Please Check Out This Song - Hardcore / Emo / Punk

G

gabe

New member


Hello Everyone,

This is a song that I engineered recently in my bedroom home studio. It was tracked extremely fast, but I think they pulled off something nice! Please let me know how the mix sounds and any comments towards use/over-use of effects will be greatly appreciated. I guess I can cite Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Starting Line, Midtown, etc...) as an obvious influence. This band wanted a sound similar to the Used, Taking Back Sunday, and Thursday. Thanks!

Gear Used:

all guitars - j station
drums - akg d112, sm 57, akg c1000s(2)
vocals - nt1
interface - digi 001



(right click and save as)

And feel free to browse the directory for 2 other songs...
http://www.bootie.org/~gabe/ben/
 
Real loud and strong mix. Props on that. I liked that snare sound.

The rhythm guitar is dominating the mix. It's got a lot of energy in the midrange which is right where the vocal seems to be. I'd say to EQ some mids out but I think retracking is probably going to be needed. Anyway, try turning down the level on the guits and EQ out a bit of the mid and see what happens. Wouldn't hurt to roll some of the lows off them too just to get them out of the way of the stuff you want to hear down there.

The vocals sound dry and I think need a little fattening. Some reverb (large room maybe?) might improve the vocal sound.

The tempo is a little inconsistent.

Despite all this I think it's a pretty decent effort. Hope I help to improve it.
 
first off - thats an interesting drum sound at the start for the genre. Sounds good though.

Triple M was right when he said that teh rhythm guitar dominates the mix. Its hard for the vocals to come through. Also the lead gutar harmonies.

I really like the panning in the break down in the middle - thats really my kinda thing.

The feel of the song reminds me of Papa Roach. Is that the sound your looking for?

Pretty good though I must say. A few tweaks and yu shouild have a fairly smooth mix.

Neil
 
Thanks for the input guys, I agree about the dominating guitars. I'll experiment with tweaking the mid frequencies, hopefully that will clear things up. And I'll try out a large room reverb too. I guess it's so easy to overdo all the available effects, that I chose a conservative plate reverb for his voice hoping to keep things crisp.

One question tho, do the guitars / bass sound real and covinvcing enough?

thanks again,

gabe
 
The guitar sound is great. Levels are very close to where they should be, but a bit to loud and biting. Did you double the guitar part when you recorded by doing 2 takes? Or is it a single part. I think you should put another guitar part in that is a bit more melodic. That would help you maintain a high level of guitars but be less biting and out front at the same time. You could turn the kick and snare up a bit too. The bass is fine but you might need to turn it up if you make these changes.

The cymbals on the kit sound like ass. I think you should put the overheads over the drummers shoulder or head next time. I think will help the toms and the cymbal sound.

OK I went and listen to The Ties. Better job on that one. Still some tempo problems. Cymbals sound better. I think you could use a bit chunkier guitar sound for the rhythm guitar parts.

Let it Rain is pretty cool. Better recording. It actually sounds more like what I have been suggesting. In the beginning the guitars were a bit chunkier. Later they thin out. I think it is because there were two. Maybe you should always record two rhythm tracks with guitars. One with your normal settings and one a bit chunkier.

I could definately hear some of "The Used" in that.
Beez
 
Gabe I`ll listen to ya tonite at home, I`m mp3 deprived till I get home.


Ok, very clean and clear mix. Levels are all over the place but your tracked everything and pretty good have plenty there to work with. Like was said above, vocals up, snare, bass, kick, up. Overheads too strong. The cymbals and some of the guitar is so strong you can`t mix the rest until you back it off some, that may bring the rest out more. Smooth out some peaks and you got a fat sound man.
 
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thanks again everyone for responding and for the comments. I guess only time and practice will make perfect. Just reading a lot of forums and magazines, i get a lot of differing opinions on how to mix a rock song. Does anyone have any suggestions for the band? I think the drummer, despite a timing issue here and there is really solid, and I really like the singer's style and range. Once again, all comments are really appreciated.

cheers

-gabe
 
The mix sounds pretty sweet...I'm in an indie/emo/punk band so I kind of know what you're goin for. I don't think the guitars are too bad...they are big and full and that's sort of 'the sound'.

I think i would put a *very little* amount of reverb on the rhythm guitar to add a bit more presence and then pan the effect to the right...the mix feels weighted a bit unevenly to the left mainly because the rhythm gtr is panned so hard. I would center just a little more (10 oclock maybe?).

on top of that i would maybe try a little compression on the whole mix...

sounds great!
 
The panning on the cymbals is really distracting...

and I think the flanger/phaser was a bit overused


Elsewise, Good Mix
 
Hey Man, Sweet Song. I agree, the overheads definitely are to loud and the phaser is a bit overused. I really liked the guitar tone you got.
I noticed you said you recorded the guitars through a J-Station and I was wondering what kind of guitar you used? I also use a J-Station for recording my punk/emo band but I haven’t been totally satisfied with the sound (too fuzzy, not enough "chunk"). I am using a stat w/ single coil pick-ups, which might be part of the problem. Just wondering what kind of guitar used and what kind of settings etc? Thanks.
Great song, Keep it up!

-Scott
 
This song seems too thin in the guitar department to me. I like the drum delay in the intro just not as much would sound better, or cut it off sooner.

Decent recording/playing. The vocal sounds a little "cheap room" I would try a different mic and compressor settings for those.
 
Hey Man, Sweet Song. I agree, the overheads definitely are to loud and the phaser is a bit overused. I really liked the guitar tone you got.
Click to expand...

thanks for the kind words... their guitar was an american fat strat I believe. I'm not too sure on the pickups. It's just the J crunch default setting w/ a lot of post eq done to it.

i definitely agree w/ the overuse of the phaser / flanger... it was more of their decision and I just went along w/ it.

if i could do it again, I'd have them double track all the rythym guitars instead of me just doubling them. Oh well, lessons learned...

thanks again for the comments

-gabe
 
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