Thanks man, but you know - if you do this long enough - you eventually have to decide WHY you're doing it. I do it for the love of music (specifically, MY music... lol). It's a means to an end. I can't afford to have someone else do it - so I do it. Right or wrong. Good or bad. Do I care what out people think of my mixes? Sure, but when push comes to shove, it's only me at the end of the day that needs to be impressed.
I have been recording on & off for the better part of 30 years and all my stuff comes out sounding amateur, small and boxy. What I have realized is that at the end of the day it's just me playing the instruments, the first challenge is realizing that's how you sound, I get that. But no matter how hard I try to make my stuff sound bigger or wider, it always falls flat on it's face. Then I hear guys like you that get a pretty good sound all on your own. It's big, wide and powerful. You're a great musician, that certainly comes through, but how come I cant get my guitars and drums to sound as big? I mean you used the same drum program I have, what did you use for guitars? A sim? I own them all and have real Peavey and Marshall amps with great mics / pre as well. How about your bass? Real? Midi? I try to create space for all the instruments, but it always sounds small. All I hear is cut the mud, but nothing works. Maybe you went the other way and just cranked everything? Frequencies be damned! Lol. Whatever the secret, I wish I knew because thinking you have written a great song only to record it and be completely let down by the recording quality for 3 decades wears on you.. And before you ask, Yes.. I have had other mix my stuff at great expense, it's all the same.
Do you wanna post something so I can hear it - maybe provide some feedback? Maybe some others can chime in too? If you're not comfortable posting here - feel free to PM me. Guitars on this were recorded DIs through ampsims (mostly LePou Legion, X50 for cabs, EQ). I played a real Bass. DI through Ignite's SHB-1, KeFir (Impulse), EQ, comp I have never intentionally tried for a BIG or WIDE sound. I don't use stereo widers, etc, M/S stuff. For the guitars I simply record two takes of the rhythms and then pan then hard L and R. Bass is always up the middle. Kit has snr/kick up the middle and OHs/AMB mics panned hard L/R for the stereo image of the kit. Standard, default stuff for Toontrack. Vocals: lead is always up the middle - and the chorus tracks (varies how many) is always panned hard L/R. Nothing special on any of this. Text book stuff. Playing and composition/arrangement make a difference too!
Hi Mark, Glad you liked it ! You were right about the snare, it was a bit overpowering / hitting too hard. I just did a new pass on the mix and re-balanced a few things, taking this into account. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/p9zij88iu1f2yfj/MARK SCHUSTER Propaganda Force Feed (MASTER) 0807 v2.mp3 I also tried to make the mix a bit more guitar driven and overall dirtier sounding, very curious to hear your thoughts on this new version ! @Pharaoh's Curse : just post some stuff man I'm pretty sure you're too harsh with yourself.
Hi Mark! First of all, "Propaganda Force Feed" is really good song and thank you for sharing your stems and recordings with us! It is really hooky and we really enjoyed working on it. It was a fun challenge! Here are two versions of your song, both mixed at Pavkov Studios in Vršac, Serbia by me and my brother Željko. Version #1 is inspired by early Morrisound Recording sound, lively and sparkly. Version #2 is crunchy garage sounding smasher! I think that rawness and upfront sound really goes well with your style of playing and songwriting. Tell us what you think. Damir
If anyone's interested, I released this song earlier this month on a new CD. It's the title track. Here's the album cover. https://app.box.com/s/t65j59wdqcmnohwk5m1lutp076sxfkwm
I used soundtoys decapitator for the crunch then its lots of compression, eq and so on. had a tiny bit of crunch and comp on the reverb also.
Fantastic! I just looked at the specs of the Decapitator, it looks really interesting. What did you use for your guitar sound? Damir
Hi man, From what I remember, it was Toontrack Made of Metal EZX + some samples on top of it (kick 100% replaced, and snare 50/50). Love that library, and you can grab it for cheap most of the time !!