im just wondering how you guys think this sounds its my fathers cover band.

[tamakid1292]

Please dont just bash the mix some advice would be great. Also i no the over all drum sound isnt great this was before i got new drum mics.

[tamakid1292]

some input would be appreciated.

[michaels]

Where's tha bass?

[joeq]

I'll play:

more highs on the overs, snare and vox

The vocals need to stand out more, if EQ alone doesn't do it, you may need to compress and add some level, or parallel comp or something. It seems you want the guitars to be prominent and that's ok but the vocals are just a tad under where they should be.

Maybe you need to mix at a lower monitoring level.

something funny about the image of the guitar on the left. I would pan it all the way over to balance the other guitar. But that's me.

it would be nice to hear a little more of each attack on the bass. It's just sort of 'there'. Find the EQ point where the thump comes out more. Do you have a lot of compression on it? Maybe slow down the attack time? If not, maybe you have one of those plug-ins that enhance the transient? Maybe create a parallel gated track?

[theblue1]

Ditto the drum sound. It sounds really muffled. I'm not a fan of the 'verb on the snare, either.

I'm thinking your CR and/or mix room have a highly uneven response pattern at your work position. There's this rather nasty low mid humping I don't much go for and it makes your overall mix sound muddy and dull.

Side-by-sided with some mixes of little known Austin bands (happened to be in the subscription player queue when I popped in your mp3) your mix sounds really muddy.

I keep thinking the villain is the CR/mix room.


Another issue: I notice things peak at 0 dB -- but a representative section of the main part of the song has an RMS average about -16 dB. I'm against squashing but commercial pop mixes can range from a relatively spacious -14 dB to well under -10 dB [ugly in my book but, hey, that's what the suits say the kids want, huh? ] -- looking at the wave form shows there isn't much besides kick drum in the top 6 dB. A little rejiggering of your compression might help.


Just for fun I did some quick but radical re-EQing on your mix and came up with something that on my monitors sounds a lot better. (And I think it makes your mix make a lot more sense. It's not bad once the EQ is tinkered, seems to me.) There are still some issues with it and I'm sure if I were to take a little longer, I could get it a lot closer to what I think you're probably going for.

That said, if you were to play 'my' tinkered file on your rig, I strongly suspect it would end up sounding way overbright. That's why I was asking above about reference mixes. When you can't be sure of your mix room, it can help to listen to known 'good' mixes for your given genre to give you guidance.

I posted an mp3 below.

[theblue1]

Quick EQ mods [please don't call it mastering ] of tamakid's dad's band's version of "Fortunate Son."

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/attac...1&d=1216417925


I think I was too aggressive bringing up the top. I've had the fan on a lot lately and it really does something bad to my hearing... cranks my tinnitus right up.
But hopefully this conveys the general idea. Again, if I'm right about your mix room, this would sound too bright in it, I'm guessin'.

[tamakid1292]

Originally Posted by theblue1

Ditto the drum sound. It sounds really muffled. I'm not a fan of the 'verb on the snare, either.

I'm thinking your CR and/or mix room have a highly uneven response pattern at your work position. There's this rather nasty low mid humping I don't much go for and it makes your overall mix sound muddy and dull.

Side-by-sided with some mixes of little known Austin bands (happened to be in the subscription player queue when I popped in your mp3) your mix sounds really muddy.

I keep thinking the villain is the CR/mix room.


Another issue: I notice things peak at 0 dB -- but a representative section of the main part of the song has an RMS average about -16 dB. I'm against squashing but commercial pop mixes can range from a relatively spacious -14 dB to well under -10 dB [ugly in my book but, hey, that's what the suits say the kids want, huh? ] -- looking at the wave form shows there isn't much besides kick drum in the top 6 dB. A little rejiggering of your compression might help.


Just for fun I did some quick but radical re-EQing on your mix and came up with something that on my monitors sounds a lot better. (And I think it makes your mix make a lot more sense. It's not bad once the EQ is tinkered, seems to me.) There are still some issues with it and I'm sure if I were to take a little longer, I could get it a lot closer to what I think you're probably going for.

That said, if you were to play 'my' tinkered file on your rig, I strongly suspect it would end up sounding way overbright. That's why I was asking above about reference mixes. When you can't be sure of your mix room, it can help to listen to known 'good' mixes for your given genre to give you guidance.

I posted an mp3 below.

im guessing part of it is beacuse i dont have studio monitors i just use my stereo speakers and my room is no where near being treated as a cr.

[theblue1]

Yup.

Until you can get some proper, relatively flat speakers and maybe tinker your room to minimize problems, try comparing your mixes to commercial mixes you know sound good, A/B'ing back and forth. You may also want to try to use EQ on your stereo to get the most neutral response you can. Basically take four or five good sounding CDs and look for a single EQ adjustment on your stereo that sounds good on all of them and then leave it. (In fact, make a note of the settings so you can go back. You can always change them, but you don't want to change them around all the time or you'll never know where you are.)


Anyhow, take heart, even my clumsy re-EQ seems to reveal to me that your mix is actually not too bad at all! Not to bad for flying almost blind, monitoring wise.


(But my re-EQ is certainly too jacked at the very high end -- gettin' some real fatigue listening to it... that's how us old cats know there's too much high end... we can't hear it but after a while it makes us edgy and cranky. Well... something does. )

[michaels]

Yeah, I do like the re-eq version better although it is a tad brightish. I personally would like to hear the bass guitar up a tad more tho - but that's just my opinion - and we all know about opinions!

[tamakid1292]

I re mixed it all and then put eq on the whole track and some compression. tell me how it sounds

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by michaels

Yeah, I do like the re-eq version better although it is a tad brightish. I personally would like to hear the bass guitar up a tad more tho - but that's just my opinion - and we all know about opinions!

Yeah... those damn electric fans... they really mess with my hearing... even after I turn them off... it's like tinnitis greatest hits for hours.

I haven't heard my 're-EQ' since yesterday but as I was listening to some other stuff subsequently (actually the aforementioned Austin compilation) all those nice clean pro mixes sounded a lot less bright, that was when I started thinking my ears were on the jangled side.

Concept was there... my execution didn't quite work, I guess. But I was heartened at how it revealed that re-EQing could make the mix come a lot more alive.

I'm going to listen to the new version now...



... Ah! Sounds much better to me. There's a bit of a boom in the bass on my everyday rig but it's a big improvement overall. Did you use some reference mixes to guide yourself or...?

[tamakid1292]

actually i didnt but i really tried to focus on bringing out the low end in the mix and the high end. i since im still learning tons of stuff every day just every mix i do slowly gets better.

[Audio Hombre]

i can hear the compressor on the vocals really clamping the vocal, hard. no idea what the compressor is but it's not subtle that's for sure.

[tamakid1292]

its the compresson in t tracks