What's the freaking problem here?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pahtcub
  • Start date Start date
P

Pahtcub

New member
What am I doing wrong with this distored guitar part? The clean part is all full and then the guitar part hits and it just like where did the music go....I did about 5-6 dist guitar tracks, yet it still sounds SOOO hollow, do I just lower the clean part to match and raise my master?? is it eqed wrong? And also what do you think of the little "sparkles" at about 3:27? Keep them or drop them?



Pat
 
turn the distortion down...

mix the distorted tracks lower in volume

you're layering 5-6 distorted tracks?? Why?
 
Well I was trying to get it to sound more full. I've tried mixing at very low levels, but the distortion still sounds weak. Could it be a phase issue?

Pat
 
I've been trying your links to hear your songs but the page just comes up as jibberish. I just switched my browser over to Mozzilla so that may have something to do with it... any suggestions anyone?
 
Apparently you LOVE reverb...... 2nd song I've heard from you and it's completely oversaturated with verb.

You know that's a very rookie move - too much verb on everything -- it tends to wash out the sound and put distance around everything. Not good.

The issue with the distortion is that it's pretty fuzzy and sounds like the mids were completely sucked out, creating a very hollow, thin sound.

For recording dirty guitar you need far less gain than you think, and concentrate on mic placement and mic selection to capture the sound properly at the amp.
 
to many guitar tracks in combination with too much reverb is instant death. One "trick" I use is never put verb on the main rythm parts that are panned hard left and right, the verb increases the closer to 12:00 on the other tracks, and only use delay on solo guitars. The quick way to check reverb is to push the verb up until you "think" you like it then pull the verb back 15 to 20 percent or to where it almost seems to disappear. Then mute/bypass the verb for a few seconds then un mute it, youll should hear it right away that its just about right. Another problem might be the room acoustics. If your monitoring isn't right the room could be sucking the verb and you don't hear it until you listen somewhere else. Less preamp gain and more master volume gain is how to defizz the guitars. All of these are common problems that almost everyone goes through at one point, distorted guitars is actually one of the hardest things to tastefully just because the amount of variations are boggling. If you want to save some retracking time then start doing test tracks to make sure what you track is what you want before really start tracking.
I know it sorta goes against the grain of some folks, but I always make sure we have a playback off the tape "approved" before we start, its takes 15 minutes to do it right or 35 minutes to do it over.
I started doing it that way after I set up "scratch tracks" and didn't spend to much time with mic placement because we were going to "really" set it up afterwards when we started overdubbing. The band ended up doing a take that was perfect on a song that sounded like junk because I was looking to far forward to overdubs. YMMV

Pretty much the same as what Bruce Blue Bear said but with the ramblings of an old man. :)

SoMm
 
Son of Mixerman said:
Pretty much the same as what Bruce Blue Bear said but with the ramblings of an old man. :)
SoMm
Click to expand...
Yeah, but your "ramblings" provided much needed detail that I neglected to fill in!!! ;)
 
too much verb on the vocals and drums. The heavy guitars actually sound cool for a different effect, but when it goes into the chording the drums are over run. I would start with less guitar tracks, turn down the gain alittle... etc just like what others have said
 
Yeah I guess I see your point, I seem to try to make up for crapy vocals with reverb, and I try to kill the drum machine with reverb. Guess I have to go retrack that song, which sucks cause that guy moved to CA, well at least I can fix the reverb parts, but is there any way you can think to fix the guitar without retracking? Cause it's recorded with "his" distortion. And yeah Bear, I'm am a rookie, thanks for noticeing:-)

Pat
 
Pahtcub said:
And yeah Bear, I'm am a rookie, thanks for noticeing:-)
Click to expand...
No worries... everyone starting out in recording learns about too much verb....

The first step is recognizing it, then you can learn to not do it! ;)
 
That's the problem, when I'm mixing I don't notice it, I just have to cut it from thought not from hearing it, just like when I was in recording school, I would mix everything too bass heavy, but I still couldn't hear it, so now I just cut the bass from experince not from actually hearing it. Maybe I just suck at mixing.

Pat
 
Don't be so hard on yourself. I've been recording for the last 8 years and only the last 2 have I been able to get decent tracking/mixing. IT is HARD! It is definitely a learned trade. All the things you've said you've done (mistakes), I've done. It'll all come.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top