more rough mixes for you guys...

[bert]

you're input is invaluable, please critique!
http://www.chuckbeat.com/linesofsight/songdemo.html

some of you might have already heard "Darkened Heart Vessels" but substantial changes have been made, especially at the end. "Shopping Spree" is new.
thanks,
-bert

[helstab]

I really like the songs.

Darkened Heart Vessels:bass is really boooming...Maybe to much of a good thing?

shopping spree:I really like the guitars.

Oh and the mp3 quality sounds noticably bad. I think it might be my speakers here at work though. Sorry if everything sounds crystal on your end. Everything sounds like it was recorded very well, but I think the mixing could use alittle work. Help the parts fit together a little better?

But what do I know? seriously? Listen to one of my 3 recordings before you think twice about what I have to say


Wish I had some real speakers so I could really listen to them.

[bert]

Thanks Helstab, the guy who posted these converted them to mp3's so I don't know how these links actually sound. And they are in the rough mix stage, but I consider these 2 to be closer to done than the other 2 songs we tracked.
Just out of curiosity, what did you listen to these on?
And yeah, whenever I mix I always have the bass too low or high, I gotta adjust that.
I can't wait for the guys to get them mastered. It'll sound schweet then.

[helstab]

Oh I'm listening on some junky Altec Lansing compuer speakers.

did you mix and record the songs?

[bert]

Oh I'm listening on some junky Altec Lansing compuer speakers.

did you mix and record the songs?

yeah I tracked and mixed these.

[dubphaser]

Bert - These are really great. The mixes were very well done. "Darkened Heart Vessels" didn't sound too "bottomy" to me. I'm listening on Alesis Point Sevens. I'd enjoy hearing some details about how these were done.

[eeldip]

yea, love the guitars... they sound like non-chunky peanut butter.

where did you record this? the drums have a little bit of "small room syndrome". or what i call: san francisco home recording syndrome.

music like this pretty often has the "big room" drum sound... so it has a slight offness. not a bad offness, something you could exploit... but i think there is a slight, sort of lack of relationship between the guitars and the drums... like the guitars are so smooth and big... and the drums sound a little uncomfortable with them...

are you following me? could just be my shitting monitoring environment. i love making comments about people's mixes with my $9 headphones plugged into the "line" out of the shitty PII i have at work.

[bert]

I recorded this stuff at the warehouse where I work. I'm a big fan of the room for alot of drum sounds I get when I play in here, but the drummer for this stuff had a different sounding kit and just a different sound altogether. I guess I guinea-pigged the drums on this recording to see if I could get a big cavernous drumsound, but in the end it ends up sounding sorta small.
It might have worked had I had the guy play MY drumkit, which yields instant Bonham sound.
Anyway, yeah I placed the o-heads a little too high and I can't get the room out even if I wanted to. I could bring up the close mics but I'd have to squash them because of his sporadic inconsistant hard hitting.
The warehouse is about 3,600 square feet, usually always works out really well for a drumsound I like.
But yeah the guitar sound is kick ass. It's my buddies ghetto set-up:
an old beat up regular Ibanez guitar straight through a Peavy "chorus" somethign somethign amp.
=instant shredder sound.

[bert]

Bert - These are really great. The mixes were very well done. "Darkened Heart Vessels" didn't sound too "bottomy" to me. I'm listening on Alesis Point Sevens. I'd enjoy hearing some details about how these were done.

thanks man!
I did this with my usual set up of recording bands here in the warehouse where I have my dayjob. It's the only reason I really stay here, I can camp out here for an entire weekend with a band and work night and day, but in the end we have to tear down completely by monday morning.
Anyway I tracked most of the rhythm tracks on my Tascam 388, and then dump them into my mac with the Digi001 and overdub and mix in there.
All the usual mic'ing techniques, usual mics: 57's, 421's, d112, oktava mc012's,beyer m88 on kick, etc.
Me and my buddies all colaborate musically so I usually don't charge them to record. We have the luxury of time so we've been working pretty much at our leisure. Only been mixing for the last few weekends and for a couple hours at a time.
I cannot stress how beneficial the luxury of time can be.
Now, if I can only find time to record my stuff...

[eeldip]

wow, ibanez and peavey! sweet. how the hell... oh well.

[bert]

wow, ibanez and peavey! sweet. how the hell... oh well.

I know, that's exactly what I said. But then i heard it come through the monitors and I was like "wow, could you go ahead and double that please!"

[dubphaser]

So this was pretty much mixed in PTLE? Any out board gear while mixing? What kind of mic pre's did you use? I just am really digging on the sounds!

[bert]

So this was pretty much mixed in PTLE? Any out board gear while mixing? What kind of mic pre's did you use? I just am really digging on the sounds!

yes it was totally mixed in PTLE, no outboard gear. Only had the RTAS plugins at my disposal. Just using a bit of reverb and compression here and there.
The mic pre's that I used for various things were either the pre's in the Tascam 388 (drums,bass), a mackie (some of the vocals), a presonus bluetube(vocals, some guitar), and the digi001 pre's (some guitar)
All the vocals were tracked with the RNC after the mic pre.
I think alot of it was the band's instruments.
thanks for the props!

[Red Rockets Glare]

good songs, snare needs more crack bro.

[bert]

good songs, snare needs more crack bro.

i know, eeldip already consulted me on the drums. I plan on remixing them very soon, the drums need to be as rockin' as the guitars. I was trying to give the songs a sense of "depth" by drowning the drums away with the room mic.
The thing about the snare tone is the guy's snare sounded round and woody, literally like a woodblock.
I really wish I had made him play my snare.
o