Instrumental rock mixes - please give some feedback

ryanstack · 18th October 2006, 02:02 AM

Here are a couple of (hopefully) final mixes from a recent recording I did of my band. I've heard it so many times I need some fresh ears. When we recorded this we wanted it to sound like we do live. We had all of the instruments setup as if we were playing a show, in our basement. (all the amps behind the drums, one guitar to the left, one guitar to the right and bass directly behind the drummer) It was very frustrating for all of us to try to play without any mistakes through out every song. There are definatley some minor mistakes (stick clicks,muffed notes, etc) We just wanted it to be a little raw sounding, we did not overdub or punch anything in. We setup a MS stereo pair in the room to get a very live sound.

I am fairly happy with the way it turned out given the sub par gear we used. Mackie VLZ plus two on the 001 for mic pres, presonus Firestaion for extra ad/da. Beta 52 on the kick, 3 SM57's for the snare,guitar left and bass as well as a DI, AKG c1000 for guitar right, 2 CAD M179 for the toms. For the MS pair we used a CAD e100 for the middle and a studio projects B3 set to omni for the side.

Exchanging Dental Records with Dracula:
http://www.evergreenmovement.com/dentalrecords.mp3

Boots of Hazard:
http://www.evergreenmovement.com/bootsofhazard.mp3

Please give me some honest feedback.

Thanks
Ryan

norman_nomad · 18th October 2006, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryanstack

Here are a couple of (hopefully) final mixes from a recent recording I did of my band. I've heard it so many times I need some fresh ears. When we recorded this we wanted it to sound like we do live. We had all of the instruments setup as if we were playing a show, in our basement. (all the amps behind the drums, one guitar to the left, one guitar to the right and bass directly behind the drummer) It was very frustrating for all of us to try to play without any mistakes through out every song. There are definatley some minor mistakes (stick clicks,muffed notes, etc) We just wanted it to be a little raw sounding, we did not overdub or punch anything in. We setup a MS stereo pair in the room to get a very live sound.

I am fairly happy with the way it turned out given the sub par gear we used. Mackie VLZ plus two on the 001 for mic pres, presonus Firestaion for extra ad/da. Beta 52 on the kick, 3 SM57's for the snare,guitar left and bass as well as a DI, AKG c1000 for guitar right, 2 CAD M179 for the toms. For the MS pair we used a CAD e100 for the middle and a studio projects B3 set to omni for the side.

Exchanging Dental Records with Dracula:
http://www.evergreenmovement.com/dentalrecords.mp3

Boots of Hazard:
http://www.evergreenmovement.com/bootsofhazard.mp3

Please give me some honest feedback.

Thanks
Ryan

I listened to Exchaning Dental Records with Dracula (nice title by the way) and I thought it sounded pretty good!

I like the live feel and the room sound is nice - I'd say you did a good job considering the gear at your disposal.

Some of the performance stuff bugged me... but you already mentioned that... in particular, your drummer has a tendancy to push ahead of the beat....it'd be cool if he fell into the pocket a little more.... I know, everyone's a critic!

I wasn't digging the very mono hi-hat at the beginning. I really like the riff the song falls into around 1:31... nice.

Good work.

ryanstack · 18th October 2006, 12:53 PM

Thanks for giving it a listen. About the high hat being mono, I agree, but didn't have much of a choice. There were no over head mics, nor one on the high hat. The only mics picking up the cymbals are the MS pair placed about 10 or 9 feet away from the drums, essentially placing the high hats dead center.

Thanks again.

ryanstack · 22nd October 2006, 04:31 PM

anyone else?

BouncyJones · 26th October 2006, 12:05 AM

Best things about Dracula - sounds like a real band and not ramming through my skull. The ending especially is nice and dropped down before building up. The snare rolls were nice there.

Things to think about (my two cents)
- could you do this thing again with the Bass just going Direct Input? As it stands, the bass guitar doesn't sound too distinct. (it's hard to place it in the room)
- easy on the cymbals
- the guitarist in my right ear sounds like he's not pressing down very hard on his strings, nor strumming with a lot of authority. I could be wrong.

Are you gonna do the vocals afterwards? How come not at the same time? Too much of a complication? That's super impressive to get such a sound with just M/S. I wish when I was in a band we had setup something like that.

For whatever reason Boots of Hazard doesn't seem to have the same "flaws" if you could call them that, maybe due to the faster tempo.

Jon

ryanstack · 26th October 2006, 02:41 AM

BouncyJones:

Thanks for giving a listen and throwing in your two cents. I just want to clarify that the M/S pair were not the only mics (see first post for a list of mics), not so impressive anymore. I agree about the bass, I do not like the way it sounds. What you are hearing in the mix is about 50% DI and 50% sm57 on the bass cab, not a whole lot in the room mics, it had to be turned down some, it was causing the room M/S tracks to be too muddy.

I also agree about the cymbals being hit too hard, it seems that is a common problem among drummers.

Vocals, there are none we are an instrumental band.

Thanks again
Ryan

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18th October 2006, 02:02 AM	#1
ryanstack Gear interested Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 8	Instrumental rock mixes - please give some feedback Here are a couple of (hopefully) final mixes from a recent recording I did of my band. I've heard it so many times I need some fresh ears. When we recorded this we wanted it to sound like we do live. We had all of the instruments setup as if we were playing a show, in our basement. (all the amps behind the drums, one guitar to the left, one guitar to the right and bass directly behind the drummer) It was very frustrating for all of us to try to play without any mistakes through out every song. There are definatley some minor mistakes (stick clicks,muffed notes, etc) We just wanted it to be a little raw sounding, we did not overdub or punch anything in. We setup a MS stereo pair in the room to get a very live sound. I am fairly happy with the way it turned out given the sub par gear we used. Mackie VLZ plus two on the 001 for mic pres, presonus Firestaion for extra ad/da. Beta 52 on the kick, 3 SM57's for the snare,guitar left and bass as well as a DI, AKG c1000 for guitar right, 2 CAD M179 for the toms. For the MS pair we used a CAD e100 for the middle and a studio projects B3 set to omni for the side. Exchanging Dental Records with Dracula: http://www.evergreenmovement.com/dentalrecords.mp3 Boots of Hazard: http://www.evergreenmovement.com/bootsofhazard.mp3 Please give me some honest feedback. Thanks Ryan

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18th October 2006, 12:53 PM	#3
ryanstack Gear interested Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 8	Thanks for giving it a listen. About the high hat being mono, I agree, but didn't have much of a choice. There were no over head mics, nor one on the high hat. The only mics picking up the cymbals are the MS pair placed about 10 or 9 feet away from the drums, essentially placing the high hats dead center. Thanks again.

22nd October 2006, 04:31 PM	#4
ryanstack Gear interested Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 8	anyone else?

26th October 2006, 12:05 AM	#5
BouncyJones Gear nut Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 133	Best things about Dracula - sounds like a real band and not ramming through my skull. The ending especially is nice and dropped down before building up. The snare rolls were nice there. Things to think about (my two cents) - could you do this thing again with the Bass just going Direct Input? As it stands, the bass guitar doesn't sound too distinct. (it's hard to place it in the room) - easy on the cymbals - the guitarist in my right ear sounds like he's not pressing down very hard on his strings, nor strumming with a lot of authority. I could be wrong. Are you gonna do the vocals afterwards? How come not at the same time? Too much of a complication? That's super impressive to get such a sound with just M/S. I wish when I was in a band we had setup something like that. For whatever reason Boots of Hazard doesn't seem to have the same "flaws" if you could call them that, maybe due to the faster tempo. Jon

26th October 2006, 02:41 AM	#6
ryanstack Gear interested Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 8	BouncyJones: Thanks for giving a listen and throwing in your two cents. I just want to clarify that the M/S pair were not the only mics (see first post for a list of mics), not so impressive anymore. I agree about the bass, I do not like the way it sounds. What you are hearing in the mix is about 50% DI and 50% sm57 on the bass cab, not a whole lot in the room mics, it had to be turned down some, it was causing the room M/S tracks to be too muddy. I also agree about the cymbals being hit too hard, it seems that is a common problem among drummers. Vocals, there are none we are an instrumental band. Thanks again Ryan