I can't thank this forum and its all stars for all the help they've given me along the way.
For all of you fellows having issues making cohesive and balanced mixes, here is some advice. I'm not going to say this is all of my own, so if you see something familiar, it probably belongs to you:
-Tailor the brightness of your mix to your snare, lead vocal, and guitar tone. Everything else in terms of "sheen" will fall into place from there. Once you figure out what kind of high content you want in your guitars, you'll know where to go with your bass, and same with the snare and toms or kick.
-If you're ever using headphones for ANYTHING, make sure they're being honest with you. If you have a pair of headphones that is lying about the amount of fizz in your guitars, and you don't have great monitors, you're already under five feet of dirt.
-Start MIXING the drums and bass first, and thank me later. Determine where you want the low end of your mix to be carried, and go from there.
-Get DIs for everything, or you're an idiot. Period. You don't have to use them, but they're your insurance in case your tone crashes and burns.
-Guitars are the hardest thing to get right. Practice practice practice! Too much fizz and you have no cymbals or detail from your reverb. Too much low end, and you're fighting with the drums or the fundamental of the vocals, too much midrange, and the top end of your mix will fogged up.
-Have a clear vision for your material before you track it.
-If you don't have monitors with a good low end extension, get a pair of full range computer speakers with a sub to check mixes on. They WILL help you.
-Treat your room and learn it well, or you're done for.
-Be careful with your compression when working on drums. Most amateurs turn knobs without listening and worrying about numbers. Sometimes it's best to grab a control and close your eyes. Do it until it sounds right. I don't recommend staged compression for drums, but to each their own.
-When you're working on a project, it is VERY, VERY important to take breaks.
I will add more later.
For all of you fellows having issues making cohesive and balanced mixes, here is some advice. I'm not going to say this is all of my own, so if you see something familiar, it probably belongs to you:
-Tailor the brightness of your mix to your snare, lead vocal, and guitar tone. Everything else in terms of "sheen" will fall into place from there. Once you figure out what kind of high content you want in your guitars, you'll know where to go with your bass, and same with the snare and toms or kick.
-If you're ever using headphones for ANYTHING, make sure they're being honest with you. If you have a pair of headphones that is lying about the amount of fizz in your guitars, and you don't have great monitors, you're already under five feet of dirt.
-Start MIXING the drums and bass first, and thank me later. Determine where you want the low end of your mix to be carried, and go from there.
-Get DIs for everything, or you're an idiot. Period. You don't have to use them, but they're your insurance in case your tone crashes and burns.
-Guitars are the hardest thing to get right. Practice practice practice! Too much fizz and you have no cymbals or detail from your reverb. Too much low end, and you're fighting with the drums or the fundamental of the vocals, too much midrange, and the top end of your mix will fogged up.
-Have a clear vision for your material before you track it.
-If you don't have monitors with a good low end extension, get a pair of full range computer speakers with a sub to check mixes on. They WILL help you.
-Treat your room and learn it well, or you're done for.
-Be careful with your compression when working on drums. Most amateurs turn knobs without listening and worrying about numbers. Sometimes it's best to grab a control and close your eyes. Do it until it sounds right. I don't recommend staged compression for drums, but to each their own.
-When you're working on a project, it is VERY, VERY important to take breaks.
I will add more later.
