click me to listen

So this would be my first atempt to record mix and master. Was all done on the great da7 with the aid of sequoia. Even used the mic pre's of the 7. Anyway any comments are appreciated...Steven

Your first attempt to record AND mix AND master???

I'd say you did a great job!! Too bad there is so much artifacting going on with the mp3 compression, but I think you did a great job.

AK

Thanks Andrew

Let me rephrase...Ive recorded 3 bands but this is the first attempt to mix and master...Steven

Ahhh... ok. Still ... good job.

Ak

howd you mic the guitars? sounds pretty good.

That Ying & Yang animation you have for your picture is hypnotizing... I' can't stop looking at it.
AK

That's really great for your first mix, Steven! Here are some things that I notice. Just my opinion of course.

1. There's a lot of midrange energy in the mix and the vocal is competing with the guitars somewhat.

2. The mix sounds too wet in general and it's not flattering to the voice or guitars.

3. I'm listening on small computer speakers and I can't hear a bass player. Maybe there isn't one? If there is you need to do some low end Eq-ing so that it can be perceived at low volumes.

Once again, great work!

"That Ying & Yang animation you have for your picture is hypnotizing... I' can't stop looking at it."

Hey! What about Mrs. Zumbido's animation? By the way, those are their 'pet' names, too - Ying & Yang.

Mrs Zumbido's animation is great too... but I think the shirt is a little "over the top"... I'd just loose it.

AK

You dog, you!

Thanks..I used 2 mics on 2 cabs. Sennheiser e609 on axis and a superlux cmh8a off axis and an inch or so off the cab.
I agree with you about the mids. I think I have that fixed now. Do you think the vocal and guitar competition is an eq or compression problem?

I think you could compress the lead vocal pretty hard. The first thing I'd try is killing the verb on the vocal, or shortening it at the least. A more subtle effect might make all the difference. The long reverb tail makes the vocal wash into the guitars. See where that gets you and EQ from there.

Thanks Dan
I will work on it and repost it tonight....Steven

ok the new mp3 is up. Let me know what ya think click me
also Dan, I worked on the bass a lil more. If it or the mix still doesnt sound right any critisizm would be great. Thanks again for the help....Steven

Great! I'd say the effect mop up and whatever eqing you did on the guitars and vocal made a huge improvement. I still don't really hear bass on these little speakers I'm listening on and I should. So if you're hearing bass booming from your monitors it makes me think that maybe you've got a lot of sub-bass going on but not much else. You should listen on a boom box and you'll see what I mean. Also, the snare sound could use some help but there are others here who can probably help you with the specifics about that better than I. It's getting there. Nice work.

Aweome I think Im getting somewhere with it also. Thanks for your help.

I understand what your saying with the bass now. I used the spectrum analyzer on it and your right a lot of sub frequencys but not much on the top end. I will boost it im thinking somewhere in the 1k to 3k range. Any ideas?

The snare has been a nightmare from the start. The drummer is on the drum line at Texas Tech and is able to use the snare head. And he sure does use it. I have tried all different kinds of eq and nothing has been able to get that tight pop that I like. Any help on this is Greatly appreciated.

Thanks Again Dan...Steven

If you are working on a PC or have one in your set up, get Har-Bal .

It's a great tool for 'seeing' problematic EQ.

It works.

I have my DAW computer hooked up to the internet and am able to monitor the mix through a TC Finalizer. Based on Dan's comments, I'd say try pushing around 300 hz (I bypassed everything on the TC except the EQ and that Freq seemed to help)... it adds a lot of low-mid clarity. But I agree with Dan... you need to get the boominess out of the bass on it's own... and then maybe try the 300 hz boost.

My opinion.

AK

Does har-bal work kinda like 'Foo in that it plugs into ProTools?

Thanks

Ok im working on this. What would you recommend on killing the boomy bass? Should I just cut at about 40hz. I can hear where 300hz will sound great...Steven

Well... what does the original bass track sound like? Is the original track that boomy or is there more higher frequeny info on tape?

Taming bass is an art... and I think there are some veterans here who could help you better than me. But usually it can be done with a combination of EQ and compression... or both together and maybe even sidechained.

The clarity from the bass will come from the higher bass freqs... cutting 40hz won't make the bass cut through on Dan's speakers. Try this for grins:

Insert an EQ followed by a compressor on the bass channel (you can do it in the DA7, but both the EQ and compression are really bland... however, a Cambridge EQ followed by an 1176 will do nicely) and then compress the hell out of it (20:1or something like that) and boost the $hit out of 300 hz before the comressor. Listen to how that sounds, if not happy, try sweeping the Freq around and playing with the Q until you have something that works.
It's a good idea to do this while listening to the Kick... and the track for that matter.

Hope this helps... now the veterans can chime in and tell it like it really is.

AK

And then after that you'll have to listen to your bass/kick relationship which will no doubt be quite different at that point. You may want to cut from one the frequencies that you boost on the other.

Har-Bal says:



Spike around 37 Hz.

Peak around 125 Hz.

Dips around 795.

Big chunk in the middle missing.

You may have some room problems. If so, invert this graph to see what frequencies need contol .

0k...lots of great ideas here. The wheels are turning. I will work on it and repost it tonight...Steven

Well????.........

Well here it is. I bought some Bower & Wilkens and im still getting used to them. Lots of detail. Thanks again for everyones help. I think I need to work on it a bit more....Steven

Click Me

ok.... The bass seems too boomy now. somewhere around the 130-150 hz range things are out of control with the bass.

I'd be curious to hear 1 minute of just the bass part alone.

Also, the attack of the kick can't be heard... or at least not enough.

As a sorbet, you should put on your favorite album in this genre and A/B your mix to it. Listen to the bass and kick. Try to get as close as you can to it.

My 2 cents.

AK

Post a 15-20 second .wav (not mp3) of just the bass and kick - EACH. Keep the level relationship as you do in your mix.

I'll post a Har-Bal analysis of the two layered so you can see.

You may have some problems in your mixing environment that is causing you to 'create' these EQs. Things may sound fine in your space but outside... a whole other story.