Amateur mix

[Clownmite]

As you can tell by my post count, I'm new here. I was hoping to get feedback on one of my first mixes. I would appreciate all the constructive criticism, especially very specific constructive criticism (i.e. telling me what specific adjustments to do with my EQ, etc). I'm also posting a picture of my guitar's signal chain, so that you can tell me what glaring mistakes I've made (and suggest better alternative VSTs to use).

I'm mostly concerned about the guitar tone, since I didn't spend very much time on everything else, but any tips are appreciated. Please ignore the badly synthesized instruments.

EDIT: I turned all the amp sim knobs in Boogex to 0, so ignore that part of the screenshot. The new mix is now "Trifectus2."

Song is "Trifectus2" here: http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/Clownmite/

My guitar's signal chain: guitar --> line6 Toneport --> noisegate --> TSS --> Nick Crow 8505 --> Voxengo Boogex (with Catharsis impulse)--> ReaEQ
Guitars are quadtracked and panned hard left/right (and one track on each side has the "sweep" on the Nick Crow 8505 set in the opposite direction)

 

[Nuno Filipe]

I never use the drive of Boogex because it sucks. Try without that and you could achieve a better tone.

 

[Morgan C]

Yeah I don't think you're using Boogex right (its an amp sim as well as an impulse loader). If you want just the impulse loader then put the green knob on the EQ all the way to the left, then move the Dry Pre Cab to 0dB.

 

[Damian B]

As Marcus always says, "turn all the knobs in the amplifier sections to zero."

 

[Clownmite]

Wow, I don't know how I missed that I was using Boogex as an amp too, especially since I took a screenshot for you guys. I turned off all amp sim knobs, but my tone still sucks, it's kind of thin and tinny. I also forgot to say before, that I recorded this with very rough takes (so ignore guitar playing errors), and the song isn't complete so it ends abruptly. Any tips on improving my tone are still greatly appreciated.

Song is now "Trifectus2" here: http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/Clownmite/

 

[Clownmite]

I don't mean to bump my own thread, but I was hoping that the more experienced people would be able to help me out with my tone, since it obviously needs a lot of work. I fixed my silly mistake of using Boogex as an amp sim, but my tone still sucks. Is this the best I'll be able to get DI-ing with a TonePort?

 

[arv_foh]

Any guitar is going to sound thin in a mix without a bass guitar sitting underneath. Track some bass under your guitars and see if you find the tone more satisfactory.

 

[crosstalk]

Do as Morgoe suggests and take that green bastard on boogex and slide it all the way to the right and set the Dry Pre Cab to 0db. This will kill the amp section of boogex. You don't even need to worry about where the high, bass, whatever is set. Even turning them to 0 can have some adverse effects.

Also as said, bass makes a big difference.

I've had luck so far just throwing soloc, 8505 with random settings, and boogex with a Catharsis impulse on it and not even playing with eq other than hi and low pass. I definitely think you can pull better tones out of what you're using.

 

[exzem]

Bring up the drums, they are way too low. Cymbals sound fake too, try humanizing by playing around with midi velocities.

 

[DanLights]

Any guitar is going to sound thin in a mix without a bass guitar sitting underneath. Track some bass under your guitars and see if you find the tone more satisfactory.

I´m pretty sure there´s bass there, although it sounds like a vsti and not real bass.

I don´t think the guitars are that bad really, the drums are waaay to low and sound way to robotic, what did you use for drums? and bass?

 

[Clownmite]

I´m pretty sure there´s bass there, although it sounds like a vsti and not real bass.

I don´t think the guitars are that bad really, the drums are waaay to low and sound way to robotic, what did you use for drums? and bass?

Yup, there's a VSTi bass in there (Cakewalk Bass guitar). The drumming is EZdrummer - Drumkit from Hell. I know I have a long way to go with the drums (any help mixing those is appreciated, as well as improving my guitar tone).