Rock/Emo Song for Critique

[dreamaudio]

*My first post to Upload section. :D

Hey guys...Been workin with this band recently...Wanted to put this up to see if I'm heading in the right direction for their sound...

Quick Thoughts:

Not a lot of compression used...only on drums, and some on vox...

No automation




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Any harsh comments, or nice ones, are welcome ;o)

Thanks guys

Brian.

P.s. Gets a little harsh in 2k at the end with all the guitars..sry for that, havn't eq'ed guitars yet.

[JonCraig]

wow... better than a lot of emo bands/mixes that i've purchased in the past. congrats. a few things i wrote down after just one listen... so take 'em or leave 'em.

the drums sound really good and solid, except the snare. i think it needs a bit more body (perhaps compress it a bit to bring out some shell?). it borders on "metal snare" for me.

that first tom hit at the beginning... it scared me! if it were mine, i'd keep the drums out until the cymbal swell.

the guitars loading in the midrange--you've already addressed this. however, the clean "dreamy" tone... i like that.

the lead vox do get lost at times (an automation thing, like you said). but i think i'd keep them where they are for the end. they're a bit buried... but i like the way they sit there (by that point, it's not like we don't know what he's saying, right?)

throughout, i'd like more layering of the BGV's. don't know if cutting a few more of them is a possibility, but there's always flying a few more tracks around in PT/eq'ing and nudging them a bit.

around 3:25 there's an 1980's style effect on the guitar. i don't particularly care for it in the context of the song. you may disagree. and if it's printed that way... neither one of us have a choice, do we?

overall, it sounds really, really good. especially the drums. i think in a lot of the indie/emo stuff (which i'm a fan of; i'm not bashing) the drums seem to get overlooked. you obviously haven't done that.

i'd be really interested to hear the final version, too.

--jon

[dreamaudio]

Hey JonCraig,

Thank you for the nice comments! Didn't expect that, being as i did this mix in my basement, with a pair of 199$ monitors(Alesis M1 Active)...

I've been trying to work on this snare, but honestly, the snare doesn't have any body! And I've tried some EQ things, which I didn't like. I was trying to go maybe the way of some samples mixed in...but I have no clue where to go for the right ones. Do you think it has enough snap?

For the BG's, you mean like doubling them? Or like putting extra parts in there? I definately agree with your comment on this.

Yea that delay effect at 3:25 is a bit corny huh ? I thought it was neat for a sec, till you pointed it out. What would you do to it?

Once again...thanks a bunch.

Brian

[lasso]

To fast attack on kick and snare comp for my taste. The click on the kick is really weird. You might consider beefing up that snare with a nice ambient snare sample?

[dreamaudio]

Thanks for the feedback..

I agree with most of the things you're sayin...like that damn kick...I used the plastic beater on my DW kick pedal...with an Audix D6...I shouldn't have... :(....it's weird...when I try to EQ that attack down...it's still there..and sounds not good.

As with singer being off key on some parts...Still have to do my vocal comping...havn't gotten there yet..but I agree with the off key stuff

I was wondering if anyone had a couple snare samples that they could send me that might sound good with this tune...I don't have any libraries at this time...but plan to get some once i get a job, lol


djui5-
I tried flippin the phase on one of the mics, signal was almost nothing...I think it's the at4050 givin it that hollow sound..could be something EQ...or the mix between the 2 mics used on the amps.(57, 4050)

Once again...thanks for the feedback...


Brian.

[stinkybuffalo]

First, well done Brian. For rough basement mixing you are hearing things that translate.

Possible help for kick. Try setting attack on kick 25-35ms to accent the thump instead of attack. I don't mind the kick though because it isn't and overbearing "metal" kick.

Snare: same as kick. try a longer attack to squish teh body a little helping the snare to breath a little more with the crack.

I am a delay nut so I like the creative effect on the gtr around 3:22. maybe automate up and down after vocal comes back in. Maybe even slight panning also. Just suggestion. It does help the song to swell creating a dynamic increase through movement. Again i like delay so chalk my response up to that. At 3:35 when the song goes back to straight time the delay should drop down or maybe completely out. It will allow for space and change for the rest of song.

BGV's: At 3:48 (roughly) some ahh's for layering would at a depth to the sound without in getting the way. especially on high ld vocal notes.

Overall the final product will be great. Nice job.

Remember all the above is IMExtremelyHO.

[silverdisk]

Great song , and i cant add any suggestions.

Being a basement mixer myself, im curious what kind of setup youve got going on. Like .....do you mix ITB, what software & outboard you are using? .......Treated rooms?

Thanks for indulging, ......im constantly re evalutating my setup and like to know what people that are getting good results use.

Im going to put out a guess that it might be Nuendo? :*)

thanks

[dreamaudio]

Hey silver, thank you for the nice comments

As far as my setup...

Being only 21, I can't really afford much these days...so this is what I have, and what I'm workin with...

Protools HD3 Accel with 1 192 i/o (and yes i mix all ITB)
Mackie Universal 8 channel controller(p.o.s)
Monitoring- Alesis MK1 Active(horrible!)-to add one of my woofers has a dent on the cone :(

As far as preamps, I usually rent, because 1. I know what i want, and 2. because i don't have a lot of money to go out and buy what i want

For this recording I used,
Guitar-sm57 and AT4050 preamp-TP-200b
Drums-
Snare-57 top and bottom
Toms-421s on top(d112 on low floor tom), and large condensors on bottom(except sm81 on bottom of first tom).
Kick-D6 with a speaker mic(that's probably why you hear the weird click on the kick, cause the D6)
OHs-akg 414s
Hihat-can't remember

Bass-Neuman m147, with DI(radial j48), preamps-m147 through Neve 1084 strip, DI through a channel on the Tpa-200b.

Vocals-Neuman m147 through Neve 1084 strip(for this song), but now im using the 1084, into the mpc-100a for compression.

As for treated rooms, I don't have any of those...Hee...my favorite thing for "treating", are blankets, stapled to the wall whereever I feel is needed. I had a picture of the makeshift vocal booth that I was going to put up, but can't find my camera anywhere :(

If you want to see pics..let me know...it's actually quite comical what i have going on here.

Brian