Mix Critique needed
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Posted on Jul 06, 2010 01:51 am
Aenima7988
Member Since: Apr 10, 2006
I already know what some of the problems are, and would like to hear any more critiques anyone has.
Most of all, I need to know how to solve these problems. I think a lot of it has to do with notching, but it's a technique I've yet to grasp.
www.sendspace.com/file/dw8ms2
here are the problems i already noticed:
Conflict between vox, gtr solo, and maybe dist gtr
Kick may be too boomy or too high in the mix
No punch in bass. I've never written/recorded a song in this style, I'm used to metal. Maybe the bass is fine the way it is and I'm just used to very bright basses? You tell me
Maybe too much low mids in acoustic?
Drums (except for overheads) may be too low in mix
Clean guitar (not the twang/shimmery guitar, the one that mimics the acoustic in the verse and does a ska/reggae thing in the chorus) may be too low in the mix
The dist guitar that comes in halfway through the second chorus may be too low
Acoustic gtr may be unnecessary after the bridge
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Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Jul 06, 2010 06:57 am man, its sounds good.
I see what you mean about drums tho, thats no big deal to fix really.
depending on how you recorded them, as you say, i would bring in the close mics a touch, get a little more crack in the snare and kick (close mics) and then try a group channel for the whole kit and compress slightly to make it sound cohesive with itself.
The rest is good IMO.
Jul 06, 2010 02:39 pm Thanks for the compliments. I really think it's too abrasive though. I'm wondering if I put too much compression on the master track.
That's a good idea though. Are you suggesting parallel compression? Or just a little compression on the whole kit?
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jul 06, 2010 02:58 pm I think bass sounds good.
Sounds like the acoustic mimic/reggae clean guitar is competing with the bass, which is causing some low-mid mud. Here's what I do to notch stuff. Get a 1 band EQ filter and apply it as an insert on your clean/reggae guitar, make the filter wide and boost or cut gain to the max. Sweep the filter across until you hear your particular guitar lick either boost or cut significantly, now play with the filters width to hone in on relevant frequencies. Since the clean part in question is repeated and generally occupies the same frequency space, you should be able to find a notch that very specifically fits the frequency spectrum of this particular guitar lick. Now you know what frequencies are important to your clean/reggae guitar tone. Now cut the frequencies you discovered on your guitar tone, but on your bass tone. This will notch out some space for the guitar, from the bass.
If you want to get really fancy; you'll get the BEST sound by sidechaining your EQ notch/cut to trigger with the reggae clean guitar parts. In this scenario the filter notch will only take effect when your clean guitar is playing back, letting the bass' natural freqs cut through when the clean guitar isn't playing. Google around for sidechaining if you haven't done it before. Awesome recording kung fu.
Vocals could stand out in the mix a little more. Not sure whether you need compression of just higher overall levels. The vox sound great though.
Awesome piece of music! Perfect it!
Jul 06, 2010 06:07 pm The twangy one in the left speaker or the clean one in the right speaker? Or both?
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Jul 06, 2010 07:07 pm Think about it and decide for yourself is my recommendation.
If I were you, I would consider the frequency spectrum when listening and deciding where the filters need to go. Where are the instruments sitting from 20Hz to 20KHz, roughly? Do they sound defined there, or are they competing with something else? I typically notice these frequency competitions when I think to myself, "Gee, if only this piano level were a little lower I could hear this guitar" only to find that when I turn down the piano I can't hear the piano over the guitar. It's those situations where adjusting levels just doesn't help distinguish anything. To me, this scenario says that the piano and guitar are occupying the same space and a notch filter is in order on one of the isntruments. Even though you may be notching frequencies that are perfectly great sounding when solo'd...the goal is not to compile a bunch of tracks that sound great when solo'd.
Keep in mind that playing an open E on the guitar is going to occupy a different place on the frequency spectrum than playing a note on the 12th fret of the 1st string.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Jul 07, 2010 06:49 am here's a little trick you can try, dont tell anyone else. hahaha.
anyway,
with your guitars,
setup 2 fx channel tracks with mono delay, and pan them to the opposite side of what ever guitar you have them on.
example,
left guitar 80 to right delay channel 60. and vice versa.
you can pan the delay at whatever you want. 60 works good.
use the sends to bring it in to a decent vol and have the delay time around 22 odd, time wise.
see how that goes for ya lemme know what you think.
oh and yeah, a i of compression on the whole kit on a group channel, just enought o take the peaks out a bit.
you could try parallel also depending on how big you want them. i do it.
Jul 07, 2010 05:13 pm that's a good trick, i've stumbled upon it myself in the past but didn't think to do it this time. i'll try it out! you're talking about 22ms?
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Jul 07, 2010 07:29 pm yeah thats what im using atm, thats for heavy stuff though,
anymore than that it messes it up a bit, i go for about 2.6 for feedback which im considering uping, but have a play, maybe up to 30 could be better for your stuff.
be sure to take a fair bit of the lower eqs and around 300hz out, so to not clash too much with the other gits, i go for a more airy type of result on my delayed gits, so they sit up top a bit and just flutter off the original guitar. gives it more effect imo.
each to his own though, see what you can come up with i guess man. be keen to hear your surmise on the whole thing.
