Second Mix - Maiden cover

[throttle]

Here is my second mix of a Maiden cover tune. Looking for advice on compression, panning and overall balance of instruments. Ignore the guitar tones (unless you like them!), I tracked them a long time ago and have gotten better since then. Any tips on overall mix and advice to help me sound more like a pro would be apreciated.

Here is the link www.powerslavechicago.com

[Charlie_M]

Ya know I kinda like the guitar sounds. Maybe could use more growl/roar but I thought it was pretty good and fit the song (which is I song I really like).

I thought both the first guitar lead and the vocals needed more volume or fullness.

I'm VERY much a beginner in mixing (only did 1 song so far and not yet happy enough with it to even post it here yet!). But... I have gotten a fatter and fuller sound on vocals by simply duplicating the track. I've read where people sometimes do that and add just a touch of chorus to fatten up the duped track and only apply small volume on the one with the chorus, or put the chorused one mainly panned to one side and adjust volume until it sounds right. I've not tried that yet and can't say if that's what's called for here but somehow for the vocal to occupy a bigger part of the overall sound seems like the right direction to me. Ditto for the guitar lead. Maybe duplicating the track on that (or adjusting volumes on the duped tracks if you've already duped it). The guitar lead/jam that comes towards the end of the song has a fuller sound to my ear.

[throttle]

I have gotten a fatter and fuller sound on vocals by simply duplicating the track.

I had done that before by duping the vocal track and panning each one hard right and left. I would also move the duped track over by about 20ms to get a nice delay.

I had the vocals mixed that way for a long time then had a realization one day. I noticed when listening on headphones to commercial CDs that a lot of songs use a technique where the lead vocal is in the center and the backing vocals are panned hard left and right. It gives a really wide feel to the chorus of a song.

I tried to figure out how to do that and stumbled across leaving just one lead vocal track panned in the center and only duping the backing vocals which are panned hard right and left.

I used to duplicate all my tracks except for drums and started to notice that it doesn’t seem to be the way the pros do it?? When I duplicate a bunch of tracks it seemed to mess up the stereo image.

I started hitting the delete button on all my dup tracks except for the guitars!! Those are actually double tracked not duped. Anyone else want to chime in and recommend a “guideline” on where to pan a vocal, whether to dupe them, if you do duplicate or double track where to pan each track etc.?

Ya know I kinda like the guitar sounds.

Thanks!! Funny thing is, there is a heavy dose of EQ on them. The raw tracks are crap. I broke Brandon’s cardinal rule of not using an eq on guitars!! Lately I have been able to get better sounding guitars with less treatment, but I am glad to hear they don’t totally suck. Thanks for the tip on the first solo, I'll bring it up a little more in the mix.

Looking for advice on compression

Anyone want to offer some tips here. I still find a compressor a mystery... I have talked to a few guys with more experience and they all use compression heavily. I find I only like it on drums and little on vocals. I also noticed that the only way to make a mix loud is to slap a limiter across the master bus. Not a big fan of that either. Am I over doing it or do I have this compressor thing figured out?? I see a lot of stuff about “smashing” vocals etc. I find when I try to “smash” something it makes it sound worse…

[thesilentdrummer]

Sorry to say it, but I don't think the guitars are harsh enough, in the beginning at least. I don't know if thats the right word, but they seem kinda dull, but what do I know about this style. Maybe recording with a little more high end might help. After Taking a second listen, I would label the guitar sound as Acceptable. You could leave it and it wouldn't be that big a deal. It sounds weird, but a cool weird. If you want to record them again, I would recommend trying that so you can try to get the sound you want. It isn't necessary though. Lead guitar in the guitar solo, can come out more. It's blending in, but you might wanna try to bring out the lead guitar some more. Word of encouragement: it sounds very similar to the actual Iron Maiden song, if thats what you are going for. I absolutely love the vocals, though. Part of it, at least, is the talent of the vocalist. Everything sits well in the mix, and you should be happy with the results. As a drummer, I am usually pretty picky on the drum sound, but it's great. Solid mix.
Word of encouragement: it sounds very similar to the actual Iron Maiden song, if thats what you are going for.

[kredd]

pretty good recoding and mix all around altho i have to agree about the bringing the solos up a bit in the mix. i grew up on maiden and am wearing a run to the hills t-shirt as i type and honestly wasn't expecting something this close - the guitars, as well as drums and bass, are pretty dang good. and you've got to have some guts to try and imitate bruce, or even paul, so great job. any more tunes on the way?