Take it easy on me... i'm new!!!

[filkove]

ok, heres the dael, i uploaded my first attempt in mixing my bands song. this is just the instrometal, the lyrics will come later. baby steps rite?

so please take a listen and tell me what i can do to get a better sound, and try to explain it to me as if i was a 4 year old, i'm not very educated on this stuff. everything i have done so far is from trial and error...

here's the link: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=716114

thanks,
Filkove

[.tom]

cool. here's some observasions..

1) drums 7->8kc is clashy

b) automate the bass to be in the mix when guitar/drums get going

3) mastering compressor is breathing a bit hard...

c) bring up the vocal


not bad for a first go tighten your performances

[brandondrury]

Okay, my turn.

#1) The direct guitars aren't happening. If it's practical to mic a real cabinet, I'd recommend trying it.

#2) I'm hearing nothing but a bunch of cymbals and fizz. The mix is cymbal heavy and guitar fizz heavy. The solution to this is shoving your foot up the drummers ass and having really hit the damn snare. I'm serious. Country drummers smash their snare's WAY harder. If he cries about his arm hurting (which a lot of heavy drummers will) kick him in the balls or punch him in the face. (Then his arm problems won't be such a big deal anymore.)

The kick is....boomy for the type of music. I'd rather hear more definition (maybe 3K, maybe higher).

If you could get the cymbals down (which is 2/3 the drummers fault and 1/3 the mic placement of the overheads and get the fizz out of the guitars, you'd have a pretty decent mix.

I know you are using 3 mics on drums, but no one ever said they had to be overheads. Why not underheads? Take some type to get a great balance with your "overheads". In my room, I got where I was putting one mic about 3' off the ground and about 2' from the floor tom. Then I'd put the other mic several feet above the snare. Actually, I'd measure the distance from the mic on the floor tom side to the snare and make sure the mic above the snare was the same distance for phase reasons.

Why did I put these mics in this position? Easy! I wanted less cymbals and more floor tom in one mic. I wanted less cymbals on the other mic (on top of the snare) but I was getting too much hihat keeping it low. So, I moved the mic away from the hihat. A caveman with spare time could get a good recording!!

I'm not hearing boxiness in the drums which happens to be the biggest problem for drum recording at home.

#3) Yeah, I also hear the excessive limiting on the 2bus (master fader).

I can see that you are going to be pretty damn good at this if you stick with it and work out some of your bigger issues. Keep hitting it.

As far as getting the drummer to get what you want, put a single mic about 3' high and 7' feet in front of the kit. Have him play the song. Have him listen back to it. If his kick and snare aren't obviously the loudest parts of the drum kit, he has failed. Tell him to do it again. Repeat until the kick and snare have power.

Brandon

[filkove]

Thanks... I am the drummer and I play really hard... I was very displeased with the drum recording but kind of brushed it off as a poor recording (sounds hell of a lot better live... i have my snare really tight and it has a very chrisp sound to it... to bad the mic didnt pick that up). I think I need to lower the volume of the overhead mic and move the snare mic closer to the snare. Unfortunately I’m using a vocal mic for the snare and overhead.($$$ is a big issue). I don’t know what 2Bus and 3K is... can you explain further?

[brandondrury]

I’m using a vocal mic for the snare and overhead.

A mic is a mic. Granted, each design / model will have it's own sound, there have been a ton of records made with a Shure SM 57 for vocals and there have been a billion mega recordings made with a 57 on the snare top.

When you accept that a mic is just a "sound catcher" and price / marketing hype (like "vocal mic") mean nothing in the heat of battle (actually tracking) then you open your brain up to actually find the right spot to put the mic. Until you get yourself into that mode of thinking, you'll just consider your equipment substandard and effectively turn your brain off.

I don’t know what 2Bus and 3K is... can you explain further?

2bus - The stereo out bus where all the signals eventually flow into.

3K stands for 3,000 Hz.

Are you doing all rimshots? Are you happy with the tuning of the snare? The big boys are tuning after every couple of takes in many cases. Especially with the heavy stuff.

What does your room sound like? A lot of the brightness in snare drums comes from the careful use of reverb, but the right room will have this naturally.

Brandon