Pink - Need help with the kick - gets drowned out.

[BORNintoMUSIC]

This is up for some bashing. I've gotten a couple new mics. Recently gained a pair of M-audio pulsar II's (matched pair) and an Audix D6 for the kick. My kick is still getting lost in the mix though. Otherwise give me any input you guys have!

Thanks!

[uab9253]

I'm hearing some pretty lo-fi noise on the guitar in the beginning - was that intentional? The track sounds really live to me. Let us know what you used and how you tracked.

[Guastafarian]

the guitar in the beginning really does sound lo-fi.

[BORNintoMUSIC]

Originally Posted by uab9253

I'm hearing some pretty lo-fi noise on the guitar in the beginning - was that intentional? The track sounds really live to me. Let us know what you used and how you tracked.

Yah the guitar at the beginning was not intentional. Here's the band's setup:

Mixer: Alesis Multimix 16 Firewire

Drum Mics: 2 M-Audio Pulsar II's (overhead config)
3 Audix F-10's:
(1) F-10 sitting inbetween the toms.
(2) F-10's: Top snare config and bottom snare config.
1 Audix F-12: Floor Tom Config
1 Audix D-6: Inside Kick drum about 5 inches away from beater

Vocals: Sure Beta SM57

Lead Guitar: Marshall Amp Direct interface with Mixer
Rythem Guitar: Cyber Twin SE Direct interface with Mixer
Bass: Behringer Amp Direct Interface with Mixer


All of the microphone use Blue: blueberry cables. I have a feeling that my cybertwin has that lofi feedback because of the crappy quater-inch cables. I'll have to record again and use the blueberries. My Alesis Mixer only has 8 XLR inputs which are used for the drum mics and the vocalist.... so I have to make due.

All Mics are in a close mix configuration.

Cool thanks for the help guys!

[fHumble fHingaz]

That distortion on the guitar at the beginning sounds a bit "digital" in character - have you inadvertantly overloaded the input signal so that it's clipping? Otherwise, I quite like the song, & especially the guitar solo toward the end - it's a really unique sound! The kick does need more presence though - I would try highlighting it with some parallel compression &/or using a plugin that helps you to highlight the transients (eg. Digital Fishphones Dominion). I do think the actual performance needs to be tightened up somewhat...The drumming has some timing issues, & while I like the vocals, they tend to be a little "pitchy" at times. I hope you're not offended by these comments, as I really admire anyone who embarks on recording real live music, (ie. live drums) & from personal experience I can concur that it no small task. All the little things add up...

[BORNintoMUSIC]

Originally Posted by fHumble fHingaz

That distortion on the guitar at the beginning sounds a bit "digital" in character - have you inadvertantly overloaded the input signal so that it's clipping? Otherwise, I quite like the song, & especially the guitar solo toward the end - it's a really unique sound! The kick does need more presence though - I would try highlighting it with some parallel compression &/or using a plugin that helps you to highlight the transients (eg. Digital Fishphones Dominion). I do think the actual performance needs to be tightened up somewhat...The drumming has some timing issues, & while I like the vocals, they tend to be a little "pitchy" at times. I hope you're not offended by these comments, as I really admire anyone who embarks on recording real live music, (ie. live drums) & from personal experience I can concur that it no small task. All the little things add up...

Am I offended??! By no means no! This is excellent input. As far as the guitar goes, cubase is definitely not clipping, but perhaps I have turned the "trim" knob too high which is causing the output from the amp to overload before it hits the mixer? I'll mess around.

What do you mean by "highlighting the transients"? I had a couple people tell me that the bass might be taking away from the kick's presence? They mentioned cutting the bass where the kick is most prominent?

And yes all the little things do add up lol. I've been trying to deal with our drummer's lack of counting. He just feels the beat, and even then it can get sporadic. Fortunately we've been practicing to a metronome more often recently... hopefully that will help improve the situation.

Thanks again!

[lolgreg]

What makes the whole "mixing" thing of recording a lot easier, is starting somewhere and ending somewhere... I mean by this, start with your drum buss/whatever channels you use for drums, that's it for now. Work with the sounds, the eq and compression. Make it sound nice and tight (that is, if "tight" it what you're looking for...) Then turn on your bass track. This is probably where the kick is going to disappear. Take a band pass eq, with a relatively narrow Q value (7) and do a -18 or -24 (max) cut on the bass track around 70 hz. If you start hearing the kick, it's the low frequency clutter in the bass track. Keep sweeping around till you hear the kick come back. You'll porbably want to do a 3-5 DB high shelf at around 3k on the kick as well to bring out some snap. If you post your drum mix (alone), Bass mix (alone) and guitar mix(alone), I'd be more than willing to import them and help you figure out the conflict.

Where did you do the high-pass on the guitars (if at all)? Try it at around 180-300 hz depending on how much bass guitar you wanna hear.

P.S. I like the song a lot, the female vocalist does a great job, but agree that the performance could be a little tighter.

-Greg

[BORNintoMUSIC]

Originally Posted by lolgreg

What makes the whole "mixing" thing of recording a lot easier, is starting somewhere and ending somewhere... I mean by this, start with your drum buss/whatever channels you use for drums, that's it for now. Work with the sounds, the eq and compression. Make it sound nice and tight (that is, if "tight" it what you're looking for...) Then turn on your bass track. This is probably where the kick is going to disappear. Take a band pass eq, with a relatively narrow Q value (7) and do a -18 or -24 (max) cut on the bass track around 70 hz. If you start hearing the kick, it's the low frequency clutter in the bass track. Keep sweeping around till you hear the kick come back. You'll porbably want to do a 3-5 DB high shelf at around 3k on the kick as well to bring out some snap. If you post your drum mix (alone), Bass mix (alone) and guitar mix(alone), I'd be more than willing to import them and help you figure out the conflict.

Where did you do the high-pass on the guitars (if at all)? Try it at around 180-300 hz depending on how much bass guitar you wanna hear.

P.S. I like the song a lot, the female vocalist does a great job, but agree that the performance could be a little tighter.

-Greg

Doing it right now! =)

[BORNintoMUSIC]

Originally Posted by BORNintoMUSIC

Doing it right now! =)

Alright here are the 3 mixes. They all start where the drums come in... so they lack the intro which isn't that important anyways. I did this so all 3 mixes would be on time.


Let me know if you need anything else!!

Thanks!1!!

[fHumble fHingaz]

What do you mean by "highlighting the transients"?

I just mean bringing out the "smack" sound of the drum. As Greg mentioned, there are ways to do this with eq. - bringing up the 2.5 - 3k region. Or you could try using a "transient designer" type device like Dominion...or you could try parallel compression...Basically - send your kick to another bus & put some really aggressive compression on it. Make sure the drum is gated pretty heavily so you accidently highlight something you don't want to. Solo the bus play with the ratio, threshold, attack & release until pretty much only hearing the "smack" part of the sound. It's an ugly sound on it's own, but if you un-solo the bus, then bring up the rest of the tracks, you can then mix in that sound to taste.