need help with this super poppy band!

[brette344]

i feel like this mix needs beefed up and cleaned up but i cant figure out what else it needs or whats wrong with it any help would be awesome.
all the drums are replaced but the cymbals. the only thing about the cymbals im not sure if i like the stereo spread of them. anyone think i should just sample them too or do they sound ok?
the guitars are reamped through an orange rocker 30 and an orange 2x12 cab

thanks everyone!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/binh master 1.mp3

**mix 2 - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/binh master 2.mp3

 

[dasbrootal]

i feel like this mix needs beefed up and cleaned up but i cant figure out what else it needs or whats wrong with it any help would be awesome.
all the drums are replaced but the cymbals. the only thing about the cymbals im not sure if i like the stereo spread of them. anyone think i should just sample them too or do they sound ok?
the guitars are reamped through an orange rocker 30 and an orange 2x12 cab

thanks everyone!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/binh master 1.mp3

i'm listening on headphones right now but this sounds fantastic as is. nothing wrong with the cymbal spread either. seriously, great job! care to share the overall details of this recording?

 

[fuimjb]

Yea this sounds great. I think it could use a little more high end but that's just a matter of opinion and taste. Great job bro.

 

[Clark Kent]

i feel like this mix needs beefed up and cleaned up but i cant figure out what else it needs or whats wrong with it any help would be awesome.
all the drums are replaced but the cymbals. the only thing about the cymbals im not sure if i like the stereo spread of them. anyone think i should just sample them too or do they sound ok?
the guitars are reamped through an orange rocker 30 and an orange 2x12 cab

thanks everyone!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/binh master 1.mp3

Sounds very professional!

For this genre I suggest lowering the guitars quite a bit, right now they are a bit loud. Other than that everything sounds like perfection. Maybe the chorus percussion is a bit loud also?

Can you give some info on what was used. Snare? Was it triggered and if so... can you give me the samples? Guitar amp? What's in the vocal chain?

 

[brette344]

hey guys thanks for all the positive feedback! and as for details on the recording here goes ha...

Drums - bass drums is a mix of the "truth 22 inch hard kick 2 sample" and the bass drum from the kit mixed (both are eq together taking off a ton in the 105 - 400 hz area) . snare drum is a mix of 4 different things. the main sample heard is the truth black beauty snare which has a clipper and slight eq i think just a high shelf at about 5khz, the second is the snare from the kit which has almost similar settings, the third is slate snare 14 with nothing on the chain, and snare 5 but in kontakt where i ran it through this snare is only for the room sound cause i use that instead of reverb on the snare. the toms are just superior toms with a clipper minor eq tweaks and maxxbass.

Guitars - these are all the orange rocker 30 really. i used a sm57 slightly off center and just with some eq tweaks. i did about high pass at 102 and a low pass at 12khz. -2 at 600 and 1.7 at 4khz. they're quad tracked and the doubles were reamped with less gain. all the leads are through an egnater head i dont remember the settings cause its not my head. but the lead tracks just had some compression and minor eq to take out the mud and help stand out in the track.

Bass- this is nothing special just super clean di track with comp, sans amp plug in, saturation. i also reamped that di track through real sans amp pedal to give it a bit more low end.

heres what i did on the main vocals. the top three plug ins are on the actual track and the bottom two are what all the vocals are being sent to. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/Screen shot 2011-11-30 at 6.34.39 PM.png

if you want anymore specifics just let me know ill be happy to share anything! ill be updating the mix when i get back from a little tour this weekend with my band.

 

[Yajlom]

Sounds great, maybe a little oomph off of the toms, or it could just be these m-audio headphones. Natural cymbals sound cool, but maybe a little more air on them. I would get the bass growl a tad more maybe? I like the loud guitars but I also agree with Clark Kent and the genre and all. Do you use the L3 on an aux with the verb? Or is the L3 on a different summing aux?

 

[Clark Kent]

I need to get me some Truth drum samples. (since none of the drummers know can afford the real thing) Are there any proper Truth samples on the Internet? Maybe free?

So glad to hear the guitars are an Orange Rocker 30. I just bought an Orange Thunder 30 (it replaced the Rocker 30) and I'll have it tomorrow.

I've never used the L3LL although I do have it. Is it limiting the vocal bus? How much and why the middle bump?

 

[Clark Kent]

I made my own Truth samples... and turned them into a Native Instruments Kontakt instrument: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/735764-truth-custom-drums-clark-kent.html

 

[Lon]

snare is too wet for my taste in this genere and i would like to have a little more separation between vocals and guitar (sounds fine on monitors but mushes up on the consumer-hifi), and i'd lower the highs of the bassdrum a bit, overall it sounds really great but a little bit more "rock" attitude (instead of surigcally polished) would really benefit overall

 

[jackbraglia]

sounds great, but I'm not sure if I like how that guitar tone sounds when its alone in the beginning there. It sounds too "close". Maybe have a different EQ for that part, but it works perfectly for everything else.

 

[brette344]

Sounds great, maybe a little oomph off of the toms, or it could just be these m-audio headphones. Natural cymbals sound cool, but maybe a little more air on them. I would get the bass growl a tad more maybe? I like the loud guitars but I also agree with Clark Kent and the genre and all. Do you use the L3 on an aux with the verb? Or is the L3 on a different summing aux?

yeah i agree the guitars could come down a little and leave some more room for everything else but yeah the verb is on the aux then after that the L3 is on the same aux

 

[brette344]

I need to get me some Truth drum samples. (since none of the drummers know can afford the real thing) Are there any proper Truth samples on the Internet? Maybe free?

So glad to hear the guitars are an Orange Rocker 30. I just bought an Orange Thunder 30 (it replaced the Rocker 30) and I'll have it tomorrow.

I've never used the L3LL although I do have it. Is it limiting the vocal bus? How much and why the middle bump?

yeah if you search truth samples they have theyre own website and you get kontakt samples if you email them too! but it was my first experience with the orange head so i was defiantly digging it. honestly theres no real reason to why i do some of the things i do on that limiter i just moved around some things until i liked how it sounded ha

 

[brette344]

snare is too wet for my taste in this genere and i would like to have a little more separation between vocals and guitar (sounds fine on monitors but mushes up on the consumer-hifi), and i'd lower the highs of the bassdrum a bit, overall it sounds really great but a little bit more "rock" attitude (instead of surigcally polished) would really benefit overall

yeah i noticed that on my laptop im going to lower the guitars to see if that helps also the bass drum is something i wanted to work on and give it more thump is too wimpy

 

[zer0_c00l]

It's great as it is, i think
I'd personally turn down the guitars at least 1.5dB and add a tad bit brightness to the vocals, nothing more...

 

[Lon]

yeah i noticed that on my laptop im going to lower the guitars to see if that helps also the bass drum is something i wanted to work on and give it more thump is too wimpy

maybe do a mid/side EQ on the guitar-bus and lower the 3.5-4.5kHz Area in the middle, maybe vice versa with vox (but just oh so slightly) this should clear it up because i do NOT think the guitars are too loud

 

[dasbrootal]

finally pulled this up on my studio computer...still sounds massive!

what mics did you use on the drum kit / vocals? also, what's your mastering chain consist of?

 

[dasbrootal]

bumper.

 

[brette344]

hey everyone sorry it took me a little to get mix 2 i just got back from a little mini tour. the changes between mixes are subtle and are from the input everyone on here said and the band themselves. enjoy and hopefully you dig it and let me know anything you dont like!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175304/binh master 2.mp3

finally pulled this up on my studio computer...still sounds massive!

what mics did you use on the drum kit / vocals? also, what's your mastering chain consist of?

usually my mics consist of nt5 overhead pair, sm7b on the hi hat, and a 57 on the ride if needed. for drums usually ill be doing metal bands and run via midi with an electronic kit but if not i mic it then after make soft med and loud samples out of the snare and kick just with a audix D6 on the kick and a 57 on the top of the snare and a audix i5 on the bottom. if the kits not good i use the samples i made out of my tama maple kit. (my own samples are really nothing great they just add a more natural vibe to the drums at least i think so) the vocals were all with my rode ntk.

for my mastering chain it depends its different between metal and this genre but for this i did ssl comp doing -2 db gain reduction ---> a linear phase eq just making the mix a little more even -->soft clipper ---> ozones limiter ---> hard clipper ---> dither. oh btw im using t-racks clipper.