First try with new Interface

[Iron Chef of Vag]

So got my Saffire Finally working and decided to give a little riff a shot. I dont have much gear so I just used EZ-drummer and did the best i could for right now. Guitars are engl amp sim with catharisis impulse, No bass guitar(cant afford one right now). Its just a short riff Im just curious how you guys think i should change anything, Since ive never really done this before and am just winging it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2726305/strap young-05.mp3

 

[@tombomb]

First things first, it sounds like it is majoring clipping. You need to either start turning things down or making sure the limiter is not compressing the mix to point of oblivion. Try that and upload another mix. EZ drummer is sounding a little better than most on here, but I still can't judge until the master when a bunch of cymbals and double bass cloud everything.

Edit: The clarity is horrible also you want to make sure the drums sit well in the mix, I usually turn the drums up until they are almost clipping and I never have too overpowering drums or buried in the mix kinda drums.

 

[Iron Chef of Vag]

I really wish i new how to use a limiter properly Like i said im winging it. Let me know if its any better.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2726305/strap young-07.mp3

Checked back and when i took off the instances of G clip It did clip a bit so i lowered some volumes.

 

[@tombomb]

Sounds like it's clipping less but there's a lot of work to do, like I would start with panning everything so guitars are clearer (guitars). I would do hard pan to right for rhythm guitar and hard left for the lead. And always have bass guitar in the middle. And see how that sounds. Also turn down the drums till the snare and bass drum sit nicely in the mix.

If you want a bigger guitar sound if the panned guitars don't sound right I would suggest quadtracking the rhythm guitar so you can have two pans to the left (L100 and L30) and two to the right (R100 and R40) and then double track the lead guitar to the right (R100 R 40 - I'm not sure but just experiment with the R30 pan so It's not too big on the left of the mix). After you do that you should always turn down the Right panned Rhythm Guitars so that the mix is even panned and so that leave room. Also make sure you don't mix too hot, You must TURN THINGS DOWN!!! making things loud will make a mix messy. Always mix at the minimal volume that is allowed for you to hear the mix clearly.

If you need help on quadtracking it's basically creating 4 tracks of the same guitar. If you are recording from an amp you NEED to record the part rhythm 4 times and make the guitars as close as possible. And double tracking is recording it twice so that is what you want to do with the lead. Any other questions you should search in the forum, just because they can explain it a lot better than I can. Below is a picture of what I'm talking about

 

[Iron Chef of Vag]

As of the last recording there are two rhythm guitars and they are panned 100 Left and a 100 right, there are also two lead guitars and they are panned 90 Left and 90 Right So i dont see how thats a big deal, on the leads one part is just an octave Higher then the other(Im not positive but your saying pan all my Rhythm guitars to the left and Lead guitars to the Right? wont that leave my Mix even more unbalanced since there would be absolutely no percussive attack in the gutiars on the right? The Lead guitars are all play legato). I also said there is No bass guitar. But i suppose if there was i would probably turn the bass down on the guitars give them a bit more Mids to get them out of the way. If the cymbals and the kicks are still bugging you i can always turn down the parallel compression i have on the Drum set. It seems to add more thud but Dirties things up a bit. But as far as volume i dont see the problem nothing is clipping in my DAW or on my Master buss, and seems like everyone else's mixes are even louder then mine? Am i just not hearing it or something?

Does it sound as if i overly compressed the kicks or the cymbals? Im still trying to get my attack and release setting in the ballpark?

Any body else have anything?

 

[@tombomb]

I realize that this mix is usually not the type of mix for the "Rhythm guitars to the left and Lead guitars to the Right" unless it's like a joey sturgis type mix with pan left for one guitar and pan right the other like this mix http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2649123/Gone%20Fishing.mp3. With fresher ears I can say that the bass drum and cymbals are either too loud or compressed and the guitars are sounding a little clearer and even in the mix as a whole. That bass drum just kills the ears. If you listen to the Faceless and their album "Planetary Duality" you'll hear what I mean cause imo the drums are to loud and have this click that makes me scream when listening to them through monitors others on this forum like the drums but I hate them. Since I'm not sure about what your chain and what everything you are doing I can't express much of help since I myself am still pretty new (3 months) at recording.