Started mixing lead single for my rock musical (Musical Theater/Hard Rock/Prog Rock)

[Seafroggys]

Thank you!

Your comment, however, just goes to show how subjective this stuff really is. Granted I have three different mixes posted in here, but I had separate people say that the guitars, bass, drums, and vocals all needed to be louder. Which is it? The only thing that no one commented on is the keys. Technically I could follow everybody's advice and turn those four elements up....which really just means turning the keys down, hahaha. Which has zero effect on the first 2/3 of the song.

I think at this point I'm more or less done with the mix then. I feel my main concern is frequency balance and making sure it's not too muddy or scooped mids or whatever the case may be. If at this point the only comments is how specific instruments should go up and down, and there's zero consensus on that, and the overall sound is good, then I think I'm ready to send it off to be mastered.

Although to your point about the left guitar, it is technically the "lead" guitar so I naturally want it louder than the right guitar, even if it makes the stereo balance a bit off-center - the drums do tend to lean a bit to the right so I think it balances out.

 

[rob aylestone]

Personally - the bit around the 50 second markn with drums and guitar only is weak. It reveals the guitar tone and it's sort of weedy - as are the drums. At that point the kit sounds weedy too. In a show context - the audio guy out front would be following the sound designer's instructions - make it big and impressive - so if that is what is needed in a venue, should it not be your beefing up and not somebody else doing it? There's scope for crazy ping-pong toms, supersonic bass and sizzling hats and cymbals, and the guitar tone could be double tracked and effected - as it's playing very isolated notes. They're not pazzazy enough. Imagine it was Brian May - He would never have just those notes, they'd be panned and delayed so each note was in multiple places - that's what musical theatre does best - a huge wash of sound, but when one instrument becomes centre stage in the mix, it has to grab the audience. The rest is OK, it's personal preference really - but my ears got drawn to that thinned out section.

 

[Seafroggys]

the bit around the 50 second markn with drums and guitar only is weak.

Sweet, this is a good observation and I do agree. I upped the feedback on the delay during this section, upped the gain slightly, and added a slight phaser effect, so hopefully that helps. Don't want to make it too big and prominent, but a bit more oomph isn't a bad thing.

Also a friend mentioned the bass drum needing a bit more high end, so I boosted some 5khz. And made the bass guitar one notch louder, because it is a cool part.