Help!- Soon to be mastered. . . What is wrong with this recording?

[addisonclearing]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first time posting to this astoundingly resource-full site.
I am fairly new to recording/mixing (this will be the third LP I have recorded)

This band was recorded my in basement, with an rme ff800 and logic.
They are a three piece, the singer is playing guitar.
They have ok'ed this mix to be mastered, but I feel like it has problems.

My biggest issue was getting a good guitar tone, I have a di track and a mic'd track. The guitarist plays through two delay pedals using a SG and 5150.
HMmm?! Any suggestions?

Mostly I am having difficulty getting the overall eq to sound right.
Perhaps the problem is my room, does everything sound too tinny?

Are the guitars too thin?

How much eq correction can be expected from a mastering engineer?

A little frustrated . . . any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Addison

[couch11]

I would have more low end on those toms first off. In fact every thing sounds a bit thin(kick, snare). The vocals are buried. Bring them up!!!. I think if you get the Kick, Snare, Bass, and Vocals right, the guitars will actually be great without touching them. I actually like the guitar tones. Very cool song and vibe. I would say you need to treat your room so you can get a sense of what is happening in the low end.


By the way, overall it's very cool. I think your mixing environment is your worst enemy at this point.

[john caldwell]

This is one of those "it depends on what you are going for" answers. Guitar tones are not the problem. The bass and drums are basically being projected through a megaphone, with tons of overlapping energy in the 300 to 1200 Hz area for kick, toms, bass and snare.

The vocal practically comes across as unintended channel bleed, as it is buried to extreme. Further the vocal tone is dry and hi-fi's, as if done through an inexpensive condenser mic. So I suggest placing the vocal in some space that's consistent with the basement feel that the band has, and subtract some of the brittle top end. Truly, I can't imagine you want the vocal to come across in this apologetic way, but perhaps I misunderstand the goal. Can you reference any recording that exemplifies what you want sonically? Doing that might help us give advice.

Hang in there. This stuff is hard, for sure., but we know you can make this better.

John Caldwell

[addisonclearing]

Hey, thanks you very much for the feedback!

Most people commenting on this mix have agreed that the vocals are buried. The issue is that this was the level the band wanted. I agree that the vocals should be the showcase, but what does one do when the band disagrees?
(Also, I don't want to evade responsibility by blaming the band)

The band and I are all coming from a diy-punk background where the mixing aesthetic is counter to upfront pop vocals, so prominent vocals are met with aversion. This definitely seems to be a flawed tradition since it casts the listeners protagonist (the vocalist) in such a dim light. So, it goes.

On the other hand, there is the perennial perplexing issue of my awful, untreated room. This most certainly is a culprit of sonic confusion and may be a factor in this buried vocal phenomenon. I have known about the importance of acoustic treatment for a long time, but have been living in denial. All of this eq mess that I frustratedly wade through would likely be made less an unsolved enigma if I were to just treat my room.

To buy list: treatment materials, recoil stabilizers.

Anyway, thanks you to couch11 and john caldwell for the advice and encouragement. I will listen in to the suggestions you offered.

-Addison

[seanpdx]

Originally Posted by addisonclearing

Most people commenting on this mix have agreed that the vocals are buried. The issue is that this was the level the band wanted. I agree that the vocals should be the showcase, but what does one do when the band disagrees?
(Also, I don't want to evade responsibility by blaming the band)

The band and I are all coming from a diy-punk background where the mixing aesthetic is counter to upfront pop vocals, so prominent vocals are met with aversion. This definitely seems to be a flawed tradition since it casts the listeners protagonist (the vocalist) in such a dim light. So, it goes.

Punk vocals definitely shouldn't sound like pop vocals, but you still need to be able to hear them. If the band is going for a lo-fi diy punk sound, then I actually rather like the track -- minus the vocals. They don't need to soar above all the other instruments, but there is a happy middle ground that can be reached. The overall level just seems too low. Perhaps you can bump the level up a little but add some effects to give the illusion of distance (creative reverb?). Or saturation/fuzz/something to keep them from sounding too clean. I can appreciate what they're going for, but I don't think dropping the volume is the right way to do it.

Then again, a lot of the punk I listen to is very in-your-face. =D

Look at it this way: If they took the time to write lyrics, then presumably that means the lyrics are important to the song. If they aren't important, just get rid of them. If they are important, they need to be heard.