ROCK/GOTH-PUNK - Soon to be mastered. . . What is wrong with this recording?

[addisonclearing]

Hey Everyone,

Band: deko
Song: cape

I recorded this band in my basement, with an rme ff800 and logic.
They are a three piece, the singer is playing guitar.
They have ok'ed this mix to be mastered, but I feel like it has problems.

My biggest problem was getting a good guitar tone, I have a di track and a mic'd track.
She plays through two delay pedals using a SG and 5150.
HMmm?! Any suggestions?

Mostly I am having difficulty getting the overall eq to sound right.
Perhaps the problem is my room, does everything sound too tinny?

Are the guitars too thin?

How mush eq correction can be expected from a mastering engineer?

A little frustrated . . . any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Addison

[m24p]

How mush eq correction can be expected from a mastering engineer?

Well, anytime you have to EQ to correct a mix issue at the mastering stage, you compromise. Here the cleanish guitars are too harsh (4kish should be cut?). If the mastering engineer cuts this, it's going to mess up the snare and the cymbals. The could minimize damage to the snares by just making the cut to the sides (mid side processing) but I don't think that would work out great.

Are you wanting the vocals to be at all intelligible?

[T_O_A_D]

I'm getting in and out distortion around 1:30-till the next female joins in.
Why I wonder would the first vocalist Sounding like Joan Jett want to hid that far behind the instruments?
She needs to take charge!

[Stan_Halen]

I agree on what's already been said. I REALLY like the song so I think it is worth remixing to get it to be the best it can be! Reminds me a bit of Sahara Hotnights.

[PeterSimonRussell]

I think the vocals are way too quiet for a start. just saying..

[wumpscut]

Record again the guitars, twice, just sg and 5150. Do it DRY, drop of delay pedal.
Pan each 100% each side.

[Ken J]

If you sent this mix for mastering right now, any real mastering engineer worth his weight would send it back for remixing. The so called engineers that are really not professional would just cram the levels to the top and charge you. I would add guitar tracks to thicken the guitar sound and remix the entire song taking into account levels and EQ on each track. I would not add anything to the master buss. No overall EQ, compression or limiting. Fix everything at the track level of the mix and do not let any peak exceed -3dB. If that means the mix is very quiet then so be it. A good mastering engineer can bring up the levels to commercial standards.

[LazyE]

i`d double up on the guitars and bring the bass down a tad at the beggining, sounds very cmpressed, the guitars a little thin and the vocals need to be more prominent in the mix, the drums sound good, but the guitars need more bollox to them and the vocals bringing up, then this will shine!

[KDavisAudio]

I think the drums need to have more rooms in them. They could take up more real-estate. Guitars are a little harsh in the presence range. Get those vocals up a lot. I can barely make out what is being sang.

[garageband]

Wow, lotsa of conflicting advice. I get to keep my mouth shut.

[Ken J]

Wow, lotsa of conflicting advice. I get to keep my mouth shut.

Please tell us what conflicts.