What Am I Doing Wrong Here? (mixing, eq'ing... possibly mic technique)
Bear in mind I'm not trying to get a massively awesome recording out of this, just trying to clean it up a bit and make it sound decently presentable.
This particular mix sounded pretty decent on my HS80m's. However, my room is untreated and could have easily affected the end result. Mic technique is pretty standard stuff (albeit "ghetto"), sm57 on the snare, pencil condenser on the toms, large diaphragm on the kick, an SM 58 for ambience on the drums, SM57 slightly off axis (left) pointing at the center of the cone on the guitar cab. No vocals were mic'd as they're to be dubbed in later with the current voals as guides. Again, this is all pretty middling fare as this isn't meant to be a pro-recording. Effects on post are Izotope Alloy for eq and general compression on pretty much every track.
Any help anyone could offer as to what went wrong here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!
doesn't sound to bad.. i mean once you put vocals on it it's gonna be a totally different mix. doesn't sound muddy or anything.. one thing i would do is make the kick thump a lil more. but other than that its all preference really.. i would eq those crash's a lil clearer though.. probably high pass higher they sound real deep i would make them a little brighter.
Why be so hard on yourself, I have heard way, way worse stuff. If you want to take it a step further I can recommend this thread: (don't worry about the title, it's one of the best threads on the web) Why do your recordings sound like ass? - Cockos Confederated Forums
where a lot of knowledge waits for you to understand and apply. Read it a few times over.
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Property is not ability. Buying a drumset won't make you a drummer and buying gear won't make you an engineer.
It's not bad at all! Some suggestions would be to seriously pull back the kick - it's very forward, especialy in comparison to the rest of the drums. It might have a little too much midrange - but levels are the major issue at the moment.
If you could reduce the drum ambience slightly, that'd be great. I get the aesthetic you're going for - and I like it - but the clarity issues would with the drums are a slight issue. Even just bringing up the spot mic on the snare should help.
Good stuff. Very Sonic Youth/MBV goes Post Rock!
__________________ Why don't you just knock it off with them negative waves?
Thank you very much! I was thinking the same about the kick myself. Essentially this was a bit of a test to see what it would take to record our stuff by ourselves, so there was a lot of trial and mostly error here, but learning from our mistakes is part of the process. Thank you for the comparisons, btw!
It's definitely a good start to a mix. I'd say the drums need more eq work and compression. Bring the kick down some. Maybe add some reverb to the snare and fatten the toms a little.
Thank you very much! I was thinking the same about the kick myself. Essentially this was a bit of a test to see what it would take to record our stuff by ourselves, so there was a lot of trial and mostly error here, but learning from our mistakes is part of the process. Thank you for the comparisons, btw!
I agree the drums need some more work. Get your drums and rhythm section rocking then move on to other parts.
Also find and use reference tracks something that was professionally done that you admire. It may make you cry at first due to how good they sound compared to your mix however you will have a guide line for how loud or soft something should be in a mix.
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