How to get leads to cut through

[Jinko17]

I'm having a hell of a time trying to get these leads to cut through the mix. Any EQ tips or anything would be awesome.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1939925/leadsredone.mp3

I'm using POD Farm and Reaper, Izotope on the Master. Drumkit From Hell/SSD for the drums. It doesn't sound great as of yet but I just really wanna get this lead thing outa the way so I can move on. Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
Updated link.

 

[westandredeemed]

Highpassing a bit higher and boosting around 1k on the leads always seems to work for me.

 

[Ermz]

The link is broken.

 

[Jinko17]

The link is broken.

link updated, thanks for the heads up!

 

[lolzgreg]

-Have more high mids than the rhythm tone.
-Use a subtle plate reverb with a decent pre-delay to help give it space and presence.
-Slight delay can help.
-Highpass closer to 100 than to 60hz, song dependent.
-High shelf a dB

 

[Morgan C]

Automate the rhythm guitars down a couple db while the solo is on.

 

[ahjteam]

turn everything else down.

 

[Jinko17]

Thanks for the advice guise! Gonna give it a run tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Harry Hughes]

I'd high pass way higher than 100Hz for lead tones.
I can't see anything under 200Hz being useful at all for lead tones.
You wont lose any thickness in the leads doing that, because lead guitar is not really dependent on those lower frequencies and needs to be channeled into the mid range even more so than rhythm guitar

 

[AudioPhile777]

you need to give the leads their own "space" in the mix, like you would vocals.

 

[Morgan C]

I'd high pass way higher than 100Hz for lead tones.
I can't see anything under 200Hz being useful at all for lead tones.
You wont lose any thickness in the leads doing that, because lead guitar is not really dependent on those lower frequencies and needs to be channeled into the mid range even more so than rhythm guitar

I usually boost the lowend of leads actually (shelf around 150hz). Brings out the lowend of the pick scrape which can be cool, doesn't really muddy up the mix.

 

[Ermz]

You need to work on overall frequency balancing before jumping this far ahead. Your rhythms and overheads are too high mid centric. Focus on controlling the stuff between 2 and 3kHz before trying to get leads to cut through.

Once you have a balanced mix foundation you will find lead elements such as vocals and guitar leads much easier to mix.

 

[Jinko17]

Link updated. Cut some of the high mids on the rhythms and overheads, slightly boosted some on the leads. Amidoinitrite? I'm starting not to trust my own ears.

 

[ahjteam]

sounds pretty hollow and separated instead of glued and whole. try to bring up the bass guitar and turn everything else down.

 

[zackpennington]

It sounds really low quality, like a 96kbps file or something...Is that what you exported it as?

(The actual file, not the recording)

 

[Habsburgs]

128 kbps

 

[Jinko17]

128 kbps

This

The low quality sound is probably just the mix.

 

[ahjteam]

yeah, try to upload it as 192/256 kbps

 

[Ermz]

I print everything at 320kbps these days. Most of us have broadband, we can handle it. The lower your bitrate the less relevant our suggestions ultimately are, especially in regards to high and low-end.

 

[Morgan C]

Tbh, there's not a HUGE difference between even 128kpbs and .wav imo. Noticeable on the right system, but 128kpbs is fine for giving mix advice.

That said, the lead tone itself needs a lot of work. What are you using for it?