(31-03-2017, 01:15 AM)Calliii Wrote: I feel like the bas guitar is kind of missing, you could probably use some eq and compression to bring up those missing frequencies (you could also check out a pluggin called MaxBass from Waves. Great pluggin that creates upper harmonics from the low end). but besides from that you did a good job. I really like what you did with the screams, they pop and fit like a glove.
And since you feel done with this mix as you expressed, I want to ask you, what did you learn from doing this mix that you will take with you to your future mixes? I think that's an important question to ask yourself after each mix.
Have a good one
//Calliii
Hi Calliii,
Thank you very much for your feedback :-)
Regards the bass, I am actually happy with where it sits in the mix as it doesn't cloud either the low end of my kick or my guitars. My personal approach is that the bass guitar for the most part supports the guitars and fills the gap between everything else and the drums. I don't think that I'm lacking any "meat" to the bass sound itself but probably that I've mixed it in at a lower volume than you would have chosen to. I did actually use Waves RBass to help with it and I also did lots of processing to try and bring out that massive missing gap in the frequency curve that I mentioned in my original post.
If you listen to that bridge type section (around 2.50 I think) where the bass guitar is quite dominant, you can hear how full the bass sounds. I actually feel that it sounds fuller than the bass sound in your mix. The difference between our approaches probably has to do with our choice of volume level and also that I prefer not to use as much sub on the bass as you do.
Regards the overall balance of the of the low end, I used "Milestone" by Silverstein as a reference and while not an exact match (nothing ever is), the general balance is in the same ballpark I feel and therefore in keeping with how it is treated in this genre.
Really glad that you like the rest of the mix. I'm probably most proud of how I handled the vocals as this seems to be something that a lot of people were struggling with. The processing that I used is very heavy handed with lots of layers of compression combined with volume automation.
I felt that there were a number of technical challenges to overcome in this mix as well as several creative ones. Choosing the right tones for the lead guitars so that they fit in with what was already provided and deciding how to handle the ridiculous number of vocal tracks supplied were the things that I felt would lead to making or breaking the overall sound.
In terms of what I learnt from this mix, there are a couple things:
The first one is something that I didn't really do consciously or purposely but is something I felt really helped me in the end. I got all the editing done upfront. I did all the drum editing, guitar editing, guitar re-amping, additional guitar parts, fixing of the bass guitar frequencies and comping of the vocals at the point that I was setting up a rough fader and pan mix. By doing this, when I moved on to mixing, I wasn't constantly jumping back and forth fixing things so I could stay focused on the mix itself.
The other things that I learned is that you should never give up on something. There is always some sort of solution out there. You can never completely salvage certain things if they are bad enough but you can, for the most part, at least make it musical and listenable even if you can't get it sounding like a proper studio recording and mix. I took several breaks from this song instead of bashing my head against the wall. If something was holding me back, I'd take a break, think things through far away from the project itself and maybe do some research and assimilate information that was useful for what I wanted to achieve. Then a day or more later, I'd come back to it and try to put into practice anything that I'd discovered or thought to try.
Something to mention that I didn't learn on this mix but that once again proved invaluable to me was referencing. Both types. Referencing by listening and comparing to professional mixes in the same genre as well as referencing my mix on several difference devices, speakers and headphones. Very often I'd think that I had everything balanced only to hear something unbalanced in another environment. I'd note all these things down then go back and adjust appropriately in the mix.
Thank you once again for taking the time to listen and comment.
All the best
-Vinay