Bash me sideways

[Andy666]

Hello all.

I´m new to this forum and new to mixing in general so I need some help with this song my band and I just recorded.

It was recorded in our rehearsel space i Copenhagen.
Digi002 with ADA8000 and Audix mics for the drums.
Guitars with 2 x SM57 and an AKG "something" to Digi002
Bass through a SansAmp pedal and straight in the Digi002
No vocals yet.

I think it sounds a bit mooshy and low in volume. I have tried bringing it up but the Master fader will just go crazy on me.
I have used AUX inputs with EQ, Comp and Reverb for the drums as well as guitars and the whole mix in general.

What do you think?
What can I do to improve it?

Thanks :-)

PS: the guitars might be a bit to loud in the mix...

[ptmvox]

Honestly, the mixing job sounds great to me, I'm not a pro, but I feel like I have a good ear. I would agree that you may want to double check your meters and see where the guitars sit, turning them down may also make the bass pop out with the very minimal amount of mids I am hearing from them. I used to look at the volume of all the guitars routed through a bus as opposed to the individual tracks, huge mistake (just FYI if you're doing the same thing). However, the level of the guitars does not throw this mix off balance, but it may be problematic with the introduction of vocals. As for bringing up the volume, look into the Waves L2 limiter. Great song man.

-Check out some of my work in the "bash" forums if you get a chance.

[Andy666]

Thanks for the feedback! :-)

I´ll give the knobs some more squeezes and see if it help with that L2.

Glad you like the song. Wrote it myself (I play the drums in the band) and it´s just my second song written ever!

If anyone else have some inputs regarding the mix feel free to chime in ;-)

Oh yes another thing...
When tracking...lets say drums for example. Will it sound better to track them with an external comp or EQ when going into the Digi002?
Or do you just put the plugs on in the afterward mix?

Thanks again.

[ptmvox]

If you have good outboard gear its generally better to take that route, unless you have really nice plugins and a powerful workstation. And for the L2, make sure your out ceiling is set to 0.1 and then begin dragging the threshold slider down while listening to the loudest part of your song, if there is no activity in the out ceiling meters, you have squashed it too much.

[King83]

Cool song, the only thing I found mildly irritating about the mix was that I couldn't tell the difference between the bass drum kick and when a note was hit with the Bass. It sounds like the Bass guitar has that sweet "pow" kind of feel to it when it's hit, but the bass drum I think is falling into the exact same spot making it hard to tell them apart.

Maybe it's just me though, perhaps EQing their frequencies a bit might help make them more distinguished? It's possible that what I THINK is the bass guitar starting a note is actually the kick drum, like I said I can't really tell hah!

Cool song though, good flow and structure!

[Vanan]

Like everyone's mentioned, great song dude. Always respect a fellow musician tackling the job of being the audio engineer too. Not an easy feat.

My 2 cents is that, I think the bass frequencies are conflicting too much. Between the rhythm guitars and bass. Dun think I even hear the bass from the kick. Then again, my hearing isn't as refined as others on this forum. Not sure if the click of the kick is all the presence you want from it. Some pro recordings seem to take that route though. Having the bass guitar follow the kick instead of the rhythm. Either way, I think you'd have to tame down some of your bass frequencies in your rhythm guitars.

[Razortalon]

I like the bass sound, especially the fact that I can actually hear it.