Please help me to suck less.

[userchanged1]

I am just starting out at this homerecording stuff, and I cannot deny it: I suck balls. I've been busy for hours trying to get a decent sounding mix, and honestly, the more I've been reading up, the more I realize this is waaay more complicated than I thought when I first started out.

Then I've found the clayman thread, and figured, why not try and recreate some of those mixes... Some clips I heard sound very good, and its as documented as it gets. Maybe I should try to get something to sound decent first, and then tweak every component in the mix to see how it affects the song as a whole...

Anyway, this is what I came up with today. Tracking could be a lot tighter, but this is mainly about the sound rather than recording a perfectly tight coversong.



Don't spare me, I know it needs a lot of improvement, but on the other hand for a first try I guess it could have been a lot worse too.

 

[fsgdjv]

For a first mix this sounds really good.

But a few cents from me:
Having the lead panned out like that feels weird, that guitar feels very far away aswell. it should be more in your face and in the centre imo. You shouldn't have to endavour to listen to the lead if you understand what I mean, it should be in your face with you being relaxed. There's also some effect on it that's a little bit too much for me, but it might be a matter of taste.

Otherwise, drums, guitars etc sound good, but they are not really that glued together. I don't have any specific tip for that, it's about EQ and volume mostly in your case, but knowing what to do and how to make it glue together comes with practice. Just keep on mixing and listening to reference material and you're well on your way.

Edit: Also look over the cut between the intro and the part where the guitars start playing.

 

[userchanged1]

Thanks.

When I just listened to it again with fresh ears, I can actually hear everything you're saying.

The panning on the lead is indeed off. The tab I found was made that way, but when I listen to the original and listen to the stereo channels separately, it should indeed be centered.
I didn't give it much thought, I never anticipated it to be so important which guitar plays which part.

There's no effects at all, but I think something is wrong with my 81. It has a hollow sound.. I have a spare which I will install tomorrow, and get some thicker string while I'm at it so that I can tune it in C like In Flames does, now it is in E...

I'll try and re-record it then and see where I end up. Anyway, I've learned a great deal today.

 

[userchanged1]

So I put in another 81, and got some .012-.056 strings to be able to tune in C.

This is what I came up with. Its another song though. I think it sounds OK-ish, but all help is welcome to improve it.



Also, I keep feeling the EMG-81 sounds kind of 'hollow'. Hard to explain. Am I imagining things or what?

 

[LeSedna]

Can you detail your guitar chain ?

I think you can lowpass more the guitars, I hear some persistent fizz in the highs. Maybe high pass the guitars a tad more. I usually high pass around 100 and low pass from 7 to 10khz, just to remove the fizz but keep the clarity. Then your bass should do the rest, you have to compress your bass like crazy with sometimes 3 or 4 compressors, and then sculp it. Make it a little gritty so that bass and guitars become a single instrument (which they are, they are boss guitars with metal strings and electric pickups).

Try removing a few dB in the 700hz (more or less) it will maybe make them clearer and open up the mix

 

[WalhallaM]

On both clips guitar/bass is out of tune.Mix's are not so bad cut guitar as LeSedna wrote,humanize drums as much as you can,not just velocity,automation could help.Cheers

 

[userchanged1]

Thanks for the feedback.
It does sound like the pitch is a tad off. But I do actually check tuning between takes. I will have to finetune the bridge so it is pitch perfect on higher frets.
That, and trying to get a decent bass-tone is tomorrow's task. Today I recorded yet another riff, and i think the sound is finally getting where i want it to be.

The main difference is that I lacked attack and gain, so I adjusted the emg a few millimeters closer to the strings. This really helped.
Feedback is again welcome.



About the chain its pretty straight forward. 2 guitars double tracked (panned 100-65), all the exact same signal chain:
EMG81 - NI Audio Kontrol 1 - Cubase: Gate - TSE X50 - Engl V30 cab IR - HP 70 Hz and LP 12K or something like that.
I should probably try to finetune the eq a bit more. No TS
Drums DFH + some triggered samples for kick and snare
bass pitch shifted from guitar DI

 

[userchanged1]

NE1?

 

[BlackyVengeance]

I used to be right where you are. I can even show you my progress through my soundcloud(soundcloud.com/canIhelpyounao)


Don't worry, look up a lot of mixing guides, and read whats on this forum, you'll grasp it in literally weeks time. Then the months and years will be on you to evolve your OWN sound, rather than trying to emulate...lets say...Sturgis(Since EVERYONE seems to just LOVE him.)


You're doing good for a first time, keep thinking about what a finished song you hear commercially sounds like, then see what your mix is missing from that.

If you want specifics, just let me know, I'll throw some terms your way.