02-04-2013, 08:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-04-2013, 08:23 PM by DanUpdegraff.)
This is one of the hardest mixes I have encountered so far. After several attempts over a 12 month period, I'm still not able to get the crispness and "in your face" levels that Mike did. So I decided to post what I have and get some opinions. I don't consider it a bad attempt, but my goal was get as close to Mike's as I could.
The guitars seemed more a matter of finding the right re-amp settings and less about EQ plugins. I like my chorus guitars, but I couldn't nail the guitar intro, so I opted to spice it up a bit with more effects than in Mike's version. It's an interesting result, but lacks the aggressiveness that Mike achieved. (Without the effects, mine sounds very mono-ish, harsh, and boring.)
The drums were another problem. Take the OHs for example. I didn't have a Fatso plugin as Mike used, so I tried all the free compressor plugins I had. Everytime I got the cymbals to sustain, the low end was gone. When I focused on the low end, the cymbals were buried. Mike's OH's always produced a punchier sound at less volume and with less EQ than mine, and really brought out warmth in the snare. I'm sure the Fatso added some magic, but I am demoralized that I couldn't get closer and had to settle for something different. My snare didn't even come close to Mike's.
On the bright side, I am happy with how the vocals turned out. They could still use a bit of clarity, but overall I feel pretty good about them.
On the master bus, I ended up using a compressor with fast attack/release and 10:1 ratio to reduce up to 3db and help glue things together. This is pretty heavy handed from everything I've read, but it really helped (which suggests I made a mistake somewhere in the mix).
Comments and criticisms are encouraged. I have successfully mixed and release my first single, so I know I can do better than this. But Zeno's "Signs" showed me there's still a lot to learn.
The guitars seemed more a matter of finding the right re-amp settings and less about EQ plugins. I like my chorus guitars, but I couldn't nail the guitar intro, so I opted to spice it up a bit with more effects than in Mike's version. It's an interesting result, but lacks the aggressiveness that Mike achieved. (Without the effects, mine sounds very mono-ish, harsh, and boring.)
The drums were another problem. Take the OHs for example. I didn't have a Fatso plugin as Mike used, so I tried all the free compressor plugins I had. Everytime I got the cymbals to sustain, the low end was gone. When I focused on the low end, the cymbals were buried. Mike's OH's always produced a punchier sound at less volume and with less EQ than mine, and really brought out warmth in the snare. I'm sure the Fatso added some magic, but I am demoralized that I couldn't get closer and had to settle for something different. My snare didn't even come close to Mike's.
On the bright side, I am happy with how the vocals turned out. They could still use a bit of clarity, but overall I feel pretty good about them.
On the master bus, I ended up using a compressor with fast attack/release and 10:1 ratio to reduce up to 3db and help glue things together. This is pretty heavy handed from everything I've read, but it really helped (which suggests I made a mistake somewhere in the mix).
Comments and criticisms are encouraged. I have successfully mixed and release my first single, so I know I can do better than this. But Zeno's "Signs" showed me there's still a lot to learn.