq on them, but I'm afraid it would affect the whole "kit".

I'm sure my setup is very small potatoes what some of you guys are using. I recorded that stuff all direct on a Zoom MRS-1044. A big step up from my old tascam 4 trk. It's a great little "project" machine.

Thanks for the input, I'll do my best to utalize your suggestions with what I have.

Back to work! :)
 
If you have WINAMP, it has a poorman's spectrum analyzer. Put it on double size to see it better.

Thanks Toki! I learned something myself there. :) Never thought of analyzing individual tracks unless I was trying to track down some nasty distortion.

I've just been recording for about a year. I first bought a Tascam 414 MKII PortaStudio. Then started using the puter with PowerTracks 8 and n-Track. I bought a Fostex VF 160CDR in January. I want to start doing Remotes and Live Remotes with it as I get better.

CR ><>
 
What order do you bring your instruments into the mix? Start with just bass and drums. Get the bass sounding the way you want it. Bring each instrument in one at a time in order of decending "importance" (most critical instrument 1st -> filler last). Each time you bring something in, listen to what it does to the bass and everything else. If you bring something in and you bass goes away or turns to poo, try adjusting only the instrument just brought in to take away whatever is messing the bass up. Cutting EQ helps alot in that case.

Great song BTW.
 
Order I usually use to record:

drums
rough guitar ryth trk
bass
ryth guitars (almost always 2, 1 left, 1 right)
fillers / leads

never any vocals :) I stick to short instumentals. I have a short attention span and can't sing for poo ;)

I'll try to be more systematic with the recording order so I can pay attention to how each new track affects the ones before it.

Appreciate that, thx.
 
Well, recording order and mixing order are two different things. When recording, I track many of the "important" instruments last so they can feed off of the vibe the rythm section set. I only use the order I gave above when mixing.
 
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