Your Mom loves your mixes, but are they really up to scratch? Post your tracks here and get the community's feedback to help with the spit and polish. Impress us! We don't bite.
Hey dudes. My ears now need your ears. It has been a good long while since i have had any rock and roll up so i would appreciate all your guidance. Please give this a listen and review.
- some of the crash hits need work,
- I am aware that the left guitar thing needs the flubs fixed still.
- Not crazy about the bass anymore i may go back and retrack that possibly. I am not sure yet. It feels lifeless and plastic.
- for some reason there are two spots that have no drum patterns in it. Very odd.
sorry. I am just trying to suss out a sub mix mostly that sits well with the bass and guitar tones to see if have any of that proximity effect going on but i don't know? I have been at this since i got off work pretty much. I need a break & definitely more ears.
I think the guitars sound great. If you think you can get a better take go for it, but I wouldn't worry about changing the tone too much.
The snare seems a bit too loud, and it bit too up-front. Can you push it back a bit?
I really like the sound of the bass.
I think the guitars sound great. If you think you can get a better take go for it, but I wouldn't worry about changing the tone too much.
The snare seems a bit too loud, and it bit too up-front. Can you push it back a bit?
I really like the sound of the bass.
Thanks JD. That snare is obnoxious. It will have to get pushed back. I listened in the car this a.m. and ear buds at work and i think i am with you it is way too up front. Once the vocals are in i just foresee them fighting. Easily fixed. I don't think i will go mussing with the tone this time but maybe next song. It's a little too thin and limpy for me now that i hear it in a mix. I need to find a bit better mic placement to capture the dark meat of this cab and to weld it into the bass better. It isn't translating the way i want it to, but this can work for this. Performance wise i can do better. thanksfor the input.
vomitHatSteve wrote: ↑Tue May 07, 2019 12:24 pm
Sounds pretty good. Office environment is noisy, so I can't hear a lot of nuance, but everything's coming through ok.
Thanks VHS. The snare needs some massaging but glad you can hear stuff.
Question RE: Compression and a snare that up front and louder. On my drum bus i have a bit of compression on the drum group. Is it safe to assume that the snare being that dominant is affecting the tightness and pop factor of the kit as whole the way it is compressed now? Can i expect better results by dropping it back a little tightening up the compression. Or am i thinking about it all wrong ?
Shan, I keep ReaComp on my drum buss, but I don't send the whole drum buss to my Reaverb impulse. I send every item individually. I get a good general level of verb for the kit, then reduce the verb on the kick and add a bit more verb to the snare. Not enough variance to make things sound unnatural, just enough to get the snare off your forehead and so it's not dominating the centre of the mix.
Re: the bass, I think it sounds good. Instead, I hear it like the instruments have come to an uneasy truce between themselves...the high "low" frequencies, and the low mids among each of the bass/snare/guitars are all fighting to be heard, but none of them are truly happy with where they sit now. My guess is if you trim a bit with EQ here or there on one or the other of them, they'll each open up a bit and make the whole thing sound better,.
I'm not certain on the exact combinations of things to try, but as an example:
- putting a high-pass (/low-cut) filter on the snare, bringing it up from the left until it's starting to trim out a bit of the lowest range of the snare
- with EQ scoop out a bit of the bass somewhere between 200-400 Hz; listen for it to give the guitars more room to breathe; after this, you may also find you can turn the bass up a bit (but watch it doesn't step on the kick's lower range; maybe high-pass the bass also to keep it out of the way of the kick)
- with a separate EQ on the guitars, scoop out a bit somewhere between 500-1000 Hz to see if that lets more of the growly part of the bass shine through
Another thought might be to add in a bit of distortion on a send out from the bass track. Start the fader on that send low, below where you can hear it, and bring the fader up until it blends in just enough to give some extra definition to the bass. Experiment with different types of distortion plugins, or even some basic EQ (hi/low-pass filters, for example) on the distortion too.
Finally, the mix all leans a bit left (on headphones). It sounds a little like the guitars are a bit out of balance; the right guitar either has a bit less attack and/or aggressiveness, or maybe the left guitar is just a hair louder than the right. (I like the left guitar, btw; what flubs?)
awesome youtube comment of the day
Bill and Ted time traveled and brought a bass player from 1973, a drummer from 1984 and a guitar player from 1995. Now they're spreading peace all over the world
I don't have any problem with the levels. I can hear everything just fine. Nothing is masking anything else to me. I think the whole mix is a little dark though. The snare is dark, the guitars are dark, bass is dark. The whole sub-mix lacks a shine and presence to it.
I wouldn't do any drastic changes to anything until you get vocals on it though.
SweetDan wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 2:25 am
...and the low mids among each of the bass/snare/guitars are all fighting to be heard, but none of them are truly happy with where they sit now. My guess is if you trim a bit with EQ here or there on one or the other of them, they'll each open up a bit and make the whole thing sound better,.
I'll give it a shot thanks for checking it out SD. I will investigate that stuff and take your eq suggestions into consideration.
SweetDan wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 2:25 am
Finally, the mix all leans a bit left (on headphones).
this is a problem with everything i do. I am left ear dominant and i always favor that side and never correct it. I'll correct it and smooth that out. the right guitar is also a little less aggressive and has no overdrive to really bring out the beef. that could be part of it.
Greg_L wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2019 8:37 am
I think the whole mix is a little dark though. The snare is dark, the guitars are dark, bass is dark. The whole sub-mix lacks a shine and presence to it.
Like the left leaning thing this is a problem as well. everything i do ends up being dark. I knowi over compensate in fear of making things to treble-y / high endy. I will try and fix that too in the final mix down.
Question for you all re: the darkness of stuff. If i have murky sounds and compress does that double down on the darkness and murkyness? I still really struggle with understanding compression. to be honest compression to me = move stuff till something sounds good. I've no idea what size ratio to use with what attack and release combo like it is greek to me in all honesty. Move knobs, make it good, move on.
I like this Shan. Good performances. It does need some polish. I hear what you are talking about with the bass, maybe the EQ Dan is talking about can help with that. How does the bass sound outside of the mix?
I don't think compression itself darkens things, it just depends how you use it. If you squash all the brighter stuff and don't bring up the level it will darken it. To get better with the compressor just adjust settings extremely one at a time to see how it affects the sound.
Like the left leaning thing this is a problem as well. everything i do ends up being dark. I knowi over compensate in fear of making things to treble-y / high endy. I will try and fix that too in the final mix down.
Question for you all re: the darkness of stuff. If i have murky sounds and compress does that double down on the darkness and murkyness?
It can. Compression usually brings in the "body" of something. Bass grunt, guitar thickness, snare fatness...all that stuff is usually enhanced with compression.
I still really struggle with understanding compression. to be honest compression to me = move stuff till something sounds good. I've no idea what size ratio to use with what attack and release combo like it is greek to me in all honesty. Move knobs, make it good, move on.
That's ok. Moving shit till it sounds good is often better than trying to math it all out or use preconceived ideas.
Shan, I agree with Greg. Knob twiddling is often the best way to make something work... and I have a bit of a pathological obsession with knowing why everything works.
It's obviously worth knowing, but understand the sound of the effect first. Work out why it does it after - makes more sense if you do it that way around. Compression is a bit of a bugger to get your head around though.
Shan,
It's pretty cool though a little "dark" as mentioned.
On 1st listen I thought there was no bass during the intro.
My mixes end up dark - partly through fear of fizz and partly my room I think.
I had no problems with "dark"ness in my latest project a) because I didn't touch Greg's guitars at all - no EQ, no Comp, NADA. and b) I listened to the mixes in a variety of environments and that informed me better.
The guitars were slightly dark. They could use just a little more bite/presence.
I didn't think the bass was lifeless. I thought it was well played. I thought it was a little too heavy for a mix like this. And it had a little too much twang for me. But the part wasn't lifeless to me. I thought it was cool.
Good sounds, especially guitar. I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been covered (snare in particular), but I thought you should know I listened and it is good.
Found the source of the darkness. It's the reverb. turn it off and everything is present and bright as fuck. Turn it on and it's like someone put a pillow over the mix. wtf is going on ?
WhiskeyJack wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:04 am
Found the source of the darkness. It's the reverb. turn it off and everything is present and bright as fuck. Turn it on and it's like someone put a pillow over the mix. wtf is going on ?
Try putting an EQ on your reverb with a fairly savage High Pass on it. Say about 250hz.
WhiskeyJack wrote: ↑Wed Jul 24, 2019 2:04 am
Found the source of the darkness. It's the reverb. turn it off and everything is present and bright as fuck.
