Help with a heavy mix

[Alsop]

so i recorded this band
i mixed all their stuff and they were not happy with the way it sounded
so i need some advice on what to do to make it better

ive done 2 mixes... ill up them both
the first one is the latest mix i've done
they didnt say what was wrong they just said the mix sounded terrible

so yeah any advice would be greatly appreciated! thanks!

[ohmicide]

it sounds like everything is wrong

on the latest mix the drums are too low, the bass sounds muddy, the guitars are way too loud, vocals need more compression

first thing i noticed with the original mix was the the kick needed a low cut and a boost on the highs for that click the heavy guys like, but on the latest mix i can't even hear the kick

you might also want to cut more lows from the guitars

listen to bring me the horizon or something

[Alsop]

so would you say go back to the first mix and mess around with that one more?
im having most trouble with the guitar... its so muddy

[ohmicide]

get all the mud out of the guitars with eq

cut all the way up to 190hz is you have to

i would recommend cutting at around 160hz and dipping a few dbs at 200-250hz

[Alsop]

okay... i went back to the first mix
i fixed the kick... thats sounding better
is there a way to smooth out the dirt on the guitar?
also the bass was recorded really dirty as well

[ohmicide]

honestly i think the guitar is probably the least of your problems

the drums are lacking punch, bass needs to be tighter and the vocals sound burried in the mix

also you got a big problem with the vocals at 1:20, sounds like the converters clipped

[Alsop]

i agree with the bass needing to be tighter im trying to figure that out right now
i went back to the first mix which i think sounded better in the first place
also that clipping you hear in the vocals is the mic chord cutting out lol not much i can do to fix that now

any tips on tightening the bass?

[ohmicide]

hipass at around 30-40hz dip a few db at around 250hz and compress it quite a bit

that usually does it for me

and if it's still lacking balls then throw some overdrive on it

also you might want to cut the kick drum at around 60hz

yeah i know that's a lot but there's a lot of fast double bass playing going on

[Alsop]

heres what i got so far now
its sounding a lot better
lemme know what else you think it needs.

[ohmicide]

hmm well that's definitely sounding a lot better!

i think the guitars need to be a bit louder though

are you gonna get this mastered?

[Alsop]

thats probably about as mastered as its gonna get!
thanks for all the help though!
anything else you can think of other than the guitars being a bit louder?
is there anyway to make them not sound as harsh?

[ohmicide]

look at the guitars with an analyzer and dip any big bumps on the high end, this usually tames down the harshness for me

also i think that snare could use a little more at around 300hz to make it stand out a little better

and if it's not gonna get any more mastering then i suggest you give it at least 3db more of limiting

[Alsop]

thanks for all your help man!
i think im just gonna leave this as the final mix.. if they complain about it then they can get someone else to mix it

[Alsop]

so they didnt like that mix either!
i dunno what else they want
oh well, i tried hahaa

[olofd]

don't get beat up by it!
The mix isn't at all bad, and I can imagine that it's hard to mix this kind of music..
not much dynamic range to work with.

I know it can hurt when people complain about your work.

But stand your ground!
You did not do a bad job!

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by Alsop

so they didnt like that mix either!
i dunno what else they want
oh well, i tried hahaa

maybe drum replacement is the key

[Alsop]

funny story...
drums are already fake hahaha

[VWAS2009]

do you have a protools session for this... i play almost only this style of music and i would give it a shot at a mix...

[Alsop]

Yo man... sorry I didnt use Pro tools..
I used logic but I have all the wavs zipped
Im usually good with this type of music as well but this band is just really picky i guess

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by Alsop

Yo man... sorry I didnt use Pro tools..
I used logic but I have all the wavs zipped
Im usually good with this type of music as well but this band is just really picky i guess

upload them and post the link!

[Alsop]

upping!
it will be like 40 mins

[VWAS2009]

Link Please

[AmongstTheLiving]

I think your final mix is decent. HUGE improvement over the original stuff. I would just bring up the vox a bit more. I'm guessing you don't have the best monitoring situation. I'm only listening in on a decent pair of headphones and I can hear all kinds of trouble. Fix your acoustics or try some nice headphones to compare to your monitors.

[Mesa4x12er]

Your mix sounds good to me. Possibly the band is not realizing that no matter how much you polish their song it's still a turd?

[ohmicide]

Originally Posted by Mesa4x12er

Your mix sounds good to me. Possibly the band is not realizing that no matter how much you polish their song it's still a turd?

i think they're looking for the generic sound of this kind of genre

the mix is good, a little bit more tweaking and i would compare it to alexisonfire

still waiting for the link!!

[EddieTheRed]

It's sounding *really* good man, although I actually preferred the previous mix to the final one! Maybe you used a little too much reverb? It sounds kinda muddy and kinda washy . . . But it's a huge improvement over your first couple of mixes.

Kudos

[VWAS2009]

it is sounding much better... if i get a link i think a can do something with it.. the song really isnt all that bad...

[Alsop]

sorry dudes! computer messed up a bit!
im upping the song again

ill have the link in a few!

[toddbarriage]

This project seems to have been handed off to me, and I'm really curious as to how GS likes/dislikes my mixing style haha.

And any all suggestions are welcome

[Alsop]

zSHARE - Skin.zip

theres the link guys!