mix critique

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:17 pm

I've been recording this local band, and have been trying the best to make due with what i have (bad mics, no near field monitors, bad room, etc.). I'm not experienced enough to know what to do with all of those things anyway.
we've been working on these two tracks and i want them to sound as good as they can.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=7120548&q=hi

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=7120555&q=hi

i appreciate any and all help,
Hamby

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 6:23 pm

Can you link to the band page? Or give the band name so I can go through the band page? The player doesn't work for me otherwise.

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:51 pm

Muddy low end.
Bass and guitars are very dull.
Drums are dead and mono.
Too much reverb form my taste.

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:29 am

I heard mud as well. Start by rolling off the low end on everything but the kick and bass. If that sounds thin, add some back in on the guitars and may be the toms. It sounds like the bass guitar is LP filtered. A little more punch at 1k on the bass would be nice, doesn't sound like there is too much there. Little more high end on the acoustic guitar would be good. Push down the lows on the reverberation, that will help with the mud as well.

It is a little washed in reverberation especially the 1e, 2e 3e 4e guitar part on the 2nd song. You don't have a reverb plug in on the main bus do you? Move it to a Aux bus if you do, and feed it from the tracks. I would do less on the guitar and vocals to put them forward. Less on the snare too, it needs some help.

Did you have a cable problem on the vocal microphone at the start, or can you fix that? Something is buzzing at the very end. Sounds like the microphone grill on an SDC near the bass guitar amp?

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:03 pm

so i did all of the things posted on here, all of the things i could understand that is. I'm not sure about the LP filter on the bass, does that mean low pass filter? i don't have that on the bass, so whatever.
i still think the guitars in the second one are muddy, but i don't know how to fix that. I also noticed there might be a bit to much reverb on the drums, just now, in that same tune. not to sure, I'll revise it later.
what else needs to be done?
and thanks so much for the help so far.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=899300&content=music"

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:34 pm

I was able to listen this time. I listened to 2.2.
The bottom end is waaay to heavy. And it's not really even the bottom end, it feels like low mids or something.
What kind of EQ have you done to this?
What eq are you using and how?

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:53 pm

I think the bigger question is how are you listening to your mix? If your room sucks, and your speakers suck, your mix is going to suck.

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:18 am

Nice! That is much better. I like the "telephone band pass" at the beginning. You are right, by LP I did mean Low Pass. Whatever you did worked, the bass does sound more distinct. There does seem to be a hump in the low mids. Low mid boost coupled with thick reverb can be a problem. May be that is what is going on here?

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:50 am

The bottom end is total muddy soup - way to much, and no clarity.

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:27 am

zemlin wrote:

The bottom end is total muddy soup - way to much, and no clarity.

Did you hear it the first time? I agree it is still muddy, but it is much better than before. You have to admit the bass is clearer. If it were me I would keep working at it, but I didn't want to come off as all negative.

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 1:40 am

GeckoMusic wrote:

zemlin wrote:

The bottom end is total muddy soup - way to much, and no clarity.

Did you hear it the first time? I agree it is still muddy, but it is much better than before. You have to admit the bass is clearer. If it were me I would keep working at it, but I didn't want to come off as all negative.

IMO, the new mixes are worse than the first versions in that regard. Don't want to be all negative either - just being honest.

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:28 pm

Use a HPF set at 85hz on the bass. HPF the guitars at 150hz. The vocals HPF them at 200hz. I really cant hear the kick well, but it may need a HPF too. Those are just starting points to get rid of most of the mud. Also since you dont have monitors, get a semi-descent set of headphones. Sennheiser HD-202 are $29 and are very good for mixing. If you can afford more then the Sennheiser HD-280's are better. Some may say an HPF of 85hz on the bass is extreme, but I find its a very good starting point. Also how are you recording ? What mics,software, etc...

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 5:33 pm

Thanks everybody so much. I'm here to get an honest opinion, so hopefully i can grow-up to be able to do something.
I will definitely invest in some headphones.
And bushmaster, how to i go about using a HPF (High pass filter?) is that eq, or its own special thing? I'm embarrassed to say I've never gotten this into a song like this.

I'm using Adobe Audition 3.0. an sm58 on the snare. an MXL condenser as a drum overhead. a speaker on the kick. MXL condenser and Nady rsm-5 on vocal. guitars and bass are ran direct in.

Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:03 am

Audition has plugins. Plugins (VST Plugins) are small programs that run inside the main program. They are basically like effect pedals that you can put on what ever track you need. Search through the manual for "low pass filter or hi pass filter". A hi pass filter allows all sound Above the hpf setting to be heard. Say for instance you set the hi pass filter at 65hz. Sound above 65hz will be heard. A low pass filter only allows everything Below the setting to be heard. You will use a HPF most of the time. A LPF is used mainly to route low frequencies to sub woofers. If Audition does not have a LPF/HPF (it should) then try to find one. Audition supports VST type of plugins (VST is a protocol) and there are many free plugins out there. http://www.kvraudio.com is a good source of free stuff. Hope I helped

Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:54 am

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=899300&content=music

here are new mixes as well as an additional song from the same band. i put a high pass filter as instructed and it helped a lot, but I'm sure there is still improvement to be made. let me know what you think, and thanks again to everyone who has helped me out.

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