Hiya Kjell
I think the way you have described your process to be very enlightening, and something I'm going to try to a bit more of from now on. Thank you for setting the benchmark!
OK, now on with the mix.
Oh, firstly your question regarding sending the drums only to the buss and not the masters, I don't know what software you're using but there will be an output selector button somewhere on the channel strip which currently says L-R, Main outs, 1-2, Master Outs or something similar. You should be able to select another output for the drum elements which includes the buss you're using for the drums. Failing that, hopefully the channel allows you to have 'no output' as an option. Use that and send all the drums to the buss via the aux send as you're currently doing. OR, if this also isn't an option, send all those drums to the drum buss with the aux sends PRE-FADE and turn down the channel fader all the way for those drums. Because you're sending the drums to the buss pre fade, this knob determines the level of the drums in the buss. The channel fader is bypassed. There are 3 ways to skin a cat!
I think you have made a good start, but there's a few things that I feel can be improved on if you feel like taking it further.
There is a *lot* of low end in the mix which is detracting a bit from the rest of the instruments. Its in the guitars, toms and bass and is masking the kick quite a bit. Using a high pass filter on everything that doesn't need it will instantly give some low end clarity to the mix, and then you can work on enhancing the elements that have useful power down that low (floor tom, bass and kick).
If you're using small diameter speakers and boosting the low end to hear it, it might pay to check the mix using a decent set of reference headphones to help you hear what is happening way down low.
From my experience with metal, hard rock, etc there also needs to be more of the kick's impact (the 'click' of the beater) coming through. Once the problems with the low frequencies have been taken care of, it will be much easier to sculpt out a nice kick drum sound.
Technical issues:
There's a bit of noise in some of the tracks that should be cleaned up, especially towards the end of the song. You can fade those tracks out once the actual music stops and it will work a treat!
And there's a burst of white noise every now and again - is that from the reverb effect you mentioned? Is this a 'demo' piece of software?
Might pay to purchase it or use a different stock reverb plugin from the host software you use.
Its hard to know how the other elements in the song sit with so many instruments contributing to the murk in the low frequencies, so I'll have to wait until you can fix that primary problem and post another version to the forum - please keep going with this mix Kjell. There's a lot to learn about the art of mixing and, as I'm finding, lots of discoveries made by trial and error.
I hope that this has been some use to you to help you refine the mix, and I look forward to hearing your Version 2!
Kind regards,
Dags
I think the way you have described your process to be very enlightening, and something I'm going to try to a bit more of from now on. Thank you for setting the benchmark!
OK, now on with the mix.
Oh, firstly your question regarding sending the drums only to the buss and not the masters, I don't know what software you're using but there will be an output selector button somewhere on the channel strip which currently says L-R, Main outs, 1-2, Master Outs or something similar. You should be able to select another output for the drum elements which includes the buss you're using for the drums. Failing that, hopefully the channel allows you to have 'no output' as an option. Use that and send all the drums to the buss via the aux send as you're currently doing. OR, if this also isn't an option, send all those drums to the drum buss with the aux sends PRE-FADE and turn down the channel fader all the way for those drums. Because you're sending the drums to the buss pre fade, this knob determines the level of the drums in the buss. The channel fader is bypassed. There are 3 ways to skin a cat!
I think you have made a good start, but there's a few things that I feel can be improved on if you feel like taking it further.
There is a *lot* of low end in the mix which is detracting a bit from the rest of the instruments. Its in the guitars, toms and bass and is masking the kick quite a bit. Using a high pass filter on everything that doesn't need it will instantly give some low end clarity to the mix, and then you can work on enhancing the elements that have useful power down that low (floor tom, bass and kick).
If you're using small diameter speakers and boosting the low end to hear it, it might pay to check the mix using a decent set of reference headphones to help you hear what is happening way down low.
From my experience with metal, hard rock, etc there also needs to be more of the kick's impact (the 'click' of the beater) coming through. Once the problems with the low frequencies have been taken care of, it will be much easier to sculpt out a nice kick drum sound.
Technical issues:
There's a bit of noise in some of the tracks that should be cleaned up, especially towards the end of the song. You can fade those tracks out once the actual music stops and it will work a treat!
And there's a burst of white noise every now and again - is that from the reverb effect you mentioned? Is this a 'demo' piece of software?
Might pay to purchase it or use a different stock reverb plugin from the host software you use.Its hard to know how the other elements in the song sit with so many instruments contributing to the murk in the low frequencies, so I'll have to wait until you can fix that primary problem and post another version to the forum - please keep going with this mix Kjell. There's a lot to learn about the art of mixing and, as I'm finding, lots of discoveries made by trial and error.
I hope that this has been some use to you to help you refine the mix, and I look forward to hearing your Version 2!
Kind regards,
Dags
So many songs, so little time!