Whole Band Mix

[rimshot28]

Hi gang,

I helped record a high school band over the weekend. Let me know what you think. We did this in a few hours using Cubase Studio 4 and a Presonus Firestudio.

RS

[lividone]

Nifty tune.

I really wanted to enjoy this song but there's a few distractions to point out.

- There's more bass in the acoustic than in the BASS. Full bodied acoustics sound cool 'n all but it really let DOWN the build UP in the transition to the "grungy" song for me. The acoustic came across a little "woofy" on my monitors , 80-100hz range I'm guessing.

- The bass is muddied out by/into the guitars, lacks clarity and the power you seem to be going for. Really need some EQ work between the guitars and bass or maybe a multiband comp on the bass( perhaps Rbass) . The best option would be to retrack the parts with better amp settings if that's a possibility. Maybe it's a distortion on the bass that's too close to the guitar tone? It's causing all kinds of problems with the kick as well.

- Toms are perfect, 'love 'em. Everything else on the kit needs a kick in the balls. Snare washes with the hats and cymbals. Kick is fairly good , a 2khz boost for snap may help to define it some...listening louder, it sounds like it's there but it doesn't cut quite through. Parellel compression on the snare and kick would help alot I think. Compression on the OH's to lessen the wash, too. ( I'm no expert on drum mixes by any means so take it for what it's worth. I'm still struggling with drums myself.)

Well, I clicked on another song for comparison and now I can't backtrack to yours to further review, so that's all I got for now.

Keep it up dude. I like it overall and I'm interested to see what you do with it.

[rimshot28]

Thanks for the advice . . . luckily everything was recorded dry with effects done after the fact so redoing it all shouldn't be a problem. Gotta love modern technology. . . I'll give it another go and repost. If you have any other advice . . . I'd really appreciate it. I have no real EQ experience at all and my "monitors" are made by logitech (ok they're my computer speakers).

Thanks again,
RS

[brandondrury]

I'm not huge on the way the high end click of the guitar has gotten in the reverb in the intro.

I don't like the electric guitars at all. What amps were these? If the amp tone ain't happening, there really isn't anything you can do. Is this a modeling amp? It sounds like it. It also sounds like there is some weird ambiance on this track as well.

The toms are a big and mean. I do like that.

I would have compressed the vocals way harder especially in the chorus. That chorus would feel way better.

The drums are nice and natural. I really like the smooth cymbal sounds. You don't hear natural kind of drums in this genre anymore.

The vocal sound is uninspired, but if you weren't producing this project there isn't much you can do there.

[pikachu]

i do think that the song is nice..i am not fun of this kind of rock and i think that with less distortion, it would sound better, but still there is something pleasant within this song that can't be ignored.
also as said above, the db to high..in my internal mixer i am getting "over".

[rimshot28]

You're good Brandon! The amp is modeled. I tried running the signal through an impulse, but it still just doesn't do it. The band insisted on using this distortion pedal that sounded junky, but they liked the sound so I went with it.

Thanks for the feedback . . . I'll post a new mix when I get the time.

RS

[uab9253]

Yes the bass is a bit farty, but it sounds to me like it was the source sound and it might be hard to fix in post no matter how dry it went in. I did like the how the vocal sat, level wise, in the mix. The wah solo at the end has a good tone, but it feels like it came from out of nowhere and doesn't fit in overall with the mix. It's like some new guy stepped in and cut that part, some studio guy who's not in the band. lol.

[jamie78]

I have to say that I couldn't make it through the whole song. It sounded like you just threw up the faders full bore and added some verb and called it a day.
What are you using for monitors? Do you listen to music on them regularly? I would go back to the mix and start with the drums and rework everything.
I think the song has some potential.
I do agree with uab9253, that solo come out of nowhere.

[rimshot28]

Here's another go . . .

Thanks for all of the comments . . .

I hope I've done them justice.

[rimshot28]

Give the original a listen and then hit up my new version . . .

What do you like, what do you hate, let me have it!