Mix advice / critique requested!

[funkdrmr]

Hey everyone,

I think I posted a song here about a year ago and got some great advice. Since then, I've recorded and helped mix one of my band's albums, but we were not happy with the results of the end product (my style of mixing for the music is different from the engineer we worked with). It was definitely one of those "you can mix on an SSL, but it can still SUCK" type of things.

I now have a 2nd project, and I'm VERY stoked to be doing all of the recording and mixing on this project as well. I intern at a decent facility and we'll be recording there off & on in the future, but this track was tracked & mixed here at home on my Firepod with the exception of the drums. They were tracked at a friends VERY small / dry drum room using Onyx 1200F.

Anyways, the song is the only one on the player at MySpace.com - Stillborn Skies (NEW SONG UP!) - Honolulu, Hawaii - Progressive / Rock / Indie - www.myspace.com/stillbornskies

I'd really appreciate any feedback on the mix / tones or even the song in general (I'm the drummer!)

[Chrisac]

I cant quite put my finger on it but somethings not quite gluing the mix together. I think its the main guitar sound. But this could just be me as Im not to familiar with this style.

[funkdrmr]

Originally Posted by Chrisac

I cant quite put my finger on it but somethings not quite gluing the mix together. I think its the main guitar sound. But this could just be me as Im not to familiar with this style.

Thanks for the feedback!

I was going to mention that there were a couple of things that I'm not happy with, but I didn't want it to sound like a preemtive excuse for sucking!

The guitar tracking was the most difficult, because our guitar player is in between amps right now. His old one broke, and he's too broke to get a decent one for a little while.

At first, we borrowed a friends Ampeg VH head and 4x12 cab. The pots on it were very dirty and recording it with ANY distortion that was worthwhile turned into such a fuzzy mess. I spent 6 hours one day moving microphones, changing amp settings, etc.....and it still wouldn't record well.

The next day, we tried my roommate's Line 6 Gearbox. While a lot of the tones were close, once I EQ'd them in the mix, it sounded too much like digital guitar modeling for my tastes.

The final day, we borrowed a small Mesa Nomad 45, and that was as good as we could get. The guitars on the recording are the Mesa. Some of the same problems applied with it as the ampeg, as it was also old and not well cared for. Luckily, the channels on it worked, so I blended the super-crap distortion in with the more "honky" crunchy channel and some clean channel to get the tones on the recording.

All in all, the guitars were the best I could get in the short time with what we had, but I'm hoping to re-track them again later with something a little bit better.

[tms8707056]

The guitar tone is definitely affecting the mix in a negative way. If you get that right it will improve the mix greatly.

Also, it seems to me that there is a hole in the center of the mix. When the vocal comes in it fills this hole somewhat, but vocals are supposed to sit in a pocket, not a hole. Maybe bring the stereo guitar tracks in to the center or add a slight mono delay in the center to fill it in a tad.

[Chrisac]

would it not be possible to re-send the guitar out to an amp and record it back in?
Maybe try that first and throw caution to the wind by totally changing the sound from what it is now and also from what you have in mind. Worth a try before retracking.

I like the vocal sound you got there.

[funkdrmr]

Thanks everyone for the input so far.

The guitar was recorded D.I. and reamped, so I could still just reamp the same tracks with no problem. I'm DEFINITELY going to reamp it again with a better sounding amp!


Could I ask how the low end sounds? In my car and room here, it's fine, but I have some friends that are saying it's nonexistent on their systems (PC's with subwoofers, etc...)