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Good Time, opinions please.
#1
Hi,

First, a little background. I'm fairly new to this mixing game, I've read a couple of books and bought myself studio one 3. I'm only using stock plugins at the moment with a few freebies, more plugins to come when the budget allows. I've mixed a couple of other tracks, but this is the first one I feel quite proud of.

I'm trying to get to an 'acceptable' standard, I play drums for a rock covers band and we need a demo disc with a few tracks on it to get more gigs. But I don't want to give them rubbish as it wouldn't look particularly good on us lol.

I know the vocal in this needs a little more work, some automation here and there and maybe a little better on the EQ'ing side of things. But I just want to know if I'm heading in the right direction?

Please, be brutally honest with me, I need your input!


.mp3    Good Time(3).mp3 --  (Download: 6.76 MB)


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#2
Ed,
Welcome to the PreSonus world. Kudos on your selection of your DAW.

OK. So first impression: too much compression. Things seem to be pumping and breathing but not in a musical way. Your individual instrument sounds are fine. The overall tonal balance seems a bit skewed towards the low end with not much definition on the kick. This could just be a matter of learning your speakers and how to compensate in the mix for a wide range of playback systems. Try not to use headphones if possible for your main monitoring. Use of effects and environment creation is OK, however your kit seems less defined than it could be (unusual for a drummer/mixer). I think this is a good start for a first go-round. Again, try less compression on the over-all mix.
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#3
Cheers for the feedback, Ed.

I'm loving PreSonus, the possibilities seem endless!

I thought I'd over done it with the compression, was just trying to get some volume, I'm struggling with this! I'm learning my monitors more and more as I go, I've noticed I need less low end that what sounds right in them. I need to treat the room, but it's proving difficult convincing the misses lol.

I think my main problem with skewing towards the low end is the brightness in my monitors, the treble seems really sharp! (M-Audio BX8 D2s by the way). I may have to ask my mate if I can borrow his yamaha's again. Or just spend more time listening to them, I'm sure I'll get there eventually with them.

You say the effects are 'OK', have any pointers on what could be improved?

I'm a little busy rehearsing with the band over the next couple of days so I'll have a play with the mix over the weekend, see what changes I can make.

Thanks again.
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#4
Ok, so I've had a bit of a play this afternoon and changed a few things, this sounding better?


.mp3    Good Time.mp3 --  (Download: 8.73 MB)


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#5
(17-09-2016, 03:54 PM)comatosed Wrote: Ok, so I've had a bit of a play this afternoon and changed a few things, this sounding better?

Generally good mix. Drums could do with a bit more weight. Try a parallel compressor, set to a high ratio (10:1), squashing about 20db, fast attack, fast release. Then blend that back in under the dry signal. A little will fill out the sound of the drums.

Studio One also has a decent mastering chain built-in. Worth running the mix through that (if you haven't already), and surfing the various presents, to find something that adds a bit of impact to the mix.

(17-09-2016, 03:54 PM)comatosed Wrote: We need a demo disc with a few tracks on it to get more gigs

If you're in a position to share a tracking session (or two) here, then I'm sure you'd get some mixes back, suitable for your demo disc.
All sound is a distortion of silence / soundcloud.com/jeffd42
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#6
Thanks for the feedback. I'll have give your compression idea a try, always open to learning new tricks.

I'd be more than happy to share some tracking sessions here. I'm the guy responsible for the recording. I'll be using a tascam dp32 for tracking, doing each part separately, I hate trying to mix something with loads of spill, can't seem to get anywhere close with it.

Whilst we have plenty of gear, we don't have much in the way of top quality mics, so it might be challenging lol. Although I have just acquired some SE1As for overhead use on the drums, I've always liked the sound of those.

But we will be recording our entire gig next weekend. We're hoping to get a couple of decent takes from that for some 'live' songs and add a couple of properly recorded songs to the disc. Fingers crossed.
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#7
Right, tried the parallel compression on the drums, it was too much on the cymbals and overheads so I sent just the kick snare and toms to the compressor. Its definitely added some weight to them, I'll have to remember that one!

Also had a play with some of the mastering presets built in to studio one. There's some crazy stuff in there! I've tried going for something that hasn't pushed it too far, didn't want to crush it too much.

Think this is going to be my last go at this one, time to try a new song.


.mp3    Good Time 4.mp3 --  (Download: 8.73 MB)


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