Mix ends up too harsh

[cloy26]

I've been mixing this song for this band for 2 weeks, learning about new stuff and using it (ie. parallel comp.) and thought I did a good job recording at good levels. I didn't record as hot as I have before. Well, I got the mix sitting where I want it to yesterday, burned a disc, put it in my car and cranked it up. Instantly, the guitars sounded so harsh in the upper mids that I couldn't stand listening to it. What should I do? I can post the song on here if it would help. I used a multiband compressor in my slack final mastering of it. Should I go back and drop all the levels? I won't be able to get "my loudness" to compete. lol

https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/2376100/National Champs-song1.yepmaster2.mp3

 

[AudioGeekZine]

the guitars sounded so harsh in the upper mids that I couldn't stand listening to it

fucking EQ not compression

 

[cloy26]

Should I keep a multiband on there as well as a final eq?

 

[AudioGeekZine]

tough love boy

 

[Metaltastic]

I haven't liked the sound of using an MBC to constantly cut a frequency like an eq; just ends up sounding a bit strange and phasey to me, I usually only use 'em to control certain things that pop out (e.g. woomps on guitar palm mutes, sibilance)

 

[cloy26]

I stuck it on there for shits and giggles and it gave the song a lot more punch, a more commercial presentation. I guess I am going to fool around with an eq and see what happens.

 

[tgs]

Just a little trick that I use a lot when working with guitars that feel harsh: it's not uncommon that it's located in a pretty narrow frequency range/ranges. Given that you have a sound that sounds good in your ears, try to locate where in the (upper) mids that you have the most ear torture, then try to notch them out with a narrow Q. Usually it's a matter of 2-4dB, sometimes a bit more. I often end up cutting around 5.2k, especially if the cab was miced with an SM57. You'll probably also find one or two more problem areas that might need a bit of attention (usually slightly smaller cuts).

I've worked with this technique several times with great success. Mostly it involves my own productions though. On the material I get sent to me from other studios the guitar sound can be all over the place, sometimes I can't even understand how these people have been able to sit through a whole session with such a ghastly sound.

 

[nwright]

IMO the guitars in this clip aren't too harsh IMO for certain, but perhaps overgained (giving you too much of the fizz).

I hate to be a critic, but the bigger crime on this song are the vocals...Yikes. But that's not really your fault.

The mix as a whole could stand to use a bit more high end, IMO, which may bring out the harshness that you speak of.

 

[cloy26]

Really? I was thinking about bringing down the highs a little overall. Hm... I'll play around and see what happens. Thanks so much guys.

and yes, I had a very difficult time with the vocals. O well, what can I do? lol

 

[aclarson]

Sounds like your monitoring situation could be more accurate, if you're hearing drastically different results from speaker to speaker, you may have some room issues screwing you up. Keep a few CDs you wanna sound like nearby and A/B them often with your mix to hear how they compare, this usually helps to take the room out of the equation.

Guitars aren't terrible, just need some tweaks. I agree with the guy who said to do 5k-ish cut, keep the Q fairly wide, I always seem to have one around there. I would lower the gain a little to where there isn't all the high-end fizz, then put a high shelf on the guitars around 12k-ish, really seems to make them sparkle for me. I usually compress the whole guitar buss (4+ tracks) with something mellow (2:1 ish). I am also not a parallel comp fan on saturated guitars, always sounds phasey to me, and every time I turn a knob, everything is fucked again. :zombie:

Drums need to be louder, esp the kick.

As far as the vocals, often times pitchy-ness like that is the result of a crappy monitoring situation. I used to get real pitchy tracks, but once I started taking the time to get the headphone mix really solid, it make a big difference. Also, play with one ear on, one off (pan the mix mono into the single can on your ear), and cup your hand behind the other ear to better hear your own voice, it makes a BIG difference for all those little pitchy things that you only seem to hear on playback.