THANK YOU! - Official Release Mix: Opinions, Q&A, critics, additional information!

[wurstdrummer]

Hi guys,
the Forkupines did the recordings and mix with me. Since I'm messing with other people's mixes here, feel free to release all your anger on me
I'd like to say that I don't think that my mix is perfect. There's a lot of ways to get a good result and the band is happy, but as you all may know, one's never happy with the mix. If you have suggestions how to handle something better please tell me!
Here's my mix and some additional information to signal processing.
Vocals, guitars, bass guitar and effects recorded by me, drums by the Tiny Pond studio in Hanover, Germany.

DAW:
Logic Pro X

Plugins used:
Waves
Logic Stock plugins

Interface:
Tascam US-1800 (all vocals, guitars, bass guitar)

Mics used:
Shure sm7b: vocals
akg perception tube 800: Effects, room reverbs
sm57 & Sennheiser e609: Guitars

Amps used:
Orange AD30 with
DV Mark DV Neoclassic 412 cab
Bass was recorded DI and reamped through a sansamp

Signal chain drums:
01_Kick in - Audix D6 - ClassicAPI VP25
02_Kick out - EV RE20 - ClassicAPI VP25
03_Kick trigger - Ddrum Pro Trigger - JBL/UREI 7510B
04_Snare top1 - Shure SM57 - ClassicAPI VP28
05_Snare top2 - Oktava MK012 - ClassicAPI VP28
06_Snare bottom - Audix D1 - ClassicAPI VP26
07_Snare trigger - Ddrum Pro Trigger - JBL/UREI 7510B
08_Toms - Heil PR30 - ClassicAPI VP312 - TC Electronic 2240 EQ
09_Toms trigger - Ddrum Pro Trigger - JBL/UREI 7510B
10_Overheads (A/B) - Audio Technica 4040 - Soundskulptor MP573
11_Hihat - Shure SM7 - Symetrix 302
12_Ride - Oktava MK012 - Symetrix 302
13_Room (Blumlein) - T.Bone RB500 (modded) - Soundskulptor MP573
14_Room_Far - T.Bone RM700 - ClassicAPI VP26 - Symetrix 501
15_Close FX Mic - Shure SM57 - JLM Audio Baby Animal - JBL/UREI 7110

Synth:
some synth preset of Logic Pro X's library reamped through some old kustom 10w transistor amp for additional grit.

Additional Equipment:
Gemini SR-6 Studio Reference Monitors
Audio Technica ATH-M50x Monitoring Headphones
Mixed on a MacBook Pro 2013 (and damn, I'm going to sell that slow piece.)

I'll try to answer all mix- and equipment/recording-related questions!
Thank you all very much for all your mixes. I've been really happy about the additional promotion the band got from this page.

If you're interested please take a listen to the full EP for free:



Please like the band's page here:
Forkupines on Facebook


Cheers,
Till

[grizwalter]

Hey wurst,

First of all, this is a very good, solid, pleasant, and effective mix.

Frankly, I listened (and am currently as well), looking for a problem, which is not the way the average listener would, as we all know. We are, as audio engineers, our own worst enemy.

In the process of that critical listening, there is only one thing I can come up with I'd change, and it is so small and hard to define, I'm not sure I know how to do so! haha

The best way I can imagine to explain it is that somewhere amongst the guitars is a tone as a whole, which is maybe 1 dB too prominent in the 1Kish range, or it might be that something between 1K and 3K is bringing out a harmonic which is "metallic from somewhere nearer to 700Hz.

Man, that's it; that's all I could do to destroy your mix! Now, don't make me come back and taunt you a second time! lol!

Great job! I'd be quite happy if I were a member of the band too!

[wurstdrummer]

Haha, thanks griz!
I'm not happy at all with the toms for example. Now that you said it, yeah, there's something messing with the guitars a bit. I hate you, you ruined it for me.
Just kidding, thanks!

[grizwalter]

Haha, thanks griz!
I'm not happy at all with the toms for example. Now that you said it, yeah, there's something messing with the guitars a bit. I hate you, you ruined it for me.
Just kidding, thanks!

Hey man, how could I steal away your clients without destroying your cred? hahaha

Btw, I want to ask you some questions about your studio setup, but hate to do it here. Maybe you could shoot me an email at [email protected], and we can correspond a bit. Nothing major, but I'm curious about a couple things.

[wurstdrummer]

Sure!
Everyone who wants to know anything about the mix, recordings or anything like that, just give me a quick pm or just throw your question in here and I'll respond asap

[Ak3r]

Hey! Nice mix and thanks for sharing this with all of us . I agree with the "hole" in the guitars but mainly everything is pretty good. I like a lot the sound of your snare...now i understand why all the tracks hehehe...I'll definetly try go give that a try on my mix

Cheers.

Ak3r

[Spede]

Hey I wanted to ask:

Two mics on the guitars, labeled Mic1 and Mic2. Which one is which?

If I had to guess I'd say mic1 was e609 and mic2 sm57. If it was the other way around then the e609 was put at the dead center and the sm57 at the edge of the cone.

[wurstdrummer]

Hey I wanted to ask:

Two mics on the guitars, labeled Mic1 and Mic2. Which one is which?

If I had to guess I'd say mic1 was e609 and mic2 sm57. If it was the other way around then the e609 was put at the dead center and the sm57 at the edge of the cone.

Oh wow, that's actually a good question.
I remember placing the sm57 pretty close to the cap and the e609 at the edge of the cone, off-axis, so mic1 probably was the e609. I'm not sure through, sorry!
I just set up my computer from scratch and I didn't install all the plugins yet, so I can't open the project to see what exactly I did there, but I guess you're right.
The microphone positions are phase coherent. I checked them every time before recording.

[brokenstarsfl]

awesome. Im having troubles with Chorus..

[wurstdrummer]

awesome. Im having troubles with Chorus..

What's your problem? Maybe I can help