Newbie Mix

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zesbez
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Newbie Mix

Post by zesbez » Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:10 am

I've mixed half-seriously for the last six months and this is my first "real" project for a friend. We haven't cut vocals yet but we're almost done with tracking. Just for practice, I did a rough mix. I know it's not where I want it to be but can't figure out how to get there. Everything was recorded through a Digi 002 and mixed ITB with just the plugins provided by Digi. Any bashing, critique, or valid input is appreciated.

Would mastering bring me that sheen I'm looking for or do I have a lot more work to do with mixing?

http://seacoastchurch.typepad.com/worsh ... _Rough.mp3

Thanks,
~ eric :roll:

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joser111482
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Post by joser111482 » Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:24 am

It needs more drums, specifically more cymbal bite, unless you want this played on some high schoolers iPod as they're being yelled at by their parents.

Otherwise, the performance is quite solid.

I've been consistently impressed with the mixes I've heared posted here and it gives me hope that I'll be able to do a decent job myself one day.

Good work.

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Post by ??????? » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:05 am

sounds good!

I'm not necessarily the guy you want to be getting advice from, but something that jumps out at me is the manner in which the bass and kick drum are working together.

They are both very full sounds that probably sound great with the solo button on. Probably sounded great at tracking too. But working together it seems a little "thick" if you know what I mean.

Just some musings. Take with the appropriate amt. of salt.
Last edited by ??????? on Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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teleguy2
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Post by teleguy2 » Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:21 pm

I'd be interested in hearing what mics, plugins, instruments, etc. were used in this session to learn a bit about what combinations make what sounds.

Obviously the musicianship is a big key in these things as well, but if you have good musicians, then what helps make it sound better.

zesbez
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Post by zesbez » Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:36 pm

Guitars: Fender Tele 68, Gretsch Green Falcon
Amp: AC30
Pedals: MXR Compressor, Boss Multi-tap Delay, Tube Screamer, Boss Reverb
Cab Mics: SM57

Acoustic: Gibson J45 custom

Bass: P-Bass 75 Reissue, DIed

Drums: Snare and kick sampled from Drumagog

Plugins: Digi 4-band EQ III on every channel, sometimes multiple instances (EQ before/after compression)
Digi Compressor/Limitter on every channel
Digi Reverb on some of the guitar parts and mix buss
Digi Medium Stereo Delay on some tracks and mix buss

That's it.

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Post by ??????? » Sat Jul 14, 2007 6:45 pm

just curious, why would you put reverb and delay on the entire 2-bus?

Do you want the whole track to sound like it's very far away?

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Post by zesbez » Sat Jul 14, 2007 7:49 pm

It's a very faint trace of it.

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Post by ??????? » Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:09 pm

Whatever works. BUT the typical use of reverb and delay in mixing is to give elements of a mix their own "space." Putting it on the whole 2 bus ensures that nothing will ever sound "out front." If you wanted the vocals to have that present quality, it's going to be harder if the whole mix has reverb and delay on it. Just some thoughts. But whatever works. :D I can say that putting reverb and delay on the 2 bus is a pretty unconventional thing to do.

zesbez
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Post by zesbez » Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:44 am

I feel like the mix has a blanket on it and I can't fix it. I cleaned up the low-end some. It was time to hook up that sub anyway. I'm using this dinky HS50ms and they just don't have any girth to them.

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Post by Danly » Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:36 pm

i like it.
1 suggestion--

the toms could really come up in the breakdown part.

as long as you're using samples, try to isolate the hits on the toms and send those to drumagog as well... maybe copy the drum track a few times, and "crop" the notes on the toms.

any plans for vocals?
Starlab

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Jeremy Garber
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Post by Jeremy Garber » Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:16 pm

I would like to hear more of the acoustic guitar.

zesbez
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Post by zesbez » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:29 am

Hey, random but I've bought a pair of NS-10s from a friend. Got them hooked up last night and did about a 30-min remix. Any improvements?

I did unmute another solo part during the middle because I was able to sit where I wanted it mixing on the NS-10s.

http://seacoastchurch.typepad.com/worsh ... e_ns10.mp3

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Post by ChrisCo » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:08 am

I think it sounds good, but some of the part-changes sound a bit jarring... like there's a lot of stuff going on in the left side guitarwise, and then the right guitars come in and WHAAAAMO!! I think the punch is a great idea, and it really fills in some space, but I think the level of the right side needs to be more even with what's going on the left side... or the left side generally needs to come up. I mean, there's some pretty dense ideas in there, so the mix WILL be dense for that part, but it's good to do so (IMHO) because of the acoustic verses that give it a lot of space.

Thanks for the inspiration though. Giving me some ideas as far as my drum playing and not completely needing to have a hi-hat going at all times.
I'm all about a little kick and snare

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joser111482
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Post by joser111482 » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:07 pm

I think this is a better mix, but the drums and bass seem to get buried in the mix. But everything else pops out quite nicely and has its own space.

I'm giving you the headphone opinion here.

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Post by mjau » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:18 pm

Crappy work speakers and all, but...
Cool guitar sound. My 2 cents...the snare seems a bit naked to me - I want to hear some more of the snare's body in there, since it's already got a lot of crack.

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