What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

[astrozombie]

I was looking at how guitars and basses, and drums, fill up the spectrum on their own (solo'd), but i saw that none of these really brought that
high-very high end to life... no vocals are added yet, should I just EQ a bit, or am i missing something?

im barely getting anything from 3k up to 14k, i have nothing from 14k to 24k.

School me.

 

[Dru Edwards]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

I find that drum symbols go right through me ... I mean that if I don't have ear plugs I find them overly piercing and painful. Isn't that part of the high end spectrum?

 

[Thunder7]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

As far as I know cymbols fill up that high end you're looking for. I think guitars sit right in the middle of the spectrum, bass guitar, bass drum and floor toms should fill in the low end and vocals will be anywhere in the spectrum depending on the range of the singer...I hope that's completely wrong Lol

 

[karpathion]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

i'd have to say cymbols too. unless you have a real good keyboard fill it in with a high octave chello or something.

 

[Dru Edwards]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Hey Karpathion, I love that sunburst explorer in your avatar. It looks like it says Gibson on the headstock but I'm not sure. What is it? (sorry for the highjack).

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Cymbals.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Cymbals.

Yep. I think it is good to put a low pass or hi cut on the guitars at about 11,000 khz because you want the vocals to sit right in the mix. Mix the cymbals low imo.

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Cymbals.

+10000000000000000000000asdkfanbasdfh

Cymbals. Cymbals! God, you guys are killing me :laugh2:

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Yep. I think it is good to put a low pass or hi cut on the guitars at about 11,000 khz because you want the vocals to sit right in the mix. Mix the cymbals low imo.

low as in volume?

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

low as in volume?

Yes.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Yes.

what should the volumes be for bass , guitar and drums?

drums loud, guitars second, bass last?

kind of obvious, but im a little clueless. I record often but im not trained or anything..

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Boy it's really subjective. I think a good rule of thumb is to start with your drum mix at about -6dbs which gives you enough head room to mix in the other instruments.
I always start with getting my kick and bass working well together then the rest falls into place. Guitars usually are mixed not as loud as you might think and if you have vocals you need to make sure they are heard at all times. Mixing as you know is quite an art form and I'm certainly not the best at it.

Turn the volume way down on your monitors to check relative levels and get a good blend, then turn them back up and keep working, do this often to check levels.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Boy it's really subjective. I think a good rule of thumb is to start with your drum mix at about -6dbs which gives you enough head room to mix in the other instruments.
I always start with getting my kick and bass working well together then the rest falls into place. Guitars usually are mixed not as loud as you might think and if you have vocals you need to make sure they are heard at all times. Mixing as you know is quite an art form and I'm certainly not the best at it.

Turn the volume way down on your monitors to check relative levels and get a good blend, then turn them back up and keep working, do this often to check levels.

thanks bro.

i tend to have trouble getting levels right, sometimes the bass is too loud, the vocals cant be heard, and the drums get lost...

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Right on man. There are some good books on the subject but I think practice makes perfect. A good monitoring environment is key too. I've made some really bad mixes that sounded pretty good at the time, only to be found crap when further listening on other systems.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

should each part of a song have the vocal recorded seperately?

verse, stop

then pre chorus, stop.

or all at once? the whole song?

ps- how do i get backing vocals to sound so smooth and... perfect?

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Right on man. There are some good books on the subject but I think practice makes perfect. A good monitoring environment is key too. I've made some really bad mixes that sounded pretty good at the time, only to be found crap when further listening on other systems.

that bad mixing part sounds familiar :laugh2:

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Oh man, I could type all day!

I would sing the song all the way through as many times as necessary to get enough to comp a lead vocal together. You then select the best bits and compile them into one solid lead track. Then you can use something like Melodyne to tune them up. The same with backing vocals and there is a fine art to mixing back ground vocals too. POP music is the most anal about vocal tracks they are usually perfect in terms of pitch, timing, mixing etc. No rules though what ever sounds good. I asked a few very famous producers how they handled backing vocals and they apply the same effect groups to them but usually eq them different to sit in the back ground.

If you want to get good at it take some time and read a lot of the stuff on the web by the heavy hitters who's mixes you like then try their tricks out.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Oh man, I could type all day!

I would sing the song all the way through as many times as necessary to get enough to comp a lead vocal together. You then select the best bits and compile them into one solid lead track. Then you can use something like Melodyne to tune them up. The same with backing vocals and there is a fine art to mixing back ground vocals too. POP music is the most anal about vocal tracks they are usually perfect in terms of pitch, timing, mixing etc. No rules though what ever sounds good. I asked a few very famous producers how they handled backing vocals and they apply the same effect groups to them but usually eq them different to sit in the back ground.

If you want to get good at it take some time and read a lot of the stuff on the web by the heavy hitters who's mixes you like then try their tricks out.

or i could just use one take if it was great right?

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

or i could just use one take if it was great right?

Sure, all the better.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: What instrument fills up the high end of the spectrum?

Sure, all the better.

in general, how should druims be EQd?

how much mids?