Mix/master advise - thanx

[It'sJoeAgain]

Waht up slutz??

a friend of mine is askin my opinion about this mix/master he made in a very short time, he's concerned that he may have not done the best possible job with waht was giving (uneven drums, badly submixed open/closed hats and ride/crash cymbals, electric guitars very harsh sounding, uneven vocals). In other words *a fix it in the mix* project. I told them i would get back to him. I don't know if anybody could have done better with what appears to be almost a turd (mix 1).

I am thinkin maybe the electric rythm guitrs are a bit too much on the chorus??
The hi hats are still not well defined??
The snare could be snappier or re-tuned ??
I know somethin is up wit those drums man, they sound like a friggin' drum machine, but i am not sure about taht either....i guess if they are then maybe this mix is ok?

I don' wanna tell him somethin unless i am 100% sure, feel me? in that case i'd say to him just deliver that n' be done wit it...

So can u help me figure out if this is already in the ball park and if any changes would be more like subjetive stuff than anythin else (like less reverb on vocal, u know what i am sayin)...or maybe u on your great monitor hear somethin that should be addressed or not translating good....
Other than waht i said above, i think is good but if u guys hear somethin that i didn't catch, or if there is a trick i should know to relay that info to him it would b very cool man. thanks!

Mix-1: Original Mix as ipresented for mastering
Mix-2: Mixed and Mastered by the engineer

Please let me knwo.....n' again i appreciate any sdvise

[It'sJoeAgain]

well...... 13 pipl herd this n' none sayin anythin....knowin how sh*t works on this site ....taht's good....?? i too don' know but my feelin is that it ain't a bad master for a few hrs of work...thanx anyways.

[miro]

Originally Posted by It'sJoeAgain

well...... 13 pipl herd this n' none sayin anythin....knowin how sh*t works on this site ....taht's good....?? i too don' know but my feelin is that it ain't a bad master for a few hrs of work...thanx anyways.

yo yo yo...cool down

was listening to them and here's my opinion:

somehow the original sounds better (besides not having the loudness)
i think he limited it so much that the chorus part, which is supposed to "open up", gets pushed down which doesn't seem like that in the original tune. (check the moment before the chorus comes in...it all goes down when it starts!)

also about the drums: besides the kickdrum, the snare could be much more present. (have some upfront mids maybe) and as you mentioned the hihats don't sound very nice..just ok. same about the cymbals.

maybe the guitars could have a bit more stereo panning or so...

the track in general doesnt sound bad.
i'm not a pro but that's what i hear!


peez

[mekohler]

I am not a pro AT ALL, but my opinion:

The final master sounds good to me, but there is def something funky with the drums. Snares and cymbals need to be more present. Hihat sounds like a drum machine and is also stale/weak.

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by miro

also about the drums: besides the kickdrum, the snare could be much more present.

So, more kick drum and snare ha?....

(have some upfront mids maybe)

I don' understand what u mean....

....maybe the guitars could have a bit more stereo panning or so...

maybe add reverb to them?? thanx...

Originally Posted by mekohler

I am not a pro AT ALL, but my opinion:
The final master sounds good to me, but there is def something funky with the drums. Snares and cymbals need to be more present. Hihat sounds like a drum machine and is also stale/weak.

The thing is.. i am faid no matter what he does it will still sound like a drum machine....more snare i think is a good idea.....thanks 4 ur input

[hisbluness]

Most stuff being said already. What bugs me the most is the chorus. I expected kind of a big chorus after the verse however it sounds tiny and very compressed/limited. I think this needs the most attention. maybe lower the volume of the verse to kind of have a bigger reserve when the chorus comes in. Right now that doesnt feel right.

A little more snare would be nice as well. More stereo on the guitars as well.

Fix the chorus thing and its way way better than the original

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by hisbluness

Most stuff being said already. What bugs me the most is the chorus. I expected kind of a big chorus after the verse however it sounds tiny and very compressed/limited. I think this needs the most attention. maybe lower the volume of the verse to kind of have a bigger reserve when the chorus comes in. Right now that doesnt feel right.

A little more snare would be nice as well. More stereo on the guitars as well.

Fix the chorus thing and its way way better than the original

So he should just take the verses and change gain by say 2 or3 db? interesting...

[hisbluness]

That would be one approach. The softer the verse is compared to the chorus, the bigger the impact once the chorus comes in. Although I would also recommend to sort of rework the compression (maybe even the stereo image) of the chorus.

[miro]

hey again

no the kick was absolutely fine to me.
i meant the snare to be more in the front (by maybe adding some nice punchy mids to get em a bit more in your face)

guitars...i don't think reverb would do it...more of a stronger panning to left and right...maybe.

the snare needs more punch!
the hihats/cymbals some different EQing coz to me the high end didnt sound "nice"..a bit metallic or so (and i personally would try to get a little ambience or something similar on them since its a drumcomputer and no overheads are in the mix) IMO.

btw: i think the song is quiet good

oh and about the chorus thing and keeping the verses a bit lower:
just a little less limiting would surely get closer to a more even result

the chorus has to be the louder one!

all the best

[cooker]

This is very bad, if sending back (or accepting stems) is no option...I fooled around with it, "slight" widening, multiband working around high-mid+highs, corrective eq'ing (with a little m/s shaping), inflator (or any exiter type thing) and finally a limiter (mostly working to balance the sub.s) seemed best but again I didn't try much.

Less compression to my limited experience always works better with turds

[It'sJoeAgain]

Aight Yo....he didn' even gimme a chance to tell him about ur feedback n' already sent a new revision ( i guess he knew it sucked )...amd sounds to me like u guyz were on point cause i herd widened of the elec rythym guitars, more kick, and oh he did mention to me before that there was a bit of distorion on som of the snares and that they were very uneven.....he wants to knoe if the chorus sounds like is going into distortion now (because of some of those snares and elec guitars).....

Here it is....u guyz were on target imo. thanx again

[cooker]

Much better than previous. Only 1 thing though, To me (after 35 second) automating an 2 db eq boost to around 8 khz would be more musically correct.

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by cooker

Much better than previous. Only 1 thing though, To me (after 35 second) automating an 2 db eq boost to around 8 khz would be more musically correct.

Hmmmm...but wouldn' that raise the electric guitars harshness n' also wouln' the vocal probably sound with more sibilance?? does anybody else feel that a 2dB shelf boost at 8k is needed??

Thanks cooker....let's wait n' hear what the others think...i am also assuming that u got very good monitors to make such a recommedation...

[cooker]

Oh I didn't write, its actually a bell with mid-ish q value. I suggest because the limiter kicks in more after that time and the vocal is losing some brightness+ the impact feeling could be better.

I'm using adam nearfields but its very late here and I can't turn them on much-so its possible I might be wrong. You're welcome.

[miro]

yes sounds definitely better
maybe guitars a little louder in the chorus???

p.s. monitors: yamaha NS-10

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by miro

yes sounds definitely better
maybe guitars a little louder in the chorus???

p.s. monitors: yamaha NS-10

Yep..that's exactly what i am tellin him...more guitars! and u know.... if it sounds good on NS-10s......
thanx all 4 ur input thumbsup

[It'sJoeAgain]

hey...thanx again those who bothered to take a listen n' give some opinions....here is the final master..(though i was told stil pending customer approval) and i think that extra 8k *air* was considered its not bad for a drum machine imo.

[Petelebu]

final mix 4 is almost perfect, doesnt sound like big time studio work but it pass, by the way i think it would sound better those strings on the back instead of in front, it has an air of metallica mixed with evanesance , and listening to it again,i really think it would sound better with the cellos on the back, loud, but on the back.

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by Petelebu

final mix 4 is almost perfect, doesnt sound like big time studio work but it pass,

what do u expect from a drum machine??

[sordeli]

Hi Joe, sorry by inserting my files in your post, but some how in my account I can't post a new one. (I hope it wont bother you!)

I did not record and mix this songs, only the mastering, please tell me your opinions, Im a Jazz lover so,I hope you like my work, any advise I will apreciate it
for this I used ISA 110. Tubetech SMC2b, and Blue 230

[sordeli]

PD nice work Joe

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by sordeli

(snip).. the mastering, please tell me your opinions, Im a Jazz lover so,I hope you like my work, any advise I will apreciate it

it souns cool and in the right direction, only when takin "Winter" n' "Queens" nxt to each otha, there differences in level n' a bit in eq...so right now is not *cohesive* enuff 4 me...

Originally Posted by sordeli

PD nice work Joe

yeah rite!.. i wish it was me.....if i coul master sh*t like taht, u think i would b spendin' so much time on this forum Yo??..read my sig file at the bottom

[sordeli]

Thanks Joe, Im gonna work on that, the songs were recorded at the same session direct to two traks, and my settings were the same for all (eq and the color from the smc2b), maybe is the amount & settings of the reverb that I add, and try a diferent room for each song???

[It'sJoeAgain]

Originally Posted by sordeli

Thanks Joe, Im gonna work on that, the songs were recorded at the same session direct to two traks, and my settings were the same for all (eq and the color from the smc2b), maybe is the amount & settings of the reverb that I add, and try a diferent room for each song???

i don' think is *room* settings but mo' like eq and boost settings (one bein' brigther n' louder)....