Rough Mix w/ No Vox...yet

[Vulconizer]

Okay, so we finally got a good friend who plays drums to come over and work on a song.

It has words written, just haven't had the time to get them laid down. It's a bit repetitive without the vox, but...

Drums -
I think the snare needs a bit of compression on the channel. I feel he just didn't play it hard enough consistently, so it gets a bit papery-sounding to me in places. I already have it, the kick, and the room mic going to a "squash it to hell and back" bus. I have that being mixed in with the drum bus moderately. Anyone have any other ideas on the drums?

Bass -
It's the scratch track and will be redone this weekend, hopefully. Opinions on it so far?

Guitars -
I am thinking of adding two more tracks with little-to-no distortion to beef 'em up.

Editing-
I'm gonna see what I can do to fix the little issues and tighten it up. It will get me out of the house a bit, at least.

Bash it real hard. Let me know what is working and what isn't, sound-wise.

[willjrockstar]

I kinna dig it. my listening level was too quiet to make any tonal judgments (4am here) but the guitar melody was cool. The snare drum however was drivin me a little batty because he was hittin the two and four EVERY TIME. A little more syncopation on the snare drum could help break the parts up a bit better.

[Tony Ramone]

Hey man, this sounds cool. The mix seems to be pretty solid - good separation between instruments, but it all gels together (isn't that the magic formula we all want? ).
Now please tell me, cause it's driving me nuts: what's that ticking that comes in every now and then towards the end? It's not that watch clip that somebody posted a couple of weeks ago, is it (was that you?)?

[Vulconizer]

Originally Posted by Tony Ramone

Now please tell me, cause it's driving me nuts: what's that ticking that comes in every now and then towards the end?

Heh. It's just some claves and other percussion that he did as an afterthought. I'm not happy at all with it yet. Might just do it over myself. It's off-time. Well, it's on drunken time, I guess.

The snare drum however was drivin me a little batty because he was hittin the two and four EVERY TIME. A little more syncopation on the snare drum could help break the parts up a bit better.

Hmmm... that might be something that's been bugging me on some level with it as well. Now I've got to consider how to approach him on working on that.

Thanks for the replies you guys.

[awaken1]

Guitar tones sound pretty beefy as they are. Cool Riff! .However the bass drum seems maybe a bit slappy sounding. (slappy not sloppy)Not much punch compaired to the guitars..squashin em sounds like the trick maybe..The tom fills seem kinda light..maybe bring those up a bit..not sure but going by the fills and cymbal crashes seems like the drummer plays kind of light. This song could bennefit from really attacking those drums if theres a chance for a retake..I concur about the syncopation on the snare..or a beat change of some sort to break it up a little bit.. Like the bass sound your getting, compliments the song and guitars very well..it being a scratch track as you said, that note bend at 2:39 might be a little much on the attack, unless that was the effect you were going for.
I like the song! I'd crank it in my car for sure! Nice job.

[rockerdude]

This reminds me of Soundgarden.The drums lack any kind of energy at all.Nice guitar riff this would sound good with a soulfull melodic vocalist.

This is a great start!

[Vulconizer]

Thank you guys for the replies and advice.

I've had a gut feeling about something to do with this mix and others that relate to it. It makes it easier to move in the right direction and take necessary steps with the info given. Much appreciated.

[fHumble fHingaz]

Very dark & fat sounding riffs! I love the way you've got such a downright obese bass sound without too much muddiness - I can imagine an Alice In Chains / Soundgarden type vocal over this. I can hear what you're saying about the drums... short of getting him to re-take it & encouraging him to smash the hell out of the drums, I'd suggest using a Transient Designer-type plug in parallel on the top drum mic & cranking up the attack & losing the sustain, then mixing it in with the original to taste. The kick needs some more sustain on it as well - too clicky & a bit "disembodied" from the rest of the mix. I like the idea of adding some cleaner guitars to add some sparkle to the mix - a Vox AC30 type sound driven to the edge of overdrive (with a lot of compression to meld it in with the overdriven stuff) would really add a layer of complexity & sophistication to the guitar riffs (think STP). Good stuff!

[Vulconizer]

Thanks, fHumble. Some great suggestions there. They all sound fun to work with and are already spawning other ideas as well.

Got to love this site for all the creativity and help.