Rough Mix - in Punk/Hardcore vein..

[heyman]

Guys please take a listen and let me know what you think of the levels, etc..
Thank you..

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by heyman

Guys please take a listen and let me know what you think of the levels, etc..
Thank you..

Hey there,

This is great- lots of energy, goot choon.
Some constructive criticsm- Sanre is a bit dead- it doesnt punch through enough.
Lead vocal is up a bit high and some of the phrasing is askew.

Other than that- great work.

JR

[heyman]

Thanks for the reply, yes, I was not happy with the snare sound. I may add some eq to it and try and get it to an acceptable point ( for me) ...

Anyone else's thoughts?

Thanks..

[John Suitcase]

Sounds pretty good, very "Avail"-like.

The guitar sounds like a distortion pedal plugged into the mixer. Should try re-amping it, or retracking through a decent tube amp.

The kick and snare aren't quite cracking. One trick I've learned for salvaging flat kicks and snares is to run them through distortion, like the guitar distortion box you're using. You'll have to mess with it, but you'll be surprised at the snap you can get that way.

I like the vocals pretty well right where they are (again, Avail vox are pretty up front, it's typical of the east coast hardcore punk stuff, Sick Of It All, etc).

Bass is decent, might need a little more compression, maybe a touch of drive.

Good effort overall, don't be afraid to push things as hard as they'll go!

[heyman]

Thanks Johnny. Well the guitar on the left you are hearing so loudly is the direct guitar sound which was run through a ADA mp1... The guitar on the right was a mic'ed up Boogie using a 50/50 power amp, I believe.. The direct guiatr was a bit fuzzy for my taste, but thats what they wanted..

The guys wanted the DI guitar more in your face and I would have liked the Mic'ed guitar to be more present than the direct..

I actually like the kick, but again the snare is lacking to me..

BTW, this was mixed ITB.. I am going to experiment with sending future mixes out to a summing mixer.. I am gonna hold off on purchasing one until the dust settles ...

Anyone else care to comment.. As always, it is appreciated..

[John Suitcase]

I mix ITB myself, though I'm toying with the external summing stuff. I'm going to try just sending 4 busses out to my soundcraft, then sum them to two channels there. I'll be curious to see how it sounds...

I've done some direct guiitar stuff myself that sounded good, I guess that one just sounded a little too fuzzy for my ears? ;-)

[heyman]

Let me know how things end up on a mix outside the box. If you could post a itb mix versus the soundcraft mix, it would be helpfull.. Thanks

[opentune]

I hear some phase problems. Guitar might almost disappear when listening
to this mix in mono. Can´t check this right now...just guessing...

Do a mono check and maybe you can get your hands on a
correlation meter (ITB?).

Did you finish the mix?

[heyman]

Thanks Opentune..
I have no doubt there is a phase problem with the guitar on the left being direct and the one on the right mic'ed up.. Unfortunately they needed the mix - 1 1/2 weeks earlier than was expected to go off to mastering.. So I never got a chance to go back and align the guitars using the wav editor in our RADAR 24..

I would have done it earlier but the guys in the band liked the way the guitars sounded and didnt want it touched..

Oh well.

My biggest gripes were the snare and the balance/phasing of the guitars..

Double Oh well.

PS- I dont own a IPN box for phase align, but I that is my next purchase..

Any other comments... PS- any one like the drums or bass sounds? I particulary liked the toms - myself...

[opentune]

Originally Posted by heyman

PS- I dont own a IPN box for phase align, but I that is my next purchase..

Any other comments... PS- any one like the drums or bass sounds? I particulary liked the toms - myself...

I´m currently tracking guitars for my own first EP (wohoo!!), and the box you
mentioned would come handy...

Oh well ( ), the guy who will mix the EP has such gear.

Back to your mix. The most important thing is that the sound matches
the feel of the song. And you did that very well! I even like the "upfront"
vocals, that some people may find "too upfront".

Think the toms are cool, too!

[heyman]

Thanks Opentune.. I appreciate your time.. try to learn something new everyday..
The toms were Senn 421's thru Api 3124 mb and a tad bit of eq at mixdown..

Vox's were done with a TLM 103 thru a great river Mp2nv and a Emp lab Fatso set to default vox compressor tip (it was in the manual.)

The vox's were a little dry for my taste.. but, customer is always right..

[R.B.]

In my very humble opinion----I liked it--but--it sounds a little empty as far as the bottom end--maybe if the guitars had a little more "oomph"-they sound a little thin-and or get the Bass guitar a little "bigger" in the mix---

[DeeDrive]

Is there a bass player?

[DeeDrive]

no wait, I hear him at the beginning

[heyman]

Yes, there is a bass player. They wanted the bass a little more in the background. I would have liked it a little more up front. Their album is being mastered right now and the bass is brought out alot more.

I appreciate the criticism, these are all things I wanted to change before the final mix but what the client wants - he gets. So the next time they come back, they wont give me any lip about my judgement calls.

Thanks guys. I should have a test master up soon..

[Atari]

I like the song. But indeed guitars sound fuzzy. I'm listening on headphones now and it seems the guitar at the left is louder. The kick/snare problem could also be the room it's recorded in. Where did you record it?
I like the vocals. They're not too upfront at all I think.

What about this IPN box for phase align? What is it and what does it do?

[opentune]

Originally Posted by Atari

What about this IPN box for phase align? What is it and what does it do?

Here´s a link for you.

http://www.littlelabs.com/ibp.html

I´d love to have one of these little boxes...

[Atari]

Ow thanx! Yes looks like a really handy tool. Does this exist as a protools plugin or something? Or has it many more advantadges except for the transfomer?

[opentune]

The only phase alignment plugin that i know can be found here:

http://www.voxengo.com/product/pha979/

And here´s a thread you might want to join:

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=45669

Can´t tell you anything about the LittleLabs tool, since i never
got my hands on it...

[Atari]

Originally Posted by opentune

The only phase alignment plugin that i know can be found here:

http://www.voxengo.com/product/pha979/

It's VST.

[opentune]

Ooops. sorry for that. Ok, you mentioned you´re on ProTools....

[Atari]

Yeah, and I can't seem to find anything that does the same in Protools. What's the price if the box?

[heyman]

I just got a copy of a few songs being tweeked in Mastering.. The mastering place is correcting most of the complaints that you and I have... sigh..

The room I have to work in for recording is very small and we used some bass traps in the corners to try and combat the room sound. It is 10 X 12 by 8ft tall

The next items on my list for purchase are a Phase tool and some shure mic pads.

I will post a mastered version in a few days..

Thanks

[Atari]

Yes, post it please. I'm curious!