Angels in Amplifiers

[sonicenergystudio]

Greetings,

first post on this great site. Attached is my mix and master of the song I'm Alright.

Comments would be appreciated

Mike

[Shul]

Hello Sonic

Few things to point out in your mix

*There is pumping going on on the bass. Your compression using sidechain is very noticeable. I would put fast attack and an FAST release.. also don't let it compress over 3db or so.. because that would be too noticeable.
*Needs more separation between the guitars. Most of it is centered and I feel the mix can't really breath. I would hard pan the tambourine and acoustic guitars.
*The voice sounds good. Good job here. I also like the eq on the percusions though since those are really hard panned they stand out too much.
*The toms sounds good.

So bottom line separation, that's what this needs to sound better.
Cheers hope this helped.

[sonicenergystudio]

Hello Sonic

Few things to point out in your mix

*There is pumping going on on the bass. Your compression using sidechain is very noticeable. I would put fast attack and an FAST release.. also don't let it compress over 3db or so.. because that would be too noticeable.
*Needs more separation between the guitars. Most of it is centered and I feel the mix can't really breath. I would hard pan the tambourine and acoustic guitars.
*The voice sounds good. Good job here. I also like the eq on the percusions though since those are really hard panned they stand out too much.
*The toms sounds good.

So bottom line separation, that's what this needs to sound better.
Cheers hope this helped.

Shul,

Thank you for the response. Only have 2 or 3 hours in this mix and I don't have a sub.

The side chain on the base is a ducking side chain for the kick. Attack at 2ms and release at 90ms. Ducking up to 200hz. No compression on the bass. Maybe take the release to 50ms?

AccGtr1 is set to 65% Left and Right. AccGty2 is set right up the middle when solo and 20% Left and Right when the Electric is Solo.Electric is set to 30% Left and Right when at Rythm and then right up the middle on the lead portions. The Piano is at 80% Left and Right. Maybe some eq needed here for more separation?

Percussion is panned at 65% Left and Right.to make room for the Toms.Overheads are panned 100% Left and Right as well as the Drum reverb--kick is not being sent to this. Maybe take the drum reverb to 50% Left and 50% right?

I left most of the tracking as is since I didn't have the chance to talk with the Artists. Pretty nice job of tracking. EQ mostly HIgh Pass with a little boost at 2000 for the lead vocals with a little boost at 1500 for backing1 and 2200 for backing2. the only other thing I did was to put a pitch tune on AccGuitar1 to help with the out of tune on the higher chords--Not too much just a tad.

What do you think?

Mike

[sonicenergystudio]

Hello Sonic

Few things to point out in your mix

*There is pumping going on on the bass. Your compression using sidechain is very noticeable. I would put fast attack and an FAST release.. also don't let it compress over 3db or so.. because that would be too noticeable.
*Needs more separation between the guitars. Most of it is centered and I feel the mix can't really breath. I would hard pan the tambourine and acoustic guitars.
*The voice sounds good. Good job here. I also like the eq on the percusions though since those are really hard panned they stand out too much.
*The toms sounds good.

So bottom line separation, that's what this needs to sound better.
Cheers hope this helped.

Shul,

Found the problem on the pumping bass. Never reset the ducking after I doubled the Kick track--rookie mistake.

Made some other minor changes to the separation.

Have a listen if you have the time.

Thank you again for your time.

Mike

[Shul]

You got rid of the pumping on the second version. That's good.

However I still feel your instruments can't really breath.

This is a short example of my mix so you can hear the separation without the vocals.

*Rythm acoustic Gtr is hard panned to the right
*Intro solo Acoustic Gtr is Hard panned to the left

With that, I leave room for the Bass, kick, snare and Piano to breath and be understandable.

*Electric Distort Gtr is going through a spreader which is making the mono signal into a Stereo signal creating an apparent sensation of spacy floaty guitar and is slightly panned to the Left (To even out the information excess of the Acoustic guitar to the right)

*Percussion track is also 90% panned on the left to even out excess information of Acoustic rythm Gtr on right.

*Piano is audible now in the center because of the separation I put on those tracks.
*Boosted around the 400-500hz on the bass to make sure it's piercing though enough to be audible in the center.

Never be afraid to do 100% panning. It will make life easier in the beginning of a mix. You can hear and understand your mix better when you spread what you have.

[sonicenergystudio]

You got rid of the pumping on the second version. That's good.

However I still feel your instruments can't really breath.

This is a short example of my mix so you can hear the separation without the vocals.

*Rythm acoustic Gtr is hard panned to the right
*Intro solo Acoustic Gtr is Hard panned to the left

With that, I leave room for the Bass, kick, snare and Piano to breath and be understandable.

*Electric Distort Gtr is going through a spreader which is making the mono signal into a Stereo signal creating an apparent sensation of spacy floaty guitar and is slightly panned to the Left (To even out the information excess of the Acoustic guitar to the right)

*Percussion track is also 90% panned on the left to even out excess information of Acoustic rythm Gtr on right.

*Piano is audible now in the center because of the separation I put on those tracks.
*Boosted around the 400-500hz on the bass to make sure it's piercing though enough to be audible in the center.

Never be afraid to do 100% panning. It will make life easier in the beginning of a mix. You can hear and understand your mix better when you spread what you have.

Shul,

Thanks again or your time. Here is REV2 of my mix. Was always a little reluctant to hard pan things but it turned out nice.

Left the lead electric guitar rught up the middle--being an old guitar player myself I couldn't alter the sound. Besides I like that Santana sound for sure. I use a pod HD500X in stereo and tis a pretty cool thing for sure.

Once again thanks for your time. I use only free plugins except the voicentric from Greg Wells. Easy vocals for only $49.00 american. Really made the work easier and hence more fun.

I will probably try another song on this site. Tried one but the tracking was pretty bad with way too much bleed so I trashed it. Any Suggestions?

Thanks again for your time. I have to say that I am impressed with this site and yourself. Nice to find a place to work on my craft without all the negative banter and BS.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Shul]

Awesome! this sounds a lot better

Now the vocals seat in the center very well. big time!
Now that those instruments are left and right you have a wider mix and a lot cleaner sound too.
Now I can give you more feedback and be more specific about it.

*Now the issue at hand is the kick and bass in the center. They both sound muddy. (muddiness is around the 200-600hz)
I would suggest to do a cut with your eq around 400-500hz on the kick. Drop that knob all the way down with a medium Q(width) and Boost about 5 db around 400-500Hz and cut some 200hz with narrow Q on the bass so that when kick and bass are combined, the frequencies seat well together.

Try that when you get a chance and if you get a chance to see if it sounds better. Also check for reference tracks of similar songs to get a better grasp of your mix. By the way 200hz 500hz are very magic frequencies. a Boost or Cut on these freq. no matter what instrument will change your sound a GREAT deal. So keep an eye for those frequencies when Eq'ing any instruments in the future.

About the plugins that's okay. It's not how much your plugin costs, but about how well you know how to use it.
The most important "plugin" are your ears! lol trust them more than anything else.
I did use some pluggins that didn't come with my Daw, however your origianl Daw plugins are just as good as anyother out there. Just learn how to use them.

No problem, glad I can help though sometimes you will find negative comments here and there. Just do what I do... Learn from them.. because when they give you negative feedback it means you are more likely doing something bad.

Saludos and keep it up!

[sonicenergystudio]

Awesome! this sounds a lot better

Now the vocals seat in the center very well. big time!
Now that those instruments are left and right you have a wider mix and a lot cleaner sound too.
Now I can give you more feedback and be more specific about it.

*Now the issue at hand is the kick and bass in the center. They both sound muddy. (muddiness is around the 200-600hz)
I would suggest to do a cut with your eq around 400-500hz on the kick. Drop that knob all the way down with a medium Q(width) and Boost about 5 db around 400-500Hz and cut some 200hz with narrow Q on the bass so that when kick and bass are combined, the frequencies seat well together.

Try that when you get a chance and if you get a chance to see if it sounds better. Also check for reference tracks of similar songs to get a better grasp of your mix. By the way 200hz 500hz are very magic frequencies. a Boost or Cut on these freq. no matter what instrument will change your sound a GREAT deal. So keep an eye for those frequencies when Eq'ing any instruments in the future.

About the plugins that's okay. It's not how much your plugin costs, but about how well you know how to use it.
The most important "plugin" are your ears! lol trust them more than anything else.
I did use some pluggins that didn't come with my Daw, however your origianl Daw plugins are just as good as anyother out there. Just learn how to use them.

No problem, glad I can help though sometimes you will find negative comments here and there. Just do what I do... Learn from them.. because when they give you negative feedback it means you are more likely doing something bad.

Saludos and keep it up!

Shul,

Man o Man your tip cleaned up the low end big time.

I also compared with Heaven by Los Lonely Boys and made some very minor changes to the eq and the stereo spread by pushing it into the limiter a little harder--had lots of room as I watch my gain stages pretty good.

Take a listen and tell me what's next.

Thank you again for your time. First time anyone has really tried to help.

Mike

[imiller21]

Don't wanna interrupt the flow here as Shul has been guiding you through some good stuff. However, it sounds like you're hitting that limiter a bit too hard now, there's a bit of audible ducking/pumping, especially when the kick hits. Also, I think the rhythm electric and piano should be bumped up a bit throughout, which will really fill up the space between the vocals and the drums/bass and give the mix more body and fullness. I would also suggest backing off the reverb of the lead acoustic as well. It sounds like the verb has a nice length and size to it, but it's creating a sort of disjointed/disconnected sound, like that guitar is out in a different space from the rest of the track.

Otherwise nice work, I can hear the changes and progress you're making in each revision.

[sonicenergystudio]

Don't wanna interrupt the flow here as Shul has been guiding you through some good stuff. However, it sounds like you're hitting that limiter a bit too hard now, there's a bit of audible ducking/pumping, especially when the kick hits. Also, I think the rhythm electric and piano should be bumped up a bit throughout, which will really fill up the space between the vocals and the drums/bass and give the mix more body and fullness. I would also suggest backing off the reverb of the lead acoustic as well. It sounds like the verb has a nice length and size to it, but it's creating a sort of disjointed/disconnected sound, like that guitar is out in a different space from the rest of the track.

Otherwise nice work, I can hear the changes and progress you're making in each revision.

Greetings,

Here tis.

Let me know whats nest.

thanks for all of y'alls time.

Mike