Rock demo for my band. Give it a listen??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Re-tox_stl
  • Start date Start date
Tracks are tightly played. I liked the guitar sounds. I like the drum sounds too. Maybe raise the overheads a couple of dbs?

My biggest nit is the bass. I thought it was rather muddy and indistinct.
 
yeah +1 to the bass being a bit buddy. Also, it may be that its just cause im listening on headphones at the moment but it seems theres kinda a sonic hole in the middle of the panning of all the tracks. the guitars seem to be very far left and right but it seems a bit empty in the middle. just my thoughts.
 
that hole is probably because the bass is muddy, and the guitars are 100% L and R. Something up the middle would be nice.
 
The left guitar is a little louder than the right.... Rest has already been said. Pretty good sounding recording overall. You need to get some vocals on this now,,,,
 
Thanks for the input guys! Ill work on cleaning the bass up. I didn't have time (or take the time) to check it on other systems yet, so I think thats why I missed the bass issue. Were tracking vocals tomorrow though, so hopefully that will fill it up.

Drew
 
A little sloppy in the beginning, but yall reeled it in pretty well. The drummer's meter seems to vary quite a bit. It's like he's drumming downhill. He gets faster in the fills while the guitars stay on time which makes the beginning of the next measure kind of sloppy. But nevermind all that....

Yeah the mix is super muddy. Whatever is going on with that bass needs to be stopped. There's no mids or attack in the bass track. The drums are tracked pretty well for a live recording. This would be a pretty good foundation to go back in and record the parts individually.
 
Not a bad tune. I like the guitar sounds. Everything is pretty well played but the mix is WAY over compressed. It's pumping like crazy and sucking the life out of it. There is a big level difference between the two panned guitars.
 
The drummer's meter seems to vary quite a bit. It's like he's drumming downhill
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That would be my bad. In logic, for some reason the click track is always quiet and indistinguishable, even though I have it blasting at +6db. So I was guessing half the time. Plus I wasn't warmed up :)

Whatever is going on with that bass needs to be stopped. There's no mids or attack in the bass track.
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Can you give me some insight on how to fix this? I rolled off the bass at 80hz, and bumped it at 1k and 3.5k. Theres also a little compression on it.

but the mix is WAY over compressed
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Im a little confused, the only compression I added was a little on the bass, kick and snare, all around a 2:1 ratio

Thanks a ton guys!

Drew
 
Re-tox_stl said:
Can you give me some insight on how to fix this? I rolled off the bass at 80hz, and bumped it at 1k and 3.5k. Theres also a little compression on it.
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Best advice? Retrack it without the muddiness.

Beyond what you've done? Try cuts in the 250hz - 500hz octave. That's probably where the bulk of the mud is. It's easier, but won't yield the results of tracking it better to begin with.
 
Alright, next practice Ill have him re track it.

Thanks, Drew
 
TripleM said:
Best advice? Retrack it without the muddiness.
.
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Yeah, this. ^^^^^^^

For me, bass guitar is the hardest thing to fix with processing tools if it wasn't recorded well to begin with. I take great care dialing in a bass sound before I record it. And you never know, your whole band might sound tighter and more balanced with some tweaks to the bassists rig. A clean bass sound makes everything stand out more.
 
This is *really* dark/muddy, but the balance & levels seem decent. What sort of EQ are you doing to the guitars, drums, bass, etc.?
 
Guitars: Cut everything under 60hz, -2.5@100hz, +3@200hz, +2.5@3khz, +1.5@5khz (both guitars are a little different, but generally the same.
Bass: Cut under 75hz, +1.5@150hz, -7@315hz, +5.5@1khz, +8.5@3650hz. (The dramatic levels were an attempt to fix the muddy mix)
Snare: +3@200hz, -3@860hz, +2@4khz, +1.5@9khz
Kick: Cut below 50hz, +3.5@88hz, -9.5@500hz, +3@4khz
Overheads: Cut below 45hz, +2.5@66hz, -3@150hz, -2.5@740hz, +2@4khz, +2.5@10-20khz
 
Good effort. It would be nice to hear how the vocal sits.

The drums sound a bit drowned and the clarity is a little low, which might mean there is too much compression, which favours slower and softer (un-dynamic) sounds over impact and crisper sounds (you can increase the attack time). There might also be too much distortion (which also tends to compress dynamics) on the guitars, which is softening them and making you pull them up too much in the mix, and drowning the bass. The bass does need more clarity, but your EQ numbers suggest you are attempting that (but don't EQ by numbers).
 
Some slight timing issues with the drums. Overall this is a cool sounding song. Not really my cup of meat, but it's a pretty cool arrangement. I'm listening on pc speakers, so I'm unable to hear any of the bass frequency issues everybody's talking about.

Nice work. I'd like to hear some vocals over that....
 
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