Please help - mix critique...

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:36 pm

Hello all,

I just signed up here. I found the site from a link to the famous thread (i think it was started by..ummm.. jp22?)

I was just wondering if anybody would mind listening to a mix or two by my band and maybe give some advice.

I record and mix everything right now (we're pretty broke right now so can't afford to pay someone to mix). I'm certainly no engineer but I get things sounding as best I can at this stage, picked lots of tips up from various recording forums, books, videos, etc... and also by experimenting with different things. I'm learning more all the time but obviously I want to improve.

If there are things that jump out as sounding particularly wrong or dodgy then I'd more than welcome the criticism.

some of our songs are here...
http://www.heatwaveradio.co.uk/firstsevenroughmixes.html
i know it says to only submit one mix at a time so feel free to just randomly pick one of the three songs there.

At the moment I'm using Cubase SX3, an Edirol FA101, various (cheap) mics, BFD triggered with a Roland TD6 for drums. Nothing too fancy...
oh, and I put the final mix through T-Racks.

The sound is kind of a hard rock n roll groove.

Many thanks in advance if anyone manages to check it out and offer up some opinions/criticism on the mix.

Cheers,
hwr

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 4:48 pm

Dude...good songs and I like the mix with respect to sounds and textures, but the VOLUME! Holy a$$ crackers are they loud. Like so loud that even though I turned my speakers down I couldn't finish any of the songs because it just felt like a swarm of bees in my face.
I basically had no where to go...I had arrived straight out of the gate.

Good job on the drums too, I've kicked around the idea of using a set to trigger a plugin like BFD.

Respectfully.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:15 am

Phat for a solo project.

Your sound would go down a treat at my local.

Rock on.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 6:50 pm

I'd take this (T-Racks) off of it. Either you have no bass player or it's getting ate up ...

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:18 am

hey guys,

thank you for the replies.
at the risk of sounding like an idiot, there are a couple of questions i wanted to ask regarding your comments...

sshack - thank you for the words. as far as the loudness goes, i think that maybe the result of running it through t-racks, but maybe it was already loud before i got to that stage.
i've heard that i should leave the master fader at 0db and make any volume adjustments on the individual channels. what would be the disadvantages of reducing the overall level by just bringing down the master fader?

greener - thank you! although i may have worded things slightly wrong. it's not a solo project, it's a full band. it's just that i have ended up with the responsibility of recording and mixing the band. it's frustrating though... i want to improve but just don't feel like i'm quite 'getting there'.

space - thanks for the advice. i have found that running through t-racks does raise up the volume to a louder level. we are trying to raise the cash to get the songs mastered properly but the t-racks thing is just a temporary thing until we can get that done. i do have mixes without t-racks on but they just don't sound quite as good to my ears.

thank you again guys.
take care,
hwr.

Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:06 pm

Yes sir...to your ears they may not. But I can hear the distinguishable clumping of T-racks(r) all over your, other wise, very fine recordings.

So I would take it off as an improvement. Let the emperor go without cloths as it were.

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:22 pm

thank you, space.

i'll take your advice and remove t-racks. maybe i was over using it, pushing the compressor and limiter to hard on there.

it did seem to add a bit more 'sparkle' to the sound but i can totally see what you're saying.

thanks again,
hwr.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:41 pm

I am new here...thought I'd do a first posting Smile

I love the Thrill Kill Cult aspect of the loudness and rawness, I tend to mix loud myself. But I do think there was too much compression on it, and some distortion, around maybe 2% or so from pushing the loudness.....not enough dynamics...the music is great, just a bit flat. I love the vocals and imaging. ALTHOUGH the image is too small for my tastes, not enough space between instruments, etc.

I don't know what T-racks are...all my stuff is on done on my DAW.

I just got these BX8a's, so take that into account. I wonder if your mix might sound too flat on regular speakers cuz on my monitors the highs are pretty laid back. Also maybe get a different codec for mp3 compression, the highs were a bit warbly.

That's just me, I'm no pro. And these are the first "real" monitors I've ever had.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:00 pm

Is supersweet Smile

I wouldn't change anything.

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:20 pm

T-racks is a mash-tering plugin or stand alone software...you would have to google it as I cannot remember who makes it.

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