Really need some help with this mix and my tone

[lewbob]

my band just did some simple recordings the other day however i cant get
them to sound much better

check this one its a basic mix down forget about the drums i know
what i am going to do with them they were just to help to play along too
what could i do to make the guitars sound better ??

any help would be appreciated and i can always put seperate tracks up to download so people can try eq and mix

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=923945&songID=7355215

 

[Emdprodukt]

how do you pan your guitars? how many tracks do you record?

 

[Erkan]

Dude, apart from all the pumping in the mix (hehe), the guitars sound extremely buried! It sounds like you recorded them from like... inside your closet while the cab is outside and blasting away.

Also, is the music inspired by Job for a Cowboy?

 

[lewbob]

how do you pan your guitars? how many tracks do you record?

one hard left one hard right

one half left one half right

thats all the guitar tracks

Dude, apart from all the pumping in the mix (hehe), the guitars sound extremely buried! It sounds like you recorded them from like... inside your closet while the cab is outside and blasting away.

Also, is the music inspired by Job for a Cowboy?

this song is defintaley JFAC inspired haha and how would i go about making not so buried and sit better in the mix i seem to have this problem alot of the time

 

[Skinny Viking]

hard to tell but aside from the drum sound (I know, forget the drums) the bass seems overpowering in a really bad way. I'm only listening on some regular pc speakers right now so like I said, its hard to tell. I would suggest not even worrying about your guitar sound until you can nail down a good drum sound, at least one thats better. You'd be surprised how far a good drum sound can go in making everything else sound better. Do that and then work in the guitars, bring in the bass after you have a good balance between drums & guitars and for fuck sake, hi-pass that bastard!

honestly though beneath all that mush, it sounds like your guitar tone might not be THAT bad. Clear the mush and it may automatically help bring the guitars a little more upfront

 

[lewbob]

hard to tell but aside from the drum sound (I know, forget the drums) the bass seems overpowering in a really bad way. I'm only listening on some regular pc speakers right now so like I said, its hard to tell. I would suggest not even worrying about your guitar sound until you can nail down a good drum sound, at least one thats better. You'd be surprised how far a good drum sound can go in making everything else sound better. Do that and then work in the guitars, bring in the bass after you have a good balance between drums & guitars and for fuck sake, hi-pass that bastard!

honestly though beneath all that mush, it sounds like your guitar tone might not be THAT bad. Clear the mush and it may automatically help bring the guitars a little more upfront

i have decent sounding drums that i am gonna put in the tracks if you check my intro track on the soundclick i think that the drum sound i am going to go for !?

however how would i go about clearing the mush and mud that the guitar has and how would i hi pass

 

[Skinny Viking]

i have decent sounding drums that i am gonna put in the tracks if you check my intro track on the soundclick i think that the drum sound i am going to go for !?

however how would i go about clearing the mush and mud that the guitar has and how would i hi pass

EQ ... you want to get rid of more of the low end in the guitar so that the bass will fill that up without "stacking" itself on top of the low frequencies the guitars have. You'll also want to do the same for the bass so its not battling with the kick drums. That mush & mud is all in your lows and low mids, you need to experiment with EQ to get a good balance with everything there. Remember, a LOT of what makes a guitar tone sound fat & heavy is actually the bass. If you try to go for a guitar sound that sounds like 2 guitarists and a bass player, you won't have room in the mix for the other guitarist and the bass player ... you get it?

Put the "good" drums in 1st, EQ your guitars and get a good balance and then post a clip.

oh yeah, on your EQ ... hi-pass is the thing that looks like this /¯¯¯

 

[lewbob]

EQ ... you want to get rid of more of the low end in the guitar so that the bass will fill that up without "stacking" itself on top of the low frequencies the guitars have. You'll also want to do the same for the bass so its not battling with the kick drums. That mush & mud is all in your lows and low mids, you need to experiment with EQ to get a good balance with everything there. Remember, a LOT of what makes a guitar tone sound fat & heavy is actually the bass. If you try to go for a guitar sound that sounds like 2 guitarists and a bass player, you won't have room in the mix for the other guitarist and the bass player ... you get it?

Put the "good" drums in 1st, EQ your guitars and get a good balance and then post a clip.

oh yeah, on your EQ ... hi-pass is the thing that looks like this /¯¯¯

yea i get what you mean and it seems i have no /¯¯¯ on my eq what could i do if i dont have it ? and by "good" did you listen to the other track and feel they were lacking ? what could i do if yes ?

 

[Skinny Viking]

yea i get what you mean and it seems i have no /¯¯¯ on my eq what could i do if i dont have it ? and by "good" did you listen to the other track and feel they were lacking ? what could i do if yes ?

what EQ are you using? Do you see anything that says "Low Cut"?

Didn't have a chance to listen to the other drums ... I was only speaking of the drums that you said were the "good" ones you would be inserting into the mix

 

[lewbob]

sorry i found the /¯¯¯ now so i need to do that on the whole mix or the seperate guitar tracks ?

would anyone be willing to take a single guitar track and try eq for me to get me started on my way ??

 

[Skinny Viking]

sorry i found the /¯¯¯ now so i need to do that on the whole mix or the seperate guitar tracks ?

would anyone be willing to take a single guitar track and try eq for me to get me started on my way ??

you should do it yourself, its the only way to learn. If you are bussing your guitars to a stereo track you can just put the EQ on the bus if you want. Do it for the individual tracks because you'll need different settings for different instruments. You don't need as much low end in the guitars as you do bass so naturally you'll set it higher on the guitars just as you would want to set it higher on the bass than on the kick drum. These are just starting points but for the guitars start around 100 and see how it sounds. You may want to move it higher or lower, bass maybe start around 70 and kick drum about 50. Those are usually my starting points but a lot depends on the recorded tones, the tuning and too many other things to have a "magic" number that works for everything. Experiment and when you think you have something that sounds better post a clip. Remember that this is only one tool of an EQ, its not by any means gonna solve your problems, just get you started in the right direction for clearing up a lot of mud you have going on right now. You're gonna need to find where there are problem areas in the bass and guitar and start making EQ cuts to get them to work together and blend so they are not fighting each other so much. Keep your guitars panned wide, bass centered or VERY close to center, kick drum centered and see how it sounds

 

[Erkan]

Skinny here has pretty much given you plenty of advice for your next step(s). Experiment, experiment and experiment... you will learn a lot when you go "Ahaaaa!" on that EQ

Bump the thread when you've got a new version.

 

[lewbob]

you should do it yourself, its the only way to learn. If you are bussing your guitars to a stereo track you can just put the EQ on the bus if you want. Do it for the individual tracks because you'll need different settings for different instruments. You don't need as much low end in the guitars as you do bass so naturally you'll set it higher on the guitars just as you would want to set it higher on the bass than on the kick drum. These are just starting points but for the guitars start around 100 and see how it sounds. You may want to move it higher or lower, bass maybe start around 70 and kick drum about 50. Those are usually my starting points but a lot depends on the recorded tones, the tuning and too many other things to have a "magic" number that works for everything. Experiment and when you think you have something that sounds better post a clip. Remember that this is only one tool of an EQ, its not by any means gonna solve your problems, just get you started in the right direction for clearing up a lot of mud you have going on right now. You're gonna need to find where there are problem areas in the bass and guitar and start making EQ cuts to get them to work together and blend so they are not fighting each other so much. Keep your guitars panned wide, bass centered or VERY close to center, kick drum centered and see how it sounds

okay thanks for the help i will mess about with the eq and everything and put the better drums on in the next couple of days then post a clip then hopefully you can tell me what else i can do or others can chime in

 

[Skinny Viking]

okay thanks for the help i will mess about with the eq and everything and put the better drums on in the next couple of days then post a clip then hopefully you can tell me what else i can do or others can chime in

No problem and good luck

 

[lewbob]

Skinny here has pretty much given you plenty of advice for your next step(s). Experiment, experiment and experiment... you will learn a lot when you go "Ahaaaa!" on that EQ

Bump the thread when you've got a new version.

just did a little eq not changed drums yet which i know i should of but i dont have time atm just let me know if i am goin in the right direction

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=923945&songID=7355518

 

[Skinny Viking]

just did a little eq not changed drums yet which i know i should of but i dont have time atm just let me know if i am goin in the right direction

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=923945&songID=7355518

now is this with or without bass? If its with the bass, you went too far

if not, try posting a clip with the bass in there and EQ on the bass

 

[grywolf627]

now is this with or without bass? If its with the bass, you went too far

if not, try posting a clip with the bass in there and EQ on the bass

And also take a little off the lows on those fast kicks. I know you're going to change the drums, but it'll help give a better idea of things to hear the low end (with a bass track) sitting better.

 

[lewbob]

now is this with or without bass? If its with the bass, you went too far

if not, try posting a clip with the bass in there and EQ on the bass

i think i actually took the bass out on this one not too sure i think the track i have for bass is crap tho so i may have to do one with better signal if not upto scratch, though i think i can hear whats going on in the guitars better now hopefully if i can put a bass in and maybe add a little bass back on the guitars

And also take a little off the lows on those fast kicks. I know you're going to change the drums, but it'll help give a better idea of things to hear the low end (with a bass track) sitting better.

and yea i think i might bring all the drums in seperate on my next mix so i can change the sound seperately and sort out everything that way


thanks for all the advice given as of now aswel