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Hello all!)I'm guitar player and actually I'm new in recording and mixing field. But this is my first attempt to make whole song - I wrote, record and mixed this song. But, as I've said, mixing is hard for me and I'm asking for help from guru of mixing) Please, point most obvious mixing mistakes in my mix(mistakes in the arrangement also accepted:)
Thanx for advance!)
This is draft of my song
[MEDIA=soundcloud]wool-kids/clock-draft-2[/media]

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lbeasley Mon, 01/20/2014 - 14:17

Wool Kids, post: 409515 wrote: Hello all!)I'm guitar player and actually I'm new in recording and mixing field. But this is my first attempt to make whole song - I wrote, record and mixed this song. But, as I've said, mixing is hard for me and I'm asking for help from guru of mixing) Please, point most obvious mixing mistakes in my mix(mistakes in the arrangement also accepted:)
Thanx for advance!)
This is draft of my song
[MEDIA=soundcloud]wool-kids/clock-draft-2

Your drum kit has no body. It sounds very week. The kick drum sounds either over compressed or over eq'd. I think I get the sound you were aiming for. It sounds like you are going for that gritty / vintage sound. A better mix could have really brought that out. At the 2:31 mark, the guitar really starts to drown out your drums. Again, this is more than likely due to your drum kit sounding weak. Over-all, pretty good effort here man. Keep mixing and training those ears. Your on your way to becoming a successful mixing engineer!thumb

Torsten Borg Thu, 08/14/2014 - 01:46

Hi Wool Kids,

Try to cut out the low frequencies of any instrument that doesn't need it.
For example, the guitars don't need anything below a 100Hz so cut out that. Cymbals also don't have any usable low frequencies so cut out between 100-200Hz of the overheads. (If you're using overheads as i assume).

The reason why you want to cut them out is because these unnecessary low frequencies just makes your mix sound muddy. Keep or boost the low end in the instruments that HAS usable low end, like the bass drum, bass etc.

Hope this helps.
-T

anonymous Thu, 08/14/2014 - 03:52

I realize that this is an older thread, but I would like to interject that you need to be a bit mindful when rolling off the lows on overheads on a drum kit - the cymbals aren't the only thing you are trying to catch while using an OH array... toms, snare, kick are all in that mix too, along with the room that you are tracking in - so be careful of how low you place that corner frequency on an HPF.. you could end up losing frequencies that you don't necessarily want to.

OTOH, yes, I agree that it's instrument/frequency dependent. There's no point in jacking 80hz on a flute track. ;)

Torsten Borg Fri, 08/15/2014 - 01:28

DonnyThompson, post: 418430, member: 46114 wrote: I realize that this is an older thread, but I would like to interject that you need to be a bit mindful when rolling off the lows on overheads on a drum kit - the cymbals aren't the only thing you are trying to catch while using an OH array... toms, snare, kick are all in that mix too, along with the room that you are tracking in - so be careful of how low you place that corner frequency on an HPF.. you could end up losing frequencies that you don't necessarily want to.

OTOH, yes, I agree that it's instrument/frequency dependent. There's no point in jacking 80hz on a flute track. ;)

Exactly!

I think it depends on if you have closed miced the other drums or not. After all, the only thing it takes is just to listen and adjust until it sounds good! :)

pcrecord Fri, 08/15/2014 - 05:34

Torsten Borg, post: 418458, member: 48194 wrote: After all, the only thing it takes is just to listen and adjust until it sounds good! :)

What about :

  • having an instrument that sounds good
  • having a room that doesn't mess up the sound
  • choosing the right mic and placement
  • preamp / converters
  • Monitoring
  • ear training to recognise if it sounds good

class="xf-ul">
;)

Torsten Borg Sun, 08/17/2014 - 23:26

pcrecord, post: 418459, member: 46460 wrote: What about :

  • having an instrument that sounds good
  • having a room that doesn't mess up the sound
  • choosing the right mic and placement
  • preamp / converters
  • Monitoring
  • ear training to recognise if it sounds good

class="xf-ul">
;)

Absolutely!

I was talking more about the mixing stage at this point ;) But i totally agree.