I have only just started getting into mixing... for a few years have made electronic stuff and now have realised how much fun (and soul destroyingly hard lol) it is to mix some songs with actual music This is the 4th song I have mixed.
I really like this song, the vocal performance is great. I found this quite difficult to mix though. I wasn't really confident with the guitars. 2 mics and a DI, twice for each guitar part I found that a bit overwhelming lol. Not sure if all the parts should be used or not, in the end I did use them all. I'm still not totally sure about panning and stuff. I know to try to make room for the vocal, but in some tunes I listen and while the guitar is wide, its still powerfull when summed to mono. This is hard to achieve for me at the moment.
Once thing that has irked me slightly, in 2 other mxies I did lately which are mixed / 'mastered' to similar levels they sound louder. In this one I wasn't able to increase the percieved loudness so much. Thats my fault not the multitracks! Just thought I would mention it.
Great go for a 4th mix! It's a tough one. As for what to use and what not to, I think generally that DI parts are backup to use as necessary; ultimately the guitarist picked the live tone, so I'd personally try to respect the vision of the artist and then re-amp as necessary around that.
Here's what I've taken note of in your mix:
Overall, very nice: nice and tall. Sounds like you mixed in two groups: your bass and drum balance is great, as is your Vocal/Bkg Vocal/Guitar/Piano balance. I think the drum and bass group could come down a dB or two. Not much... but just a bit. The lead vocal especially needs to break through a few dB more.
On the snare I found there was too much of the bottom mic; it kinda drowns the whole mix in noise. Often the bottom mic isn't used at all -- sometimes it's not even recorded. So it's there if you need some more ghost notes or a bit more tickle, but it's definitely not an important element in the grand scope of things.
I never thought about that regarding the DI and the miced guitars, that makes sense so thanks for that. Coming from electronic background no real experience of instruments, I have so much to try and learn!
I'm glad I'm kind of in the ballpark. Its funny you say 2 groups, I actually had about 11 or 12 groups but did work a lot on the drums and bass first, and later worked on the tune without the drum and bass playing. I found it pretty difficult to get balance correct.
I rode the gain for the lead vox and dt lead vox each channel, and once happy with the general balance rode the gain for the lead guitar group. I did the piano as well. I must admit I got a bit lazy and didn't do any more.
Also regarding the snare - I totally messed up with that one the balance between them is probably 70/30 so definately overdid it a wee bit I struggled getting the top snare sounding good, it rings quite a bit even gating or transient designer and then reverb i wasn't happy with it. Will have another go though
I will give my ears a break and attempt to edit this weekend with the comments you made in mind. Thanks man.
04-08-2015, 11:36 AM (This post was last modified: 04-08-2015, 02:04 PM by SV7107.)
Well I had another crack at this, well a few but anyway whose counting
It was fun doing this other mix, I just about prefer it to my original one. Not so sure about the drums though, they are a lot quieter, although before they were too much.
I didn't start from scratch but I kind of redid the levels starting from the vocal first, then guitars etc.
It felt to me that having the drums much louder would perhaps kill the guitars.
Its very hard though, making changes to a mix, feels like a house of cards! Even a small change can affect something else, then you adapt that bit, and something else needs adjusting! I guess experience helps with this as its more a natural thing when you have 100s of mixes under your belt.
04-08-2015, 06:28 PM (This post was last modified: 04-08-2015, 06:53 PM by SV7107.)
I've had yet another go. I really wasn't happy with the drums.
I'm such a tinkerer lol.
Checked the drum buss compressor and it wasn't great tbh, fiddled a bit and
managed to add a little more body to them. Increased their loudness slightly too.
This is the 4th song I have mixed.