not happy about this mix

[brianhood]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/536384/FTWS/October 2010/Song 2 Rough Mix 1.mp3

This is just another weekend demo for a local band, and they went way over time(about 13 hours over to be exact), so things haven't been going smoothly.

This is a rushed mix, and maybe it's just my fatigued ears, but i'm not very happy with the overall sound.

thankfully it's not the final mix though.


feel free to crucify me here....


Edit:

after comparing this mix to another i did recently, i have no idea wtf i was thinking here.

I reamped the guitars again, completely remixed the drums, and completely redid my mastering chain.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/536384/FTWS/October 2010/Song 2 Mix 2.mp3

 

[Seth Munson]

Im really diggin the intro. its pretty sweet

my only thing would be, the beginning of the song seems really REALLY empty when both the guitars are doing leads at 0:50
maybe thats just me tho.

 

[donimoines]

these demos are pretty amazing i must say though.
it sounded a lil empty before the vox came in, then the vox set the mix straight, i think its great still dude

 

[Seth Munson]

and maybe just a tad too much thud on the snare and not enough crack? now im just being picky

 

[dcb]

man, thats great, i totally dig this thing. not really digging the harmonies on lead guitars in the beginning though (but thats not your part ;-)
you could try distortion on bass, especially when guitars go up there its ok, but somehow the center seems really empty to my ears.
maybe try bass distortion.

 

[amarshism]

Yeh agreed, but that comes down to arrangement. Perhaps a note to take for productions sake. Could really have done with a chord progression under it. Otherwise, sounds good as usual here Brian.

 

[pipaguapique]

They probably wanna keep it real and not overdub or something stupid that bands usually come up with.

The mix is really good for a demo man, i really think distorting the bass would help that empty part, maybe with some chorus too to make it fill up the gap.

But it's totally fine man, it's cool that they'll sound just like that live. and again...your guitar tone is so good.

 

[chrisrivalry]

the high hats when he picks up the little 8th note blast in the beginning sounds like theres just a tick coming from the high hat.

 

[dcb]

They probably wanna keep it real and not overdub or something stupid that bands usually come up with.

whats wrong with a good production instead of a bad one ? ;-)

i think bands dont really recognize that 9 out of 10 times their arrangement is lacking, so its our job to fill that hole. nothing wrong with adding stuff
if the song seems empty.

but of course : that should not be part of the mixing
but the producers part. but yeah again, id try out bass disortion to fill the hole.

 

[PhilTheBeard]

dude turn up that bass and distort it and it will sound bad ass fuck . good work as always Brian

 

[brianhood]

They probably wanna keep it real and not overdub or something stupid that bands usually come up with.

whats wrong with a good production instead of a bad one ? ;-)

i think bands dont really recognize that 9 out of 10 times their arrangement is lacking, so its our job to fill that hole. nothing wrong with adding stuff
if the song seems empty.

but of course : that should not be part of the mixing
but the producers part. but yeah again, id try out bass disortion to fill the hole.

you're both right.

the band didn't want to did anything they "couldnt do live". I'm usually pretty adamant about stuff like that, but we were really rushed.

as for the bass...

The biggest problem is that their bass sounded like absolute shit. I told them to "BUY NEW STEEL .135 GAUGE STRINGS"(in giant caps like that). Bass players being bass players, he ignored me, and kept the strings that came with his bass on there. That along with him being a finger player resulted in a terrible, dead, lifeless bass tone.(even though i had my sansamp with maxon 0D808, going into an Ampeg SVT4 Pro, into a Ampeg 8x10). Adding any noticeable amount of distortion just made it sound terrible since there was no real "tone" to the strings.
Had this been anything more than a weekend demo, i would have refused to record him with those strings.

 

[zackpennington]

Whenever dual leads feel thin, I have the lower guitar panned hard and the higher in the center, thus having 3 takes of 2 parts.

-Zack

 

[Joshua Wickman]

I think everyone touched on what I would have said.

Brian are you using different verbs for snare and toms?

Or are you just running the verb on the main drum buss still?

 

[Shaun Werle]

Just possibly push the bass a little more up front to compensate for the lack of rhythms here and there. The playing it self is tight, I like the vocals. Is this how your mixes sound before mixing? anything on the master at all?

besides production, I don't really dig the song itself.

 

[donimoines]

what.. its i killed the prom queen not parkway.. an reminds me nothing of it..

 

[dasbrootal]

the intro is pretty sweet. personally, i'd crush the shit out of the the guitars. in my opinion, the overall drum sound is lacking life (beef up the kick at least?) and the cymbals are really dull...or maybe just too quiet. bringing them up might help fill the void you're feeling from the lack rhythm guitars.

just my two cents. still sounds leaps and bounds better than anything i can do.

 

[joelplagues]

damn you brian.

agreed with everything thats been said so I just wanna say I'm really enjoying this mix in regards to everything else, the rythm tone and bass combination sounds great to me and the drums.

Maybe I just dislike the mix I'm working on and when I heard this it crushed my spirit a little but anyway nice work.

I'd enjoy knowing more about your drum processing and mastering chain these days man?

 

[gabriel g.]

everything sounds good for itself....like guitar tone is great, drums sound cool .....but the balance isnt right IMO.

And +1 for the bass grid.

But I so know what you mean with bad-basses/players/and super old strings....

 

[MAXMEDLOW]

i personally like the guitars alot (although if i HAD to be critical, take some treble out). not keen on the drum sound though, none of the drums had any body. i think this might just be a lack in mids though. boost the mids on all of the drums (maybe)

 

[MAXMEDLOW]

i personally like the guitars alot (although if i HAD to be critical, take some treble out). not keen on the drum sound though, none of the drums had any body. i think this might just be a lack in mids though. boost the mids on all of the drums (maybe)

also some reverb?