ROCK ALTERNATIVE - FULL ALBUM POSTED

[luctellier]

Here's the mixes of an album I'm mixing and mastering for a band called Self Made Soul from New Milford, Connecticut.

I would appreciate to have your feedbacks on the mix, not the song nor the production.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PLAYER

LT

[Jake 2.0]

Really tight mix bro, only i feel like is that some of the bass notes get a tad lost but it may just me.

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by Jake 2.0

Really tight mix bro, only i feel like is that some of the bass notes get a tad lost but it may just me.

Thanks Jake!

[Mario-C.]

sounds great

track 3 was my fav, loved the vocal sound in all tracks, in track two I heard the "esses" were a bit louder than the other two tracks but still great work ...

[Old Cane]

From other stuff like this I've been hearing this is a great mix. If I liked this kind of stuff I think I'd really enjoy the album. Sounds to me like you did a great job and they should be vey happy, you know, if that's allowed in this kind of band.

[greatgreatriver]

Mix it like a record...

[mreagan]

sounds fantastic Luc. I'm always a fan of your stuff- just out of curiosity, what master limiter do you use? I can never seem to get enough level while retaining that nice fat snare sound like you do.

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

From other stuff like this I've been hearing this is a great mix. If I liked this kind of stuff I think I'd really enjoy the album. Sounds to me like you did a great job and they should be vey happy, you know, if that's allowed in this kind of band.

hahaha

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by Mario-C.

sounds great

track 3 was my fav, loved the vocal sound in all tracks, in track two I heard the "esses" were a bit louder than the other two tracks but still great work ...

I'll fix the "esses" in track 2! Thanks!

[mreagan]

fair enough, fair enough...but if you HAD to use one?

[mreagan]

...and if you don't how do get so much level out of your mixes?

[mreagan]

that is extremely impressive

[Jake 2.0]

A grade bro!

[carlan]

yo, really nice sounding.
if i should say something, it would be the bass.
sounds good in verses, but disapears in choruses.
abit too much subbass and it sounds abit wide.
(maybe its my hearing!).
But in my monitors/hps i would narrow it down abit, and make it more punchy, some low mid freqs up and cut lots of uberlows.
that would make it perfeck!

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by carlan

yo, really nice sounding.
if i should say something, it would be the bass.
sounds good in verses, but disapears in choruses.
abit too much subbass and it sounds abit wide.
(maybe its my hearing!).
But in my monitors/hps i would narrow it down abit, and make it more punchy, some low mid freqs up and cut lots of uberlows.
that would make it perfeck!

Interesting, I just received an email from the band telling me that compared to the other songs, there's a slight loss of bottom and the bass could be brought up a bit. I must say that I agree with the band, I would put the bass louder in the mix. I'll wait until some other members jumps in and comments before making any changes! Thanks for your input!

[jeronimo]

Luc,

Sounding fantastic like always!!
Now, I would lower the kick a little in a few parts... and the sound of kick and snare are not my cup of tea, but it MY personal taste... the job sounds fantastic the way it is!

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by jeronimo

Luc,

Sounding fantastic like always!!
Now, I would lower the kick a little in a few parts... and the sound of kick and snare are not my cup of tea, but it MY personal taste... the job sounds fantastic the way it is!

Thanks! The band also told me that! As they said: "I'm also hearing the kick a bit too much in this song versus the others." So I'm going to lower the kick and maybe change the tone a bit.

[luctellier]

Hey guys,

I updated the song "Find Your Way" in the player. The kick is now 2db lower and less clicky. I added some low-end to the bass and it's now 2dB louder. I also added some low-mids to the rythm guitars.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PLAYER

Let me know your comments!

Thanks for your help!
LT

[jeronimo]

2 questions Luc:

- You're just using compression on the master bus? No limiting as you mentioned before, just let it clip? Is this it?

- What is the chain for the vocals? Recording and mixing!

[Blor007]

DUDE! Nice!
I feel a bit overclassed here.

If I would have one remark it would be the vocals.
They sound a little harsh, it sounds like you made a 2k-4k boost on them.

[s34nsm411]

awesome as always man!

mind sharing what was used for drum tracking?

[slaves666]

Nice snare.....but the toms seem to be on a different kit.....

Nice work.

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by s34nsm411

awesome as always man!

mind sharing what was used for drum tracking?

I only mixed and mastered the songs. The drums were programmed in BFD. I used some of my custom samples blended with the tracks they provided me.

[gbjunkie]

Absoultely amazing!

A few questions..

Did you record the electric guitars direct or otherwise?

What mic did you use?

Once again, great work!

[greatgreatriver]

Have you watched mix it like a record?

When I was in Ohio last summer a friend showed me this movie and it reminds me of being you and happy.

I know it takes some skills to do a mix like this and now I would like to know if you are the guy in that movie because you look like him.

Do you use plugins that sound like anal og on every channel to get that sound of a console? My friend Henrik have a console but no compressors so we do hybrid mixing on it when we record and the sound is pretty good. But I would like to master our song and maybe use some hybrid compressors on the master buss or on different channels to get that sound you have.

I know a lot of people here are against hybrid mixing but I think it can be good if you are careful of the gain stage.

I often compress the in signal to get that analog feel and add more stuff later to get the sound right ITB.

I have used a lot of plugins and it's almost as good as the real deal (if you are careful with the gain stage).

I don't say it sounds like a neve machine but it could be almost as good if you do it right ITB.

Mix it like a record showed me the tricks so I guess it's about the knowledge and the skills that the mixer have in his hand.

My room sounds good and my plugins also sound good so it would not be a contest to get that sound I just need the skills...

How did you learn the skills? Did you train at a school or are you working in the business?

Thanks for sharing,

Kindly regards,
Urusal Hawk

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by gbjunkie

Absoultely amazing!

A few questions..

Did you record the electric guitars direct or otherwise?

What mic did you use?

Once again, great work!

I didn't record this band, I only mixed and mastered the songs.

But I still can give you the infos about the recording:

Guitars:

'05 Gibson SG standard
'91 Gibson Les Paul Studio with Real Floyd Rose
'02 Ibanez J-Custom JCRG5VV

Bass:

1973 Fender Jazz

Amps:

Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100
Orange Rockerverb 50

Cabs:

Marshall 1960A with vintage 30s
Marshal 1960A with G12T-75s

Guitars were recorded with SM57s and MD421s through Focusrite ISA428.

Vox were recorded through a Peluso 2247LE into an Avalon VT737SP

Bass went through a Bass Pod XT into the Focusrite ISA 428

All conversion was done with an Apogee Rosetta 800 at 48kHz, 24 bit

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Have you watched mix it like a record?

Yes.

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

When I was in Ohio last summer a friend showed me this movie and it reminds me of being you and happy. I know it takes some skills to do a mix like this and now I would like to know if you are the guy in that movie because you look like him.

I don't look like Charles Dye at all! haha

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

Do you use plugins that sound like anal og on every channel to get that sound of a console? My friend Henrik have a console but no compressors so we do hybrid mixing on it when we record and the sound is pretty good. But I would like to master our song and maybe use some hybrid compressors on the master buss or on different channels to get that sound you have.

I mix totally ITB without any outboard.

Originally Posted by greatgreatriver

How did you learn the skills? Did you train at a school or are you working in the business?

I started recorded myself when I was 15-16 years old. Then I started recorded my band (3 albums). Then some local bands came to record their songs and it started from there. I'm self-taught (like 90% of the people here I guess) and started by reading on the Web (thanks Gearslutz) and by experimenting a lot. I don't really believe in paying 15 000$ for school lessons in recording or engineering. The guys I admire the most started by learning on the field.

Thanks for your comment btw!

[nine99nine]

i'd buy it. Sounds abosutely fantastic.

Just a few questions on production:

• What platform were you using? (os and program)
• Did you mix in one application and master in another?
  • I noticed you said you mastered ITB, did you also master ITB?

And just so you know, you don't need to spend $15,000 on recording school...I spent like $6,000 hahaha But i agree learning by doing and experimenting gives way better results than making people memorize text.

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by nine99nine

i'd buy it. Sounds abosutely fantastic.

Just a few questions on production:

• What platform were you using? (os and program)
• Did you mix in one application and master in another?
  • I noticed you said you mastered ITB, did you also master ITB?

And just so you know, you don't need to spend $15,000 on recording school...I spent like $6,000 hahaha But i agree learning by doing and experimenting gives way better results than making people memorize text.

Thank you so much!

I mix/master totally ITB in Cubase 4 on a PC. Only 6000$! The recording school here are like 15 000$! Think about all the gear you can get and experiment with 15 000$! e

[reallyjake]

Hey, LT, you did a great job here. Confident mixes. The choices obviously work.

I will say there is a tiring frequency in the chorus of "Only the World Will End". Frequencies tire the ears during the chorus. Not any less than good, but frequencies around the upper spectrum of the distorted guitar and background vocals don't play nicely together.

I noted on the mixes everything is very deliberately eq'd. Lots of choices were made, and made the right way. I think that elevates these tracks.

If you don't mind me asking, what compression is on the vocal of "Find Your Way"? I know you're ITB, and I might try out the UAD stuff. In my own work, I lean toward that sort of vocal treatment.