Suggestions on improving the mix of my bands demo, please? :(

[Sora01]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=885159&songID=7098009

Hey guys, just finished a rough mix of my bands demo, was wondering if you could suggest some improvements, i cant seem to get the rythm and lead guitars to sit quite right in the mix, same with the bass, im using a peavey 5150 II with engl v30 impulses. was wondering if you could suggest some improvements

I know the playing is pretty sloppy, but its our first ever demo and song, so be gentle lol

 

[ahjteam]

I would say that if you aren't happy with the playing yourselves, re-track.

 

[Scissors61]

Yeah some of it sounds quite out of tune dude, I'd probably re-track if it were me. The guitars sound SLIGHTLY dark. And the vocals sound like there isn't a massive amount of effort being put into them... Could probably do with turning them up a bit. I'd also probably put a bit of overdrive on the bass to get it to gel slightly better with the guitars. But other than that it sounds pretty good. I like the singing part in the chorus.

 

[ahjteam]

OK, my computer crashed when I was writing a long message about this, but here is a short re-run of the text:

Adjust the volume from these (Everything not mentioned, keep as is)
- The music IS about message, no matter the genre, so turn the vocals up a lot and write more lyrics, because that song gets a bit intimidating in a bad way (be it boring, anxiety...) when there is no vocals, especially because there is no clear structure to the song. Try parallel compression if just turning up the volume doesn't make it work
- Bass guitar guitar up
- Cymbals/overheads up a lot, if the drums are programmed, try to use better sounding samples and just add more hits. They sound pretty sluggish as you can only hear the kick and snare. Also don't spread them to the extreme left and right, more like 60 left 60 right
- Guitars down and preferrably re-track them
- Turn down the treble on the kick a bit
- Turn the vocal delay down a bit

and oh yeah: after each take, check the tuning on your guitars. It only takes a few seconds, but makes the result sound a lot better

 

[Sora01]

thanks for the input guys, ill try retracking it next week and i also noticed it seemed to be a tad out of tune, ill do all the other suggestions next week also, me and the other guitarist are having a big recording sesh anyway

 

[KeithTidd]

the guitars a bit muddy, but they're almost there. Also the drums are pretty weak. i do realize they're programmed so there's not alot you can do there, but i would program them better(it doesn't even sound like something a drummer would play), or will different samples. the bass could be louder.

 

[deffi]

plastic drums, sounds awfull for me, like mentioned before, change samples, add some "humanization".
do some automatation, levels are unequall (? don't know the word).

 

[-Noodles-]

I think the mix needs a proper overhaul to start with.. Try and get an understanding of where everything is - and where you want to place it.

It's not a bad mix, but at times it sounded really unbalanced - and I felt pretty weird listening to it on headphones.

+1 to the cymbal remark.. I nearly forgot there was any on the track until I really listened. Don't be too worried about bringing the drums into the forefront, and keeping them balanced.

+1 on the delay remark, It's a great effect you've went for.. but you'll need to clear up the space around the delay for that to really shine through - so make the delay a little longer, and bring the vocals up.

I like the guitar sound though, but there's no bass on this track?

It's a great start, and I think could be a pretty good track. Just needs a bit of work done to it!


[when it all comes crashing down is a much better effort.. I like how that's been placed - and seems like it falls into the style you're playing in. No vocals yet.. so I can't comment,.. but that's definitely an improvement! ]