rock mix critique please

[RockManDan]

hey guys im a longtime lurker here and ive finally grown a pair and posted a mix of mine to get some feedback on. I posted another thread 2 days ago but it died a slow death amongst the maintenance and board problems since then. at any rate, id love to hear what some pros think. the song is from my bands upcoming cd that im producing ITB and that we recorded by ourselves. Id specifically like comments related to the drum mixing (punch vs tone) and the overall volume level (IE im trying to wage my own decent effort in the loudness wars without sacrificing peaks and punch). also i feel like the vocal mix im getting is nice and thick with good consonant articulation (you may disagree and think its an overcompressed mess).

anyway im the only person i know who knows as much as I do about audio productions (which isnt much) so i dont have any brains to pick so please fire away in as much detail as you like

heres the link

http://www.unc.edu/~dcummins/delorea...0Disengage.mp3

thanks in advance for any insight you may have.
-dan
www.deloreanrocks.com

[CrankyRayHanky]

Well done.
Here's some constructive criticism:

It seems as though the guitars are mixed in the middle too much, I'd like to hear some hard pans- for this genre especially. I like the sounds of the drums. The vox could be back in the mix a bit, as when they are a bit too much in front for my liking- it makes the band seem weak in comparison.

I'd go hard pans on the rhythm guitars, add some more volume on the bass, and back off the vocals a bit.


Hope this helps.

[RockManDan]

thanks it does help. actually ive got 2 rhthym tracks hard panned, but they arent the only tracks in there doing stuff, so it might not sound as wide as it could. ill play with making the 'lead' tracks a little quieter during the song and getting the beef from the rhtym tracks.

would you say i should pan the lead tracks wider when they're playing together? like during the intro where its doing the maiden-style harmonies....wider or narrower?

and i agree about the vocals...i personally would duck them just a little bit to give more power to the band exactly as you say....but this mix was for a demo we sent to a label and everyone else (band, friends) thought the vocals should stay loud.

thanks for listening. i appreciate your time.
-dan

[CrankyRayHanky]

oops, scratch my pans comment...I just realized that the system I'm on is stuck on mono (?!) .I'll check back later on a better setup,

[RockManDan]

ah that makes a lot more sense....i thought i was going crazy there for a second.

[RockManDan]

shameless bump

[RockManDan]

another bump because i have nothing to do

[CrankyRayHanky]

This is well done. If I was your client, I would be happy. It's crunchy and clear- a hard combo to achieve. Vox are a tad loud, but that's just personal preference.

I'm glad I gave it another shot!

I'd be interested in hearing some of your mic choices, strategies, amps used on guitars, etc..

[RockManDan]

well its actually a long process

drums were
-58s for each of the toms (3 of them) and a peavey kick mic (from a pack) for the floor tom
-57 snare top
-my roommates cardiod condenser (the name escapes me) snare bottom
-kick was audix d6 (but significantly triggered in the mix)
-OH's were a pair of AKG 480c (model number might be wrong) condensers i borrowed from church

the snare was triggered at about 30% with a cheap sample i ripped from my computer's midi module

the bass was 2 tracks, one direct through a POD for some crunch and an SWR combo miced up with the d6 (probably not the best choice in hindsight but the whole thing is a learning experience)

guitars were my ibanez rg550 through my 5150 with an alesis eq in the fx loop. They were miced with a 58 angled at the cone and one of the same AKGs from before mixed in about equal. EQ'ed for some more highend from my mackie Onyx board for some more high end going in (also probably not the best decision as i found its tough to get rid of it at mixdown but again...live and learn)

vocals were a Rode NT1A borrowed from a friend (love this mic)

the only pres i used were the ones in my Onyx board.

for plugins I use mostly the sonitus plugs that come bundled with SONAR(my daw of choice) and actually ive had great success with a freeware tubemaximizer i found here on GS. it works great on the 2buss along with a multiband for not killing transient punch but increasing overall RMS without clipping (at least to my ears).

theres some basic stereo delay doubling on the vox and lead guitars, and several of the main busses (vox, rhthym guitars, lead guitars) each have their own multiband compressor (used mainly for eq shaping and taming pick transients and keeping lowmids from building up). Also the drums were parallel compressed fairly heavily and mixed in.

thats all i can think of to say right now...my brain is fried from vocal sessions this evening (the album still isnt done yet!)

thanks for your interest and any suggestions you have are welcome.
-dan

[RockManDan]

anybody else have any comments?

[Autocrat]

Nice mix! I'm listening at work on headphones (shhh). But I'm hearing the cymbal on the far left being a little harsh and kinda disconnected from the rest of the drums.

Also, I'd add a little more bite to the guitars (3-5k?) so they cut a little more, especially working along side the aggressive drumming.

Sounds good.

[ABGen]

Wow - first of all the musicians are all very talented - is this your band? The drummer reminds me of a metal drummer i had in the 80's - double bass madman.

I'd def bring up the guitars a bit - otherwise you have a great sound here IMO.

[RockManDan]

thanks for listening guys. actually since i did this mix ive been re-eqing a few things and one thing i did was add some bite to the guitars at around 5k. It sounded fine on my monitors because they reproduec those frequencies well but in my car and some other places the guitars got a little lost, so im trying to find a balance, because usually i hate those frequencies. Thats why i like my 5150 and am not too keen on Marshalls. While i love the breakup and harmonics of a marshall, i just cant stand that earshattering 3k sting that just kills you at a concert. I usually eq 3k and a little 4k out of my rig in my fx loop when i play live so that i can turn up volume wise without making people bleed from the ears. 5k sounds much more manageable to my ears, so ive been boosting a little there to get some presence.

as for the cymbal, i think you're referring to my drummers china which when we recorded was way off to the side (hes left handed so both his ride, HH, and china were way off to the left, so ive had to play with the panning some to get a non-completely lopsided stereo image. As for its tone, it does sound a little weird, but thats just the tone of the cymbal, personally i think it sounds kinda cool for certain accents and fills. Although if he started riding it for some sections i might have to re position mics or something.

again thanks for the comments. ive spent way too long on this music, so any objective and fresh ideas i will welcome.
-dan

[RockManDan]

bump cause im lame

[RockManDan]

ok this is the last bump i swear