second opinion? Help?

[Nathan1984]

I am doing some mixes here lately for my educational death metal project. I know, sounds weird lol. Well, I am really getting into mixing and mastering now adays, I am still relatively new at it. I mix my tunes, and I am kinda disappointed in my mixes. I would love to get some feedback from you guys. Maybe some pointers on what I am doing wrong. If you would be willing to help, let me know. How do you guys feel about using a reference to get your mix where you want it as well? I haven't done that, but had thought about that here lately, thinking maybe I could compare, and mix to a good song that I think was mixed the way I want my music to sound.

 

[Br3n]

Personally I try to mix to what I think the track needs. The only reference I do with something I am mixing is when I get to mastering it and bringing up the volume to where it compares to commercial tracks. Other than that I think all music should be mixed for the song not for what everyone else is doing.

I'm not saying this is correct but a good mix is a good mix to get there you need the time and effort to know when to much is to much and I am still not there myself but I am learning fairly quickly that less is more!!

 

[Nathan1984]

I have noticed this myself, it seems like the less eq, fx, and such that I put into my tracks the better it turns out. It isn't till I really start messing with it, that it goes to hell. My mixes are better now that I have studio monitors, but I still am not totally satified with how they turn out. Granted, I am recording with a ux2, with 44.1/16 bit. No matter how hard I try, the guitars turn out horrible. I have pulled gain out, boosted the hell out of the mids, pulled treble, done all kinds of tweaks, yet I still am not getting the desired tone. That is why I am asking for some help. Maybe I am just eq'ing things badly, the wrong way, something.

 

[Br3n]

If the guitar tone isn't what you want from the start then it is never going to be when you end.

start with the amp and get the tone you want there, once you have done that then place the desired mic where you want it (i would start simple and put it square in the centre of the best sounding cone then start trying things if its not sounding how you want in your monitors)

once you have done this, to get the end result will just be a case of small eqing to get it to sit with other instruments and some comp just to level things out.

 

[Steenamaroo]

If the guitar tone isn't what you want from the start then it is never going to be when you end.

start with the amp and get the tone you want there, once you have done that then place the desired mic where you want it (i would start simple and put it square in the centre of the best sounding cone then start trying things if its not sounding how you want in your monitors)

once you have done this, to get the end result will just be a case of small eqing to get it to sit with other instruments and some comp just to level things out.

This is good advice.
Barring crazy effects, the ideal scenario is to be able to record it and like it the way it is.

The more work that goes into the amp tone, mic choice, mic placement etc, the less tweaking is gona need done in the box.

 

[miroslav]

Without hearing your mixes and guitars...there's NO way anyone can tell you what is right/wrong or give you realistic suggestions on what to do with them.

Don't know what style of music/guitars you are going for...but generally speaking, I find that the simpler the setup, the less I have to work to get (and keep) the tone I want in the mix.

I'm a guitar ---->amp kind of player for the most part, so once I find my tone, it's only a matter of miking the cab the right way and hitting RECORD.
I use a ribbon mic about 90% percent of the time these days on my guitar cabs.

 

[Br3n]

i agree with the without hearing you can't say what is right or wrong but there is always a good guidelines to get what you want from the start. i have had so many guitarist give me a recording and say i don't like my sound on this track can you do something with it.

 

[miroslav]

Sure, if someone gave you tracks, it's not that hard to find a tone that works for those tracks...or if they at least told you what style they were after or something.....

Heck...we don't even know what type of music the OP is doing, so it's risky saying "do this" or "do that".
A lot of my tones are more of the classic styles...so my general advice may not work for someone doing modern Death Metal.

 

[Steenamaroo]

I gave my advice based on the Op doing death metal and saying that he's having trouble 'fixing' the guitar tones ITB,
I mean, you can't go far wrong working on the source sound and mic placement etc
but still, Miroslav is right.

OP, You should post up some mp3s
You'll get better feedback for sure.

 

[Nathan1984]

Yeah, I have a half stack, but it is kind of hard to get it set up due to lack of space. So I am using Pod Farm. I am after a tone along the lines of a band called abacabb, it is heavy and sounds very digital in my opinion. Which I think would sound perfect for what I am doing. Here is an attachment so you all can hear what I got, and look up ABACABB-Infection on youtube or something to hear where I wanna be.View attachment abcmix.mp3

 

[Br3n]

as far as guitar sounds go it's not a bad tone it is a little bit scratchy so maybe tack the distortion gain down a little bit or drop some of the high end out a little bit. you may find that bring the kick drum and vocals down a little may bring out more of the guitar tone your after.

 

[Nathan1984]

I will have to try that.