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Need More Depth

  • 11 replies
  • 6 participants
  • 1,793 views
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Topic Need More Depth
Hey everyone whats up?
Me and my band recently recorded a 3 song demo, and Im pleased at how it was recorded. The thing I dont like to much about it is the mix. ie. The guitars are very low in the mix and sound really ?tinny?, the vocals are way too loud, etc.
I was screwing around with Cool Edit to try and bring up the mids abit and give the tracks some more depth and demension, but I wasnt pleased with any of my results.
If anyone out there understands what I mean about depth and knows how to help me out a bit, please, your advise will be kindly appreciated.
Thanks in advance to anyone who posts input.

P.S. I dont know if I can put links on here or not.
but if you wanna check out the tunes if you dont understand what I mean, take a listen and you will instantly know what Im talking about.
http://www.liquidzen.ca/freefall
2
I see what you mean by depth. In "Waiting For You", the drums are soaked in reverb, giving the feeling that the drummer is really far off. This mix lacks bottom, too. The closer a sound, the more bottom end you percieve. This is the main reason the vocals seem distant.
I see what you mean by tinny guitar. That's easy enough to fix.
The drums in Black seem really squeezed with compression - no dynamics to the impacts. If I work real hard, I can make out the guitar over the bass in the beginning The whole track seems very middle-focused and not spatial. The short delay on the vocals is too loud, giving it a boxy sound. Too much reverb on the snare - it seems a lot farther away than the cymbals.
Good songs, not-as-good mix. Keep jamming, and keep in touch.
3
I listened to the first two songs and I have heard a lot worse mixes on demos (even some albums) Its not too bad.

The vocals being mixed so high is one of the bigget things that make it sounds small (that sounded funny) but yes rock records sound better with the vocals tucked into the guitars.

Were the guitars recored direct? The guitar sounds are not very good, awarmer sound would fill out the whole mix better and the drums do not have much presence. My guess is that you went for a big roomy sound like the original recording of "black" but that is pretty tough to do. They had a great drum room and reverbs avalable for the mix. Its better to err on the side of too dry I think.
4
Right on guys, I really appreciate the comments I've received. BTW this is HazeBlazer I just forgot my password.
Anyways, I've since had a chance to work on those tunes myself and believe it or not, I've actually got them sounding pretty decent. I've decided that the only thing that I dont like and the only thing that cant be fixed is the damn guitar sound. It was recorded using a Zoom 505 pedal, and Im not a big fan of digital pedals for recording anymore.
And to answer your question, no the guitars werent recorded direct, but the bass was, I think that's why the bass comes throught loud and clear.
So, thank you for all your input.

Later,
Mike.
5
Hey i am a bit of a newbie to recording, but why not try playing with your mid eq? it sounds to me like alot of the "beefiness" has been cut out. Also try to put a small amount of echo onto the vocals to make them more spatial and you could also try panning instruments and vocals to make it seem like you are playing in front of us and sounds are coming in from other angles...

As i said i am a bit of a newbie, so this may not work, but you could try it i suppose

Hope you find a way to make it better

StudioHead
6
Hey StudioHead thanks for the response.

All that has been done now. Why dont you take a listen to some of the tunes on my band's site and see what I mean. Everything's spaced out well and everything is sitting well. At least on the tunes, Bombshell, Blind, Daddy's Home and Fall.
It's amazing how much I've learned from this site and just from experience in the last year.

Let me know what you think.

Later,

Bones (formerly HazeBlazer)
7
Hi Bones!

Gave Bombshell a listen. The overall mix is quite well balanced with clear vocals and each instrument defined quite well. The bass and kick could use a bit of separation but they sit in their sonic space well enough. If you got access to a Peavey Kosmos, you could try passing the mix thru it for a bit of overall 'sheen' and a tad more punch.

hth
8
sounds brilliant now, definately more emphasis on the whole sound, it really is better

studiohead
9
Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments.

Hey KitC, what the hell is a Kosmos?


LOL,

Later,
Bones.
10
Hi Bones,

It's an fx box similar to BBE Sonic Maximizer. It adds harmonics to the highs and sub-harmonics to the lows. It's made by Peavey and they now have a Pro version- I'm not kidding!

I gave Bombshell another listen and it sounds different from when I first heard it. More highs now... did you remix it?