Pro Quality Recording and Mixing!

  • Thread starter Thread starter carlosguardia
  • Start date Start date
carlosguardia

carlosguardia

New member
I'm finishing mixing a few tracks on my new album and wanted to hear your comments on the recording and mixing job I've done. Here's a track for you to comment on.

www.nowhereradio.com/carlosguardia/singles

Carlos

PS - If you want, you can also comment on my guitar playing...
 
Can really hear the room in this. That's not necessarily a bad thing.;)

The overall mix is pretty good, but seems to be a bit heavy in the low-mids. The cymbals could use a bit of "sheen" as well.

Didn't dig that synth patch. Maybe try a slower vibrato on that.

The stereo guitar is cool, but needs a bit of center. The solo was good, but a bit too "in your face" for tune. A bit of room 'verb would help to put it the same space as the accompaniment. Nice riffin' in there, although it could be a bit more legato.

The fade out is cool, though a bit abrupt at the very end.
 
Carlos,
The song is cool and the parts are all well performed. Gotta change that synth patch though... maybe more of a string section sound. The two guitars need to be closer in volume, I like where you're going with them, I'd just like to hear both of them. Good job Carlos. Good tune.

bd
 
Carlos, I liked this tune.
maybe a little more closed micing techniques would help
on drums. The guitar solo is very nice, but too closed.
a little more room on the guitars would be good, and
a little less on the drums.
awesome ending too!
 
Thanks for the replies guys,

I know that the room is quite prominent in the sound of this recording, however, I do think that the room sound helps create the ambient I was looking for for this tune. Althought the room is in no way a good sounding room, I kind of like the sound of the room. bdbd, what do you mean by the two guitars being closer in volume? Both stereo rhythm guitars or the rhythm and lead or the clean and classical?! I don´t know if all of them cut through in the mix (I think I did a good job in placing them) but there are 5 guitar tracks in the song. Any comments on the voice?! I still haven´t eq´d it and I´m not too happy with the sound of it... however I was hoping somebody here would criticize it given IMO it´s the weakest part of the track. Vocals were done with a KSM 32 through a Presonus Blue preamp then to a Delta 1010 into Sonar. The drums WERE close mic´d, using ECM 8000 as OH a Beta 52 on kick and an SM 57 on snare (nothing fancy, pretty simple micing) Anyways, I´d love to hear some more comments on the track. Any comments on the guitar tones?! What about the piano?! It´s a pretty awesome soundfont but does it sound real enough in your ears?! Thanks,

Carlos
 
beautiful arrangment. The parts are sweet. I think you could make that string patch work with some predelay and a touch of verb kinda like the voice. Id take the level down some. The piano font is nice, maybe move it back a tad with a bit of delay, not enough to show up, but just enough to smooth it. Bass is fine, there`s some spots where it stops and sustain would keep the floor smooth for you. Voice has a midrange freq that bites at you a little, and could be turned down a tiny bit. Hope that helps.
 
Thanks Toki,

I´ve been working on this song for a while (actually on the whole album, which is a conceptual album about life) and you know how sometimes after hearing something so many times you can start to miss a few details that need tweaking. I´ll see if I can find a synth patch that suits the song more; maybe some strings...

Carlos
 
Sounds real warm. Nice patches you are using. The mix sounds very clean and everything can be heard clearly.

Nice music (kind of "falling asleep" music)

Good vocals. This is very nice.

Good job!

:D
 
Very nice. Great bass and piano sounds... really some of the best pno I've heard in the clinic in a while...

While those are synth strings, they're very nice. Tasteful drums...

Yes, professional sounding... esp. in present company.

The vocal recording is EXQUISITELY DONE... now, the SINGING could use some more confidence, and there are minor pitch problems. But, that mic/room combination you have on the vocal track is perfect. Don't change a thing with your set-up :)

This is almost a Ben Folds 5 smooth-jazz thing done in Spanish... or something.

The guitar solo (the one up the middle) should probably be heavily compressed, then lowered in volume... it's kinda stepping on your mix. Otherwise, very very tight job.


Chad w/cinco
 
Thanks for the replies. As I've said, the song is almost done, however I still need to EQ the voice and get a little harmonic excitation in there. The violin in the intro is not the final one, I'm getting a pro violin player come in next week to record the final one that'll make it on the record. If You guys like this song you should hear what this fades into! The solo will be tamed a bit, and a little more work will be done with the mix itself as well as adding fx. I'm quite happy with the way it's all turning out.

Carlos
 
The playing and the arrangement is fine, I just don't really like the voice, how it sits in the mix and the lack of confidence : some notes are not well held and that ruins a fine song...

I would re-record the vocals maybe in another time of the day when your voice is a bit warmer and after practising the song a bit more...

All the rest is good.
 
Nice, Carlos. Only thing I didn't care for was the violin patch. The vocal harmonies sound good as does the piano.
 
Carlos,

I listened a few times. Here's my comments - in no particular order of importance. Keep inmind, it's just my opinion. :)

I think that may be the best results I've heard using ECM8000's on drum overheads. What preamp did you use on the overheads?

The piano is fantastic!

I didn't like the synth patch on that melody line. It could be thats it's so dry. Perhaps a little delay could soften it up.

The same goes for the guitar parts. The playing is good, it's just the sound seems to take over the song. Is the piano still in there during the solo? Once the guitar comes in, it's like I was listening to a different song. However, the ending with the reverb cranked sounded great!

The vocals have slight intonation issues and I hear what seems to be the room sound. Did you put any reverb on the lead vocal track? If so, I don't like the patch. Perhaps the decay time is too short and we're hearing too much reverb.

Overall, I think you're on the right track.

Thanks!
 
Thanks for the replies,
I plan on retracking the voice. The small intonation issues can be fixed with a little autotune, however, I'm trying to stay away from the autotune as much as I can. IMO it's just a NO NO, it's much better to get the notes right, which I'll attempt to do. The violin patch will not make it to the final mix, it'll be substituted by a real violin. The OH were recorded using a Presonus BLUE TUBE preamp. Thanks for the comments on the piano, I think it sounds great too!!!

Carlos
 
Good song, bas synth!

Good song, good playing, bad synth patch. Good idea for it though. Needs to blend a tad more you know.
 
Drum comments

As a newbie in recording I cant say too much.
I am a drummer and do have some comments there.
1. If the snare is close miced, then the verb is only making it sound like the mic was 5ft away.
2. The toms tuning is very 70's. Sounds like single sided black dot heads. Man do I hate that sound. I would suggest 2 heads with a thinner head on bottom than top. The bottom slightly higher than the top. something a little deader on top than a black dot. Maybe a "pinstripe" or Evens oil filled.
3. The snare sounds metal and has alot of ring. I'm not sure it "fits" the style of the song. The snare is tuned pretty low with the snare too tight which creates a "choked" sound. A nice deep wood snare would be nice. If you only have the steel, tighten the bottem head a little, put a thicker head on the top, and tinker with detuning 1 lug on top, and tape it a little.

I love this song. It reminds me of the "Brazilian Wedding song" that Quincy produced (cant remember the dick).

Keep it up! This is gonna be great when its polished.

Doug
 
Doug,
The snare IS close mic'd and you can hear that very evidently on the rim shot parts... the later parts still need some tweaking. The fact that the toms sound very 70's is actually what I was shooting for. I'm looking to get a Pink Floyd, Camel, kind of sound here... Thanks for listening, I'll have a polished version soon.

Carlos
 
HI Carlos

I listened to this and enjoyed it.

I thought the bass was very colourful and to me with the drums was the best part. Very well played. I am not sure about the voilin synth, infact I will be honest, I dont like synths becaue they make the song suddenly very clinical. Ofcourse, they give the melody well and thats vital but perhaps something else in there to do it. I was really enjoying the start and then the violin hit me hard. Well that said, very good, cheers. Erland
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top