Some feedback?

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waterfly

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Hello guys,
This is my first 'bedroom' mix so far. I would appreciate any constructive feedback.
I've used Mostly Lepou's plugins for the guitars and bass. Ezdrummer 2 for the drums and few Waves/Variety of sound compressors. For the EQ I've used almost exclusively Fabfilter proQ.
As it is my first encounter with anything related to mixing music, the hardest part was pretty much everything. Mostly getting the bass guitar (which is actually not a real bass guitar but my guitar pitch shifted) to compliment the guitar without being too.. noticeable. Also the peaks of the drums were real pain in the arse to deal with.
 
None of it is really easy, is it? ;) I like the composition. Very good playing on the lead and rhythm guitars.

One problem you might be having is that the guitars are too loud. You want a powerful sound, so the initial thought is to turn those guitars up, right? Rock and roll! But what usually works better for me is to turn them down a bit so that they blend better with the bass and drum. If you're double tracking the guitars and hard panning them left and right, turn them down even more. Try that and see if it doesn't sound deeper and more powerful.

I think the loud guitars are the source of the trouble you're having getting your bass and drums to cut through. The guitars are just taking up too much sonic landscape and drowning out everything else. I would high pass the guitars to kill the mud and open up some space for the bass and kick. You might start at 100Hz and experiment from there.

The drums do sound lethargic. Once you've got the guitars and bass sorted out, you'll be able to hear better what you need to do with the drums.

Excellent start. When you've got a new mix, post it so we can hear the progress. And welcome to the forum and MP3 Clinic. It's a great resource for those of us working to improve our recordings. The feedback has helped me a lot. The Clinic works by reciprocity--we give others feedback to get feedback on our stuff. I hope you'll stick around and take some time to listen and offer comments on the tracks others have posted. Even if you're new to mixing and can't offer much technical advice, your reactions to the music will be helpful.
 
Yep. I'd say that's the biggest thing. Turn those rhythm guitars a good way down to let everything else come through.

There are also a lot of tricks to give the other instruments "space" in the mix while still maintaining some decent volume on the guitars.
The EQ tricks robus suggested (plus a bunch of others). You can also use side-chain compression to have the guitars duck the kick and snare hits to make those really stick out.
 
I think the other guys pretty much got it. Turn down the rhythm gutiars. They sound decent. Just way too loud.

And it doesn't really sound like there is a bass in there. Just not enough low end presence to "qualify" as a bass guitar. To me anyway.

The other stuff - piano and violins - sound midi/synthy. To a typical listener, they're probably OK.

I think there is a real good mood set up. I think the playing is good too. For something like this, you might even want to use a little (more) reverb.
 
I couldn't really hear the bass but I'm really curious to hear it, pitch shifting a guitar sounds like a cool trick. I think the drums should come up, the guitars are great but they kind of crowd out the drums.
 
guys above nailed it. guitars need to come down a bit, and the instruments need their proper space. i'd love to hear it after some more work. nice arrangement and i like the synth part a lot - beautiful melody there.
 
Thanks guys, before I posted it here, I asked few people for advice and they also told me to lower the guitars, so that is the "lowered" version haha, imagine how loud they were before that. I guess I just didn't want the drums to be in front or something like that, as you can hear they are pretty much for the sake of having some rhythm going, nothing fancy. I will try to do something with everything said in the above posts and I'll let you know.
 
yes, tame that guitar down atleast 5-6db.. Maybe more. Its a cool riff, but it can still be heard clearly dropping it down. Start with the drums only and get those mixed, then bring in bass, then rest. You should be able to hear everything clearly without anything over powering everything else.
 
Also I think the bass guitar sits too high for some reason (could it be cuz its not an actual bass guitar?). Its around 120-180hz, shouldn't it be lower?
 
A bass is one octave lower than a guitar according to the internets. Which means your A should sit at 220 hz. Timbre is probly pretty different though which maybe is why it sounds different. Possibly put a sub bass plugin on if it doesn't seem bassy enough? I'm just speculating, I never tried this myself.

Edit: I'm way off on freqs, check this wikipedia for the right info. Looks like your instinct is right: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_guitar_tuning

Standard guitar A is 110 so the bass A is 55.
 
Some people try to do that...digitally de-tuning guitar to play bass notes. I would never do it. Sounds too unnatural. Personally I would record with a cheap $50 bass guitar rather than do it that way. Just my opinion.
 
Thats what I am planning to do.

So, I tried to apply some of the things said but right now I am not really sure what is supposed to happen anymore, so everything I did is pretty much a guess. The chance of ruining it seems much higher than fixing it :D
https://soundcloud.com/fimbul-winter/remix-1
 
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It's better....I would bring the Rhy guitar down even more. It's still over powering everything. It's getting there though. How you mix things is your own personal taste, and you will have everyone telling you different things on the way it should sound according to THEM, however there are some fundamentals that ring true in just about every recording. Instruments that are too loud just kill mixes. Also keep in mind, when you change EQ or volume on one instrument, there is a good chance it will change the way other instruments sound in the mix and they may need to be adjusted too. Cause/affect.

I think you have done a really good job on song structure and most of the tones. Here are my thoughts:
1) Lower Guitar volume more
2) lower piano volume
3) There is a sonic hole around that snare. It needs more life in it. Try to EQ a little more brightness into it, change the sample, and/or bring it forward a little more(less verb)
4) play a real bass track.
 
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