opinions on a mix?

Re: opinions on a mix?

Overall, a little dark.

Hit the master bus with a conservative top boost before the comp and you'll be cool.

Your levels are good.

The snare could be brightened up a tad compared to the rest of the kit. This would bring it out in the mix without having to turn it up.

Lead vox could benefit from a harder comp ratio, but that's nitpicking.

Snazzy little dirty pop punk tune, btw. A hook, fer chrissakes!

A real good job, but yes, overall it's a little dark.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

I totally disagree with you sososomething.

It's not dark, it's just sounding dark because the level is so low.

The snare is too loud (compared to the rest of the drums) and needs to be compressed/more evenly played, but bigger sounding.

Vocals should be louder, slightly.

The bass, snare, vox, and cymbals (for some odd reason) are all fighting for the same frequencies.

The bass should be supporting the guitars not fighting them.

I think you could EQ the cymbals to fix them, not sure on the bass (I don't hear much content in the low end of the bass guitar track (same problem with the kick drum)).

Everything will have it's own place in the mix ideally.
 
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Re: opinions on a mix?

Got me on the rare occasion where I have time to listen AND it's not just a horrible sounding myspace link...

On one hand I think it's great as-is. The internal/external balances are all right on & nothing is way out of place... run with it! Maybe turn up the backing vocals or whatever that line in the chorus is by a large margin, like 2.5dB or more.

On the other hand...

There's a lot that's out of place on a 'pro' level... snare drum seems to be over compressed and generally not loud/big enough, but so are the rest of the drums. The kick & toms... they're also about 2 inches tall and supremely tiny sounding. None of it is really doing what it 'should' be... and for something like this that would be bludgeoning the listener on every kick/snare hit. Very overly compressed, digital... and/or reaking of cheap gear like Smackie.

Not digging that reverb patch on the lead vocal either. Its real washy and probably not needed... I like the 'size' it imparts, but maybe get that out of some detuning or short delays... or... I dunno. But it's gotta go, doesn't fit with the rest of the track. Though, I don't really "hate" it either...
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

JMoose sums up my thoughts on this one.

I'd love to give a go at mixing this, though, actually really digging it musically. Would it be possible to post the .wav's?
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

as someone who has no real experience in this thing, it sounds good except for these things:
the drums sound very.... small for lack of better word, and the bass and guitars are a bit overwhelming. otherwise it's great. very catchy too:D
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

Cool tune.

Bass sounds pretty un-bassy, but then thats similar in my bands tunes, kinda goes with the poppy punky feel really. Its got a fairly raw sound but thats no bad thing, just prefere mine to be a bit more polished.

I like it though.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

The snare is hammering my head ,and the other drum parts are not present on my Hi-Fi system.
I like the vocals but they feel too far-away. As moose mentioned ,that might be the Reverb.
The chorus and the backing vocals are not present enough.
The bass needs moore oomph ,so does the bass-drum.

Nice song ,it's definetly worth to re-mix ,re-record in the future.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

Thanks for all the replies guys. Sounds like I have some work to do on the EQ of drum and bass tracks.

Any hints on how to make the drums "bigger"?
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

Yess!
The Bass-drum have to be the foundation of your sound scala.
Than match the Bass-sound with your bassdrum sound. Don't compress the hi-hat and ride .
You have to be really carefull with the compression on drums ,since it can kill the life and make it sound small.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

mr breaker said:
Any hints on how to make the drums "bigger"?
Click to expand...

First off, can you tell me what you used to record them, and what plugins/outboard gear you have on them? Compressors that sound good on guitar might not sound good on drums, and vice versa.

A lot of it has to do with the way it was recorded, room acoustics, mic placement, mic type, preamp, converters, etc.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

Thanks again for all the replies. I worked on the drums a little bit, and some overall level adjustments. I'd love to hear your feedback:

http://www.thereveling.com/mp3/test_mix21.mp3


VK - sorry, the wav's are too big for me to post.

SN - I'm using an apogee ensemble + isa428 and mixing it all in logic 8. For mics, I used modified oktava 012s for overheads, and close mic'd with sm57s, beta 52a, etc. Recorded in a pretty big room.

I had some compression on the close mic'd tracks, but took most of it off on this last mix. Other than that, just some eq on the drum tracks.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

That's considerably better.

I think you've hit the threshold with this mix, and any improvements at this point are limited to the fidelity/tonality of the raw tracks you got during tracking.

...and I wouldn't let that bug me, b/c it's punk rock, and you can hear everything, and it's a cool song, so there you go.

Good job.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

Oh, and regarding the vocal... there is some reverb on it, but we doubled it, so that's probably what you're hearing.
 
Re: opinions on a mix?

I agree with you this time around, sososomething. Sounds better.

It's a cool song.

The mids are real prominent which I know is how most music in this genre sounds, but I am not into that sort of mid-heavy music... so maybe I am biased.

The kick drum sounds like cardboard. I think you can get better drum and bass sounds with the equipment you have tho.

About the reverb, you can hear the little tail, and I think it's just not the right patch for the song.
 
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