Author Topic: Advice on mix (Read 2303 times)

lepersmeesa · « **on:** August 04, 2007, 05:02:04 AM »

Hey guys,

Im mixing my bands demo at the moment, and need a bit of advice on the mix. This is a snippet of a track.

To explain, im trying to go for a sort of semi-processed organic sound, which im finding quite hard.

Any advice or comments would be great.

Cheers!!

http://www.upload.celtiaproductions.co.uk/uploads/DMB_BNC_TEST3.mp3

jt · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2007, 11:01:59 AM »

:D Your not gonna like this matey but from my experience the phrase.."Fix It In The Mix" springs to mind & i`m afraid you cant do that. I no i`ve tried ! :D

Your asking for 2 opposites. One half wants an organic sound the other wants a processed sound !? Think about it. If you`ve used processed sounds for your guitars, drums etc its very hard to impossible to make it sound natural as it were sorry !

As it go`s it sounds ok to me, but this kinda metal allways sounds very processed anyway.

:D 8)

PS i appriciate this is no help at all ! :lol: but i thought i should tell you anyway !

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2007, 11:33:29 AM »

It sounds very good, very modern sounding - I wouldn't say there was anything organic/raw about it though.

The drums are EQ'd in such a way that it immediately sounds 'produced' - did you record with EQ/processing to tape/HDD?

If you want it to sound rawer, don't use so much compression. In future rig up some room mics to catch the ambient sound of the whole band.

When I recorded alot, I liked to leave all the mics open even on parts when that instrument wasn't playing - makes it sound 'live' - I even like snare rattle, but I'm just wierd (lmao). I always record the basic drum/bass/guitar parts together in the same room too - it takes a little practice to get the balance right otherwise you may get one instrument too loud on your ambient mics. The easy way is just to balance the volumes as if it were an unmiced gig - maybe have the drums a little louder than usual.

:twisted:

lepersmeesa · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2007, 11:59:59 AM »

Cheers for the replies guys.

I know I'm asking for a lot. I suppose what I want is the other way round. Semi-processed. I do want to the drums to have a lot of attack, and clarity, I just don't want it sounding like every other metal song out there at the moment, and I think thats why I had the idea of it being organic. But what comes with the music, is it needs clarity and definition.

Any comments on the mix in general would be great. The advice here is a lot better then most place! I got this on another forum

Quote

Ok, This is all meant to be nothing but constructive;

1. Drummer needs to hook up with a click track. His time is all over the place and he's
way on top of the beat.
2. There are so many pentatonic scales the guitar player is playing it sounds chinese.
3. The 1st half of the song songs like the rally cry for the Neo-Nazi Youth Movement,
It had nothing in common with the 2nd half.
4. The intro is terrifing. See 3.

Drums are programmed.... :lol:

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2007, 01:52:07 PM »

This sounds reallly good to me! The drums sound very realistic to me. Doesn't sound overly processed either in my opinion, but theres only so far you can go without it sounding slightly processed for this type of music, I think. Then again I'm no recording expert so I dont really know what I'm on about :lol:

The riffs etc are awesome btw.

jt · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2007, 06:07:30 PM »

:D The guy from the other forum is talking about your song writing & song structure. Which of course is a personnal thing & has nothing to do with the production !

:D 8)

Still cant think of a way round it for `ya. I`ll keep thinking.

Bird · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2007, 07:59:16 PM »

Listening through the monitors the sounds are good but maybe a little bass mid heavy and it's making it sound kind of flat. Not enough definition, gives it a kind of muffled sound. Of course Tannoy monitors are a little bass heavy themselves. :)