Challenges / Recommendations

[brandondrury]

- The drums were tracked in a HYPER dead room. This was part of an experiment. I think the experiment worked BUT it requires specific treatments. Those drum tracks ARE dead.

- I goofed an edit on the big guitars on the last chorus. I was able to edit ‘em in from the next progression and it worked fine. OOPS!

- The overheads were "designed" be aggressively high passed. That doesn't mean my design is right for you. SMILEY

- The overheads are actually underheads. That reinforced the toms in a way that I was after. I believe I overemphasized the tom importance (after screwing this up on their last project) and probably should have been pickier about the cymbals. Too late now.

- The lead guitars are 1k heavy. Those were put in there kinda sorta as a joke that the singer/band boss tolerated. This isn't really a Days Of Thunder song. (I have this tendency to want ALL songs to sound like the Days Of Thunder score....for good reason.)

- The verse lead guitars are supposed to be obnoxious. That was all my idea. Blame me. The slop was the only way it worked. This can CAN PLAY. Trust me.

This band is not really a full-blown rocker kind of band. They are stepping out of their bounds (something I respect!). They are really into Dave Mathews Band so look there for inspiration, reference, etc.

[jimsies]

Hey Brandon, should there be something to listen to? Or did I miss something?

[brandondrury]

We finished the tracking for this July 31 @ 1:00am. I started a mix, but I don't post rough mixes anymore. So, unfortunately, there is no reference at the moment....which I kinda like, actually. The schedule is a bit brutal at the moment. I'm not sure when I'll get a mix up. Maybe tomorrow, but more like next week.

Brandon

[ncls]

Oh, this is *really* some fresh meat
Thanks to share that song

Edit: oh, you can also wait for those superfast mixers around here
I'm surprise that there is not yet

[willj]

Looks like had some tracks labled wrong at the time of print

I think tom 3 bottom should be tom 2 bottom and tom 3 top should be tom 2 top...or vise versa.

Also, a lot of clicks and pops on the bass tracks that are going to be a bitch to fix IF even possible without changing the bass track. Not too big o' deal but woulda been more easily fixed there. The parts that repeat - yeah no big deal, just grab it from somwhere else in the song, but if there is a pop onb an important fill that only gets played once in the song yr kinda screwed. I'll have to hear it.

Usually if a guy doesnt know what he's about to play, i'll have him lay down a foundation track first. Just something solid and simple. then you can lay the more complex take over top of that and move mistakes out of the way for the foundation track to poke thru.
Works best if the two bass tracks are similar.

Also, sounds like one overhead mic was hi passed and the other one wasnt.

[m24p]

I bet the people who start late are going to have problems looking up Steven Slate's twitter page for the answers to get the download.

[jimsies]

I started a mix, but I don't post rough mixes anymore. So, unfortunately, there is no reference at the moment....which I kinda like, actually.

Fair enough!

[IMF OnSite Recording]

You're right about dead, brandon, but I may have fixed that by creating a simulation of a room mic.. I mentioned it in the other sticky. Seems to be working great, actually.. possibly worth threading on "Nail the Sounds" if I get around to it. I dont mind sharing some of my techniques before posting my mix, maybe itll help others deal with the dead drum issue.

[m24p]

I just threw some pre-compression ambiance on them and they sounded downright normal.

[JoshERTW]

So I just got ARC a few weeks back and this will be my first real mix with it. The manual says to put ARC in at the end of the 2-bus chain, but I like to mix with my limiter and bus Comp/EQ in (master as I go so to speak, then tweak to taste once everything is working).

Problem I'm having is that application of ARC after the limiter puts me in the red - Application of ARC before the limiter seems like it will skew my results. Obviously I'm bypassing ARC when I mix down. In bypassing it, I'm back to the limiter being the last item in the chain and no more red. Maybe this is just a psychological issue of not wanting to see my master bus clipping while I mix... Any ARC user's on here who also mix with 2-bus limiting/compression/EQ that have encountered this?

My brain tells me that it shouldn't be a problem regardless of what the meter is saying - I'm applying what is effectively an EQ after my limiter and changing a few frequencies pretty drastically in doing so, but its only temporary.

[m24p]

Turn the master fader down so you don't clip and turn your interface volume up. Remember to remove ARC and put your master fader up. (Con: you have to remember to change 2 things to export, rather than just one). Or use the trim on ARC to turn it down. (Con: you can't use the ARC trim to give the same apparent level bypassed)

[Radukku]

Hey Josh!
Is this ARC thing really doing something (useful that is) for you? I mix ONLY on headphones and just ocassionally check for stuff on the monitors...Would it help me?...I mean the (living)room I concoct my mixes is really a mess of shapes and furniture...
Thx man!

[Radukku]

Have a quick question...or two?
Firstly I noticed while doing some listening today (now) that there are a few mixes with replies for them but no rating...I'm not sure what that means!...Wouldn't it be appropriate to mark the mix since you listened to it and commented on it already ?
Or maybe some 'posters' forgot that is not wrong to rate their own mixes to begin with? Or didn't know...
Secondly can we use external material in the mixes (as in NOT provided with the download files)...for some reason I believed that was not allowed...so I decided I should ask!
That's it, back to the mixes...
Thank you

[m24p]

I usually rate stuff later in the game once I have a sense of perspective on the mixes.

And yes, external material is allowed, so long as it wouldn't piss off any of the band members. (So replacing the guitar performance would be out.)

[Radukku]

So coming later to rate...that's very thoughtful...take your time...let it sink for a while...I see it
...but I am a bit forgetful too...
As for adding stuff...
Dang! I wish I knew it!
So as long I don't SUBSTITUTE anything from the original tracks I can ADD more stuff!?!!?(NO I don't mean my own playing something...I wish I was remotely close to any playing I heard so far!...) But anything else?!
Ouch!...Like any noises? Stuff?...
DAs IST KOOL!

[m24p]

I think it's one of those things where the line is gray. Like, the band would probably think you a little presumptions if you added in a harmonica solo, but of you layered some synth pads into the background to make the chorus pop they probably wouldn't care. Or a Harley sample.

[Radukku]

Fair enough!

[IMF OnSite Recording]

Brandon, were your drum tracks recorded like this for the sole purpose of just using the transient information as triggers for samples?
That's all I focus on when I track drums. I could honestly care less about the NON overhead sound of the drums as far as "does this sound worth keeping in the mix"; it's the quality and the tracking of each drum transient that is important.. being able to get all the velocities and what not, without major bleedover from reflections to interfere and make triggering much harder... and a dead room works good for that . Sound about right?

EDIT: That's my point of view, not for all genre's though... blues and jazz I would like to get the actual kit in most scenarios...

[mattd546]

Yessss, im pumped, dont worry about the dead drums im going to make bombs out of them, i'm going to give the drum track some special stuff iknow when im in a situation, and i will bill it budddy, lol i just mixed for about 4 hours and got just about 95% done, im ready to take this months hell yeah, i want the "slate mastering plugin, that will really help my studio finish up and master some great mix'es, i cant wait, thank you guys so much, i can see im going to get into this like a mother ffflllllr lol, well please if anyone reads this let me know of somthing, so i already downloaded the August mix stuff, i already started working on it and cant wait to show you guys, this download song is 100% my style all the way, i hope i win even just 1 thing i would be happy and learn some great trick, i'm already almost done with august challeng, lol i have no clue what im doing on here though, all i know is that im a crazy awesome mixer and im ready to get some slate free mastering tools, thanks alot guys for this stuff, it is pumping me up right now, i will give you a perfect radio ready mixed & Masterd right from me, Matthew D, in not that good with computers, so i hope when im done mixing august i can post it and pepole will rate it, and then i get my free slate tools hahaha, thanks guys,

[mattd546]

Oh, this is *really* some fresh meat
Thanks to share that song

Edit: oh, you can also wait for those superfast mixers around here
I'm surprise that there is not yet

tom 3 bottom should be tom 2 bottom and tom 3 top should be tom 2 top or somthing like that, i just swaped them, very easy fix, there was somthing wierd going on with the Snare Bottom, its very noisy, i know it suppose to be cuz of the chain on the bottom on a snare, but this was kinda bad, so i had to clean that track up, and take out any other bleed ins, like kick and whatnot, and going into the chorus its like BOOM everry guitar goes up, but its very fixable, and prob. should have a little flex there, the drums are dead, but thats ok, not a bad fix, use a little reverb glue in a fx bus, and just blend the 2 together, and just give a touch of verb to all the drums, but be carefull when doing that, might have to put a high pass filter in the eq of the reverb glue so the really really sub lows wont be a mess with the verb, and you dont want the hurting ears high's to high in the reverb aswell, well hope it helps, i did about 50% mix of the song, this is 100% my style, im pumped, hope i win, im broke and need a new mastering tool plugin!!!! good day guays

[mattd546]

sweet, this is for the august contest mix right? this will be my first mix for the contest, when can we start loading the wave file of my mix on here? do you know when we can start putting them up?

[fHumble fHingaz]

sweet, this is for the august contest mix right? this will be my first mix for the contest, when can we start loading the wave file of my mix on here? do you know when we can start putting them up?

Umm... Sorry mate, you had to have your August mix done by the last day of August... The top 16 mixes have been decided already and are going through the judging process to work out the top 8 mixes at the moment. September is still open, though.

[danmanisa]

sweet, this is for the august contest mix right? this will be my first mix for the contest, when can we start loading the wave file of my mix on here? do you know when we can start putting them up?

Hey man,
You certainly have some enthusiasm (and personality! )! Be sure to read all the rules and FAQs here, here and here before you do too much. I figure if you are posting August's mix now, you may not have read the rules yet. Also, make sure you try to listen, comment on vote on a couple of mixes during the month too, so everyone wins (so to speak). If you're good enough, you may just score a free plug in, but you will quickly find that A) there are some seriously good mixers here and B) the plug ins ain't the real prize here but the experience of mixing different styles and even more crucially, refining your critical listening skills, which get a real tune up when listening to 80+ versions of each song!

Good luck, I look forward to hearing your Sept mix.

[mattd546]

ohhhh alright, sorry, im new to this site, so this contest is pretty much over then? will there be an october mix?

[mattd546]

hey thanks alot, yup know i understand whats going on, lol i know there are alot of great mixers here, tons, so i here ya, yeah thats the big prize is getting better with mixing and listening to other mix'es i agree, i can use another mastering tool for sure though lol, is this contest just about over? will there be one in october? cuz for some reason the sept mix i cant get the drums into my daw, "sonar producer 8.3.01" i might have to start doing the mixes in october if there is one, i've been comenting and rating other mixes in sept. there is alot of great mixes to, but we all can get better! thanks buddy, let me know if there will be other monthly contest on this