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Pabyen 26 January 2017

Hi all!

I am a guitar player and have been recording and mixing a bit.
I'd like to get some feedback on these two mixes.

What's good?

What can I do to make them better?

https://soundcloud…

Vocals will follow!

Thanks!

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DogsoverLava Thu, 01/26/2017 - 22:35

Pabyen, post: 446954, member: 50341 wrote: Hi all!

I am a guitar player and have been recording and mixing a bit.
I'd like to get some feedback on these two mixes.

What's good?

What can I do to make them better?

https://soundcloud…

Vocals will follow!

Thanks!

From what I've learned here about mixing (through doing and otherwise) is that each mix is its own thing. What I mean by that is that these mixes (sans vocals) are only useful in the context of themselves and adding vocals is not something you do on top of an existing mix. The addition of vocals would require the whole mix to be retooled. So as much work or tweaking you do on these - that will not necessarily translate into the idea that you are X% along in the mix and only have x% left to do once you add vocals -- that adding vocals will necessitate complete remixing almost (almost) from the ground up. I'm generalizing here but I think i'm correct.

Pabyen Fri, 01/27/2017 - 00:00

To be honest: I do not know. That's why I ask for tips. I just think that evaluating the (room) sound of the drums and pointing out odd frequencies (that I cannot hear on my monitors) is something that can be done without voc. I would just never slam the vocals on top and then start dealing with the drums. I try to fix the drums first and work myself up. If that is not a good way to go about it, I'm ready to change that.

I'm sure this mix is not the final version, but only a step in the process.

pcrecord Fri, 01/27/2017 - 02:45

Hi Pabyen, thanks for sharing.
I strongly suggest you use the media button and post your audio here (it needs to be an mp3 at max 320kps)
I listened to your songs through soundcloud and I can't get passed the hi frequencies being all squashed possibly by their convertion/compression process.
We had this kind of problems many times. If you post here and it sounds the same, at least we will rule out soundcloud as being the reason and move foward.
I'm guessing their convertion problem gets worse when we upload .wav 16/44 files and it's less noticeable with already converted to mp3 files.

pcrecord Fri, 01/27/2017 - 17:31

Ok, I hear the difference with the soundcloud version and those ones are a tinny bit better. But a lot of clarity lost may be due to the recording or mixing.
Keep in mind a big part of comments you will receive are taste aligned. Here's what I think :
Guitar and bass are working fine for now because my attention is elsewhere...
The drum is what disturbs me the most. It is far away, like at the end of a hallway and the guitar and bass are much closer.
The room verb on the drum isn't working for me.. It's way too much. I'd cut it's level by 50% and work my way from there.
Also, the hihat and cymbals seems to have a low pass filter on them. Did you remove some high end on them ? The ride sounds like a shirt was put on it.
I hope you get through the imagery I use to try to explain what I hear.
Also I hear some saturation on some bass drum as if you were overloading something..
Get that mix in my face, less reverb, a bit less compression or at least slower attack maybe. ;)

Pabyen Sat, 01/28/2017 - 06:08

Of course. I really need your ears. I've checked again: I have hardly applied any eq because I thought that superior drummer was recorded in a professional studio where the room sounds right without eq. I have now dipped 400Hz in the OHs and all room mics. What really helped against the dullness was a high shelf slammed on the master drum track, but I suppose that sledehammer approach is not the way to do it. ;-)

Pabyen Sun, 01/29/2017 - 01:04

The table in front of me likes to resonate, so I should get something heavier that does not enhance bass response in the room.
In the past my my mixes were very bassy and dull. I was trying to go more in that direction:

This song really hurts my ears when played over my monitors, because the highs are so aggressive. I guess they did that during mastering.

bouldersound Sun, 01/29/2017 - 01:24

That's not a tiny room but it's on the small side, and that sloped ceiling makes it act smaller by putting the boundaries closer to your mix position. Even sitting close to the speakers the room will influence the sound by making nodes and nulls at the mix position, and I feel you really need at least some distance to hear the monitors properly. Try walking around the room while you're mixing. I bet you'll hear bass notes jump out and disappear as you move from one spot to another.

I'll have to see that video at a more appropriate hour.

pcrecord Sun, 01/29/2017 - 06:00

Pabyen, post: 447054, member: 50341 wrote: Since I sit directly in front of the monitors the room should not matter too much.

I have the HS8 too and can tell they are affected by the room like any other monitors. What's to consider with them is that the rear bass port need space to build the bass response (Yamaha says 3 feet) In my situation I didn't have space because I'm close to the window of my recording room. So I added a subwoofer and balanced it just so I mix bass better. An untreated room is a puzzle of reflective and non reflective surface. Depending on the distance of them they will affect specific frequencies and get an altered result to your hear.

Pabyen, post: 447056, member: 50341 wrote: The table in front of me likes to resonate, so I should get something heavier that does not enhance bass response in the room.

Get them on something like this :

Pabyen, post: 447056, member: 50341 wrote: This song really hurts my ears when played over my monitors, because the highs are so aggressive

Interesting you say that. Bouldersound was talking of the 6-8k range and the video has more HF in the 10-15 area (which was what was missing in the drum in your early mixes)
You see, there is 2 things at play here, the ear training and knowing what sounds good or not and your room lying to you...
Try to listen to the video and you mix in other environements, car, headphones, etc...

Pabyen Sun, 01/29/2017 - 06:39

I still think that these high frequencies might be enhanced in the mastering process. Otherwise this would mean that the superior drummer samples are seriously flawed from the beginning.
Also the hi end of the Tool guitar does not come out of a guitar cabinet like that imho. To me it sounds midscooped and with lot of emphasis on 5 to 7kHz.
I'd really need unmastered mixdowns to compare my own stuff to. I don't really know what a mixdown should sound like before mastering.

I meant the Tool song sounds piercing to my ears!

Pabyen Tue, 01/31/2017 - 01:31

Applied some eq on the master bus in order to quickly fix the things you told me. The difference is really night and day. Thanks again.
Now I have to get to the individual tracks and fix it there. Without eq it sounds terrible...

[MEDIA=audio]https://recording.o…

[MEDIA=audio]https://recording.o…

[MEDIA=audio]https://recording.o…

Attached files heavy eq.mp3 (2 MB)  no eq.mp3 (2 MB)  para eq.mp3 (2 MB) 

pcrecord Thu, 02/02/2017 - 05:21

Pabyen, post: 447154, member: 50341 wrote: What do you mean by pitchy? Out of tune?

Yes, out of tune...
You see there is often elements of a song that can bother me and I can't get passed them to listen to the rest of the music or to the entier mix...
In a sens it's a good thing for me when I'm mixing I address what's worst first and get on and on until I like the song.
It's a hard job to always be critical to ourself, but it helps getting better ;)

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