So those stubborn people......need a hug.

[TonyB]

Originally Posted by jagcmos

That's sometimes tough to do.
I've heard many albums recorded and mixed by a band, and with the exception of a few, I could tell what member (drummer, guitar, etc) mixed it.

That is so true!

I'm a guitar player and I always need to have independent listeners make sure that my mixes don't sound like a Steve Vai solo record!

I actually had someone (maybe it was on this forum Bash) listen to one of my mix's and ask me if I was a guitar player. After re-listening to the mix, yes...the guitars were very high in the mix.

[String7th]

Originally Posted by deadraven

When you listen to something, and you just know what sounds better, you go with it right?

Like w@arm, everyone will have thier own opinion on what that means. When it comes to home stereos, car stereos and most everything else, the average person thinks more bass means better. Other people think clearer, or brighter.

Take this as example:
AFI: Sing the sorrow
vs.
Disturbed: Indestructable

I think the AFI album sounds much better. It's got a dark raw quality, under-gained amps with a little mud in the bass and kick. One of my fav recorded guitar tones on any album. Played with little imperfections kept in, almost like a blues player.
Others think the polished and produced, crystal clean sound of Disturbed sounds better. Perfect guitar parts cut and edited to punch like all hell. Possible drum replacement on snare and kick. etc

Just remember that you will have to agree on what sounds "better" to everyone. Or get a producer to decide for you, that's much easier.

[Vulconizer]

I always have to watch for that myself. I love to hear the guitars huge and loud all the way through, but I force myself to make them sit where they should, dependent upon the song.

I think I sometimes over do it with the vocals as a sort of compensation. People like to understand the words though, right? lol

I'm wondering how, by just switching sides with the guitars, you can get a passage of a song to mix better? Is there potentially some masking going on there or what? Curious.

[cheatingatmath]

i once had a band in that pulled the "we're punk. we want to sound punk. we want to sound like we do live. we don't want it to be all mainstream polished and compressed. we want it to be open and punk. no guitar overdubs. blah blah blah." (which calling yourself punk is about the most un-punk thing you can do, but whatever) card.

so i mixed a very open, raw punk album, ala iggy and the stooges.

i gave them a copy and they came back with puppy dog eyes are were all like "it doesn't sound big." so i asked them about what they wanted, and eventually they said "well..My Chemical Romance's Black Parade album sounds really big. i was hoping that it would sound something like that."

The song 'Welcome to the Black Parade' has 144 recorded tracks...all juiced of any and all musicality and thrown full speed at a L2. It was metaphorical atomic bomb in the loudness war. They won. If you listen carefully, you can hear spiders farting in the background. It's that devoid of dynamics.

...real punk rock...

but at the end of the day, it's their record. I took him back inside, threw it all through an L2, smeared it, and he jumped for joy. They say you can only a woman how to raise her child once. After that, it's none of your business. I look at mixing that way. You make your case, but ultimately, they're the ones who have to live with it. They win the argument. You move on.

[willjrockstar]

Sounds to me like that guy would argue with you if you said Canada is north of Texas.

[Vulconizer]

Originally Posted by cheatingatmath

If you listen carefully, you can hear spiders farting in the background.

On some of my tunes, you can even smell the spiders farting...Compressed the living sheeeit out of 'em, I guess.

[deadraven]

loool @ spiders

Yeah, I'm the bass player so I feel as though I'm cutting the bass too much sometimes but like you said, you just have to put it in where it sits right
I have noticed that alot with a few engineers who are in bands around my area.

I'll just do two different versions and get them all to listen to both, if the band dont notice the difference then I'll just go with the same panned

We all argue with band members from time to time, but with us its more like we're family, if we argue, we know its just about band related things, so once we clear it up, we all go down the pub and its all gravy
Friendship means more to us than band politics, and as long as you keep that, everything is always cool afterward

My initial rant was well, cuz I was angry and needed somewhere to vent lol apologies dudes!!!

I'm all good now

[tylerxfury]

ive had the same problem as cheatingatmath
clients i had refused to double track, refused to studio edit
so i told them record it again so i have a backup copy, in case i mess up
and instead mixed 2 copies, one with singles of each track
and the other with double bass, double guitar, double vocals, huge sounding
in the end, the band thanked me repetitively for my expertise
give anything a shot, theres no way to get it wrong really

btw, im curious
where did you read about that song having 144 layers?

[cheatingatmath]

Actually...159 tracks. Link below.

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Chris Lord-Alge

[jagcmos]

Originally Posted by cheatingatmath

Actually...159 tracks. Link below.

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Chris Lord-Alge

FTA: Chris Lord-Alge leaves most of his hardware gear fixed on a single favourite setting. If he needs to use another setting, he buys another 1176...

Poor bastard, I really feel for him.
Should I actually tweak a knob, screw that, I'll just buy another butt load of
top end outboard gear.

I'll try that on my wife sometime.
"Yeah, babe I know it has knobs that can be adjusted, but it's such a pain in the ass and your mom can wait for that operation"