japetus
Moderator
Josh's rig was completely junked together, guy was just a killer musician. We used to talk all the time...I wonder what he's up to these days.
Frustration and no meaningful answers
- Thread starter WhiteShadow
- Start date
Josh's rig was completely junked together, guy was just a killer musician. We used to talk all the time...I wonder what he's up to these days.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
@WhiteShadow btw, recording issues aside, might as well let you know that your playing was totally spot on for the kind of music you're going for. Lot of attitude and excellent right hand control. Man you put some fuckin stank on those 6ths and 3rds lol. Hell yeah. Very cool.
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DanTravis62
Well-known member
I'm gonna second that, killer lead playing
BigGuitars
Active member
Thank you!
I think the best way to put it is not that I’m having problems with the “mix”. It’s more just quality issues. Everything just sounds so low quality, and I don’t think it has anything to do with the mix. There’s just something crushing the quality. I never hear the sound I’m wanting to hear. My playing just doesn’t come across like I want to. It never sounds like what I hear on legit recordings or records or movies. that “pro” sound.
BigGuitars
Active member
I will say now that I’ve gotten into that URM course. It does seem that it is geared strictly to modern, low tuned, screaming type metal. I feel like they’re just gonna show me how to make and mix that type of sound. It’s miles apart from the stuff I do, which is like Van Halen, Ratt, Crue, Skid Row, etc
My first advice would be to try get multitracks of the recordings you would like to sound like. They can be easily googled and downloaded usually in "mogg" format.
If your DAW cannot process these, download Reaper and it will be fine.
Making something big is not about making it actually big, but make other things smaller in comparison. Big drum will be small in a mix, unless the other instruments made smaller. Think about a box. The box has limited space, you can't put all stuff in it, you need to make a decision what is the "hook" of that part, section, even bar. That's what you want to emphasise.
That's a part of the arrangement goals.
In the genre your posted tune, a lot of the weight comes from bass guitar, which is not actually too deep or low, but more of a midrangey crunchy sound, with a lot of harmonics. That's the foundation in the middle, and the guitars are more or less hard panned left and right. Not the same takes, different takes. You can even use 2 a side, one cleaner one dirtier.
Here comes the most important part. Editing.
You need to edit your takes, they need to line up properly, riffs and parts need to start and end the same etc.. This will not make it sound mechanic, just tight.
This is one of the thing no one talks about and it makes or breaks a mix. If something is edited properly, it is a lot easier to get great results.
It's an art itself where to cut how to crossfade to prevent clicks and pops etc., quite mechanic, not too creative, best for people with severe OCD to details
If you don't want to mess with it, just give it to a dude with editing skills and lay down the dough.
Don't solo your tracks and do EQ, compression, whatever in solo, unless you clean it up or looking for glitches. Anything will sound weird if soloed in a mixed track, and it should, because the tracks need to complement each other.
Another important part is comparative listening. Meaning, while you are mixing your tune, drop in a reference song, check what are the differences in snare, kick, toms, how wide the guitars are etc. There is a cool tool to do a lot of this called "Metric AB" Metric AB
It's included in the Plugin Alliance pack too.
If your DAW cannot process these, download Reaper and it will be fine.
Making something big is not about making it actually big, but make other things smaller in comparison. Big drum will be small in a mix, unless the other instruments made smaller. Think about a box. The box has limited space, you can't put all stuff in it, you need to make a decision what is the "hook" of that part, section, even bar. That's what you want to emphasise.
That's a part of the arrangement goals.
In the genre your posted tune, a lot of the weight comes from bass guitar, which is not actually too deep or low, but more of a midrangey crunchy sound, with a lot of harmonics. That's the foundation in the middle, and the guitars are more or less hard panned left and right. Not the same takes, different takes. You can even use 2 a side, one cleaner one dirtier.
Here comes the most important part. Editing.
You need to edit your takes, they need to line up properly, riffs and parts need to start and end the same etc.. This will not make it sound mechanic, just tight.
This is one of the thing no one talks about and it makes or breaks a mix. If something is edited properly, it is a lot easier to get great results.
It's an art itself where to cut how to crossfade to prevent clicks and pops etc., quite mechanic, not too creative, best for people with severe OCD to details
If you don't want to mess with it, just give it to a dude with editing skills and lay down the dough. Don't solo your tracks and do EQ, compression, whatever in solo, unless you clean it up or looking for glitches. Anything will sound weird if soloed in a mixed track, and it should, because the tracks need to complement each other.
Another important part is comparative listening. Meaning, while you are mixing your tune, drop in a reference song, check what are the differences in snare, kick, toms, how wide the guitars are etc. There is a cool tool to do a lot of this called "Metric AB" Metric AB
It's included in the Plugin Alliance pack too.
VonBonfire
Well-known member
Your snare sounds like someone hitting a wet cardboard box so the rest of your track is doomed until that's fixed because I can barely hear the backbeat as you have it set now. Why don't you start there? I said this on page two and you're still talking about your guitar playing. I can see why you're having problems. You're worried about the icing but the cake sucks.
BigGuitars
Active member
Yeah the drums are horrible. I’m diving into the urm course on EQing drums so I’ll post my progress later
Smashedguitaris⸸
Hack
Guitar sounds great [breh]. I dont know what more you want.
RevDrucifer
Well-known member
Whether or not you want to hear it/agree, these speakers are never going to deliver the detail you’re looking for. You can make shit sound awesome on them and the second you put the mix on different speakers it’ll sound entirely different, time and time again. I couldn’t find the frequency range of them when looking at Mackie’s website, which is telling enough that they’re more suited for people just looking to get something recorded to hear it back, not serious mixing.
If the speakers are incapable of recreating the frequencies in your mix it will be a guessing game time and time again. There is no other way around this. You can even use room correction software or any of the plug-ins modeling big studio control rooms via headphone EQ’s and it’s still not going to translate when bringing it to a different system.
If you can’t hear what the frequencies of every instrument are doing, you’re going in blind. Cymbals can walk all over guitars because they both sit in that 2khz range, but if all the low end is crushing the mix and you can’t even hear THAT happening, you’re screwed before you even get the chance to hear the relationship between the cymbals and guitars.
It’s all relative and it IS the mix, because you’re mixing THE SOUND of individual instruments and it’s ALL relative.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Are you @WhiteShadow ? What's the deal there?
If so, read the post I made in this thread just before the complimentary one. That mysterious "something" that is "crushing" your sound is the fact that you are rendering in mono. That is the problem, end of story.
You are rendering in mono. That is why the track doesn't sound good. That is why it sounds "crushed." Your sound is being “crushed” into the center of the stereo spectrum.
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cobrahead1030
Well-known member
Recording is a long & frustrating journey, you just have to keep at it. You're always making progress, even when you feel like you're not.
You'll occasionally have breakthroughs where you think you're locked onto something good, then a week or two later you'll hear something in that you don't like, and feel like you're moving backwards.
You'll occasionally have breakthroughs where you think you're locked onto something good, then a week or two later you'll hear something in that you don't like, and feel like you're moving backwards.
+1 I would be more investigating drum and bass tone as those sounds were like from a demo track on a keyboard.
311splawndude
Well-known member
That's what I'm now wondering. I thought this was @WhiteShadow 's thread
I can't get the clips to play either. I get the following error I've never seen before. DuckDuckGo/Win10
WhiteShadow
Active member
Weird, it seems to be linking two of my accounts together. WEIRD! I never logged in on BigGuitars. But yes, both those accounts are me. It was a mistake. I only meant to use this one from now on. Sorry for the confusion
EDIT: Sorry if that violates rules. I didn't mean to!
EDIT: Sorry if that violates rules. I didn't mean to!
311splawndude
Well-known member
Good enough. I don't care personally, it was just weird to see. Maybe you were accessing the same thread at different times with different devices/IP's? I noticed it in another thread too "Do you hear Clashing" or whatever. I'm sure you didn't mean anything malicious and there are plenty of people on here that have Alt Accounts. I'd love to listen to your clips if I can figure out why I can't now? I think it has something to do with moving to DuckDuckGo vs Chrome - but your OP is the first time I've seen an error.
WhiteShadow
Active member
Yeah, I set the accessibility to anyone with the link can view. It must be on your end
Sorry for the confusion. It probably was that my phone just logged me in on the other account automatically bc of cookies or whatever. My bad
WhiteShadow
Active member
Here's one more good example of how I'd like my stuff to sound. what gives it this pro sound?
WhiteShadow
Active member
Just listen to how low quality this sounds. It sounds horrible. Why?