What do you think is the source of your noise?

Vocals are pretty harsh in the 4-6 k range. Lots of dsitracting sibilance on the vocals... could be anywhere between 4 and 7 k, depending on your voice and the mic. I'm also hearing a lot of phasey "swirling"... I don't know if this appears on your original .wav mix, or if this is artifacts caused by MP3 encoding...

I think that the guitars are plenty crisp... are you mixing through monitors or headphones, and at what db level?

Ash, have you ever considered using a commercial recording as a reference while you mix? I'm talking a professionally recorded and mastered major release... something in the same style.

Import it (make sure it's a good quality copy of the song and not a low res MP3) into the timeline of your project, and use it as a reference while you are mixing your tracks... it might be helpful to you.

If it were me, and I'm talking just off the top of my head here, I'd consider using something like this song below as a reference/guide track... you might hear something else that suits you better, again I'm just knee-jerking here..

Hi Donny , I just wiped all the plug ins and Ill start out again . Good idea ,using a reference ( after too long I start to fool myself ...lol)
Ill post another bit again and see if I can get it sounding better .
Monitored that last mix in headphones cause it was late at nite :oops:, and I had it at a low level ,so it wouldnt get on my nerves .
The swirling is most likely me putting a verb with modulation after it .
Ill do it again on phones cause its late again , but I will A/B with a ref mix . ( 'Walk of life is a good choice '(y) )
And try not to overdo it . Actually Ill set myself a 1 hr goal , see how I go
Thanks for the feedback :)

Smashh, post: 426442, member: 45856 wrote: Hi Donny , I just wiped all the plug ins and Ill start out again .

That's a good place to start. Actually, the first place to start is to make sure you aren't getting noise during your recording - gain too high on a pre, maybe, or, even not enough and then compensating afterwards by gaining up the track in your DAW...

Plug ins can be great if you use them for a specific purpose... if you think to yourself, "I really want this to do this", and then choose the best processor you have to accomplish that. In many cases, the best processor to use... is none at all.

I'm not saying to not use them... just be sure you do so when you feel they serve a specific purpose.

Overuse of them can be detrimental to your mix... don't automatically reach for them just because you have them to use !! Have a specific goal in mind when deciding what you want to do and how you want to do it.
This is one of the most common issues I hear with guys who have extensive plug collections, or who are new to using them, especially some of the plugs out there that are intended to emulate vintage models... A little can go a long way with many of these.
Some also think that just because they have them, they have to use them, and that's where a lot of people run into trouble.

(There are many members here who don't like to use plugs at all. I'm not one of these people, but I do agree that they should be used for a specific purpose, and in moderation, and that the user should know as much as possible about the processor they are using - before they use them)

I'm just giving you my own opinion, here. Don't take any of it as gospel...

I don't know what DAW platform you are using, so I can't tell you what stock EQ's or compressors are best for your situation...

The other thing you have to be careful of is using different kinds of verbs at the same time...

...like using a room verb for drums, and a plate for vocals, and then a hall or chamber for guitars, etc., and having all that time/reflection manipulation happening with different impulses and modeling going on at once can cause phasing issues, as well as wiping out definition.

Your best bet, especially on a track like this, which is very straight forward retro rock, ( a'la Memphis sound), is to pick one reverb and then use it for the entire mix, with varying degrees of amounts per track sent to the Reverb Aux. These varying degrees - or better described as the amounts of send you use to the reverb aux - won't generally create problems, because you're using the same verb for everything.

It's all just a question of the amount of send you use on each track.
I would consider using something tighter sounding, a natural space, reminiscent of a recording studio's performance room size that was common to the period - start off with something in the neighborhood of 20 x 18 x 10... just as a starting point.
I wouldn't use any halls - or plates, either, on something like this, Because I think a more "natural" room sound would feel better with a song like this... as if you had 4 players in a room, all playing at the same time.

You could also add some slap-back echo to the lead vocal track, maybe to the guitars as well (again.. use the same delay for both), which was a very common effect on vocals and guitars during that time period, and for that style... but... I don't think I'd choose a hi-res digital delay for this - personally, I would opt for something with more of a "tape" delay/slap-back sound, as opposed to any of the more modern sounding and "clean" high resolution delays.

Avoid any type of modulation FX altogether - chorus, flange, etc.

Anyway, in a nutshell, that's how I'd approach this mix it if the tracks were in front of me... ;)

FWIW

d.

I did most of what youve mentioned except I put modulation after the delay to bounce the guitars to the opposite sides .
I think it sounds a little better although it could do with some eq now i think.

[MEDIA=soundcloud]musicmanash/rocknroll2

Ahh i should maybe put a plug after the slap back delay to lower resolution

Ok i put low fi after the slap , and eq ed the master took out some 300 hz and added a bit of 3k with a wide Q
[MEDIA=soundcloud]musicmanash/ocknroll3

Time to move on ,this is about as good as it gets on the headphones

got up this morn and did some adjusting on my monitors so now Im gonna move on ,
how does it sound on your end ?. Let me know what you would change ( if you can hear it without too much mush going on )
[MEDIA=soundcloud]musicmanash/rocknroll3

thanks for the input Donny , as always ,much appreciated here :)