Frustration and no meaningful answers

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteShadow
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JackBootedThug said:
Man I don’t know what to tell you because I’m in the same boat except you’re lightyears ahead of me. Some of the best clips I’ve heard was from my homeboy who used to post hear. Josh…aka insurrection. He had a completely primitive recording chain but was able to make killer recordings. He was basically using radio shack shit…I dunno bro..
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I remember him! He was the metal AF coal mine guy. His clips were insane back in the day. He’s the reason I wanted and bought a Peter’s Chimera. That amp was badass. I never should’ve sold it.
 
Through my current headphones at work, the guitars sound decent, but the the drums sound fake. I think that's part of the nature of digital simulations of drums. Perhaps it can be fixed with some reverb or something. It doesn't sound "bad" but I agree with you that it doesn't sound good.

I think the bass sound also adds to the lameness. It sounds like its a patch in garageband that you are playing bass on the keyboard of your computer or something.
 
I think you're being too hard on yourself. The mix you posted sounds better than average. The soundstage seems small. Do you have it in mono? You have to put more effort into programmed drums to make them real. Use a real drummer and real drums if possible.

This is a rough mix I did of an incomplete song from my old band:


Mixing is an art. You learn through trial and error what works and what doesn't to get you the sound(s) you have in your head. Don't give up, keep going. It probably helps to know that a lot of people in this thread think your mix sounds good. That means you're on the right track. Keep in mind you'll always be your harshest critic.
 
Devin said:
Have you tried checking out something like URM? I haven't used it personally but a friend of mine does and his production chops and knowledge have grown by leaps and bounds

https://urm.academy/
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This looks like its geared strictly for modern metal and progressive/djent type stuff which is quite a long ways from the stuff I play
 
At least on my shitty speakers, the bass guitar did not melt together with the guitars to form this one big wall of sound. Maybe that`s intentional?

Here would be my approach: There are tons of tutorial videos on Youtube. Find someone whose mix or music style you like and go through the process how he`s doing it. Do this with as many different tutorials as possilble and take all the good pieces out of it that you like. You could even go instrument by instrument to learn as much as possible.
Try presetted guitar VSTs like the bogren RevC etc. to get an idea, how the stuff sounds and where your guitars etc lack if you think they lack. The same goes for bass VSTs and all other instruments.
 
SoooRad said:
Through my current headphones at work, the guitars sound decent, but the the drums sound fake. I think that's part of the nature of digital simulations of drums. Perhaps it can be fixed with some reverb or something. It doesn't sound "bad" but I agree with you that it doesn't sound good.

I think the bass sound also adds to the lameness. It sounds like its a patch in garageband that you are playing bass on the keyboard of your computer or something.
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I appreciate this honest feedback. It's nice that someone actually cared enough to listen honestly and judge it honestly rather than give the typical "I don't hear anything wrong with it, sorry gotta go I'm busy" response.

I agree the drums are sooooo fucking lame! Such a let down. They sound so bland and terrible, and those ugritone arena rock drums are hyped up as sounding killer.
 
I don't think the problem is the "mix". I'm tired of hearing that word. The problem is the SOUND. The "mix" is what you do to the project after you get the sound you want. Stop saying "mix". Mixing means mixing, not sound.
 
Can we get an example of a sound you’re looking for. Tone is subjective and tracking/mixing is highly subjective as well.

Can I also ask a bit about your workflow. What is the gain set to on your amp. How many takes are you doing for layers. Are you using more than one mic. Are you checking the phase? What are you doing for eq and compression especially on the guitars? Bus compression? Mastering at all? It sounds like it needs some glue.
 
itsgoodnow said:
Can you give us some examples of what you want it to sound like
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How do I get a sound like this?

itsgoodnow said:
Can you give us a list of your outboard gear and plugins.
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Focusrite solo
Mackie CR3s
Variety of amp sims from Bogren to Neural DPS Fortin Cali to Amp Room to ML soundlabs
Ugritone Arena Rock drums
Perfect Drummer
EZ Drummer
Decent PC
Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas
Jackson Dinky higher end model
EVH Wolfgang Special
Marshall DSL 40cr
 
If I were to upgrade interfaces from my focusrite solo, whats a superior option that is not much more expensive?
 
PurityS.L.G said:
I remember him! He was the metal AF coal mine guy. His clips were insane back in the day. He’s the reason I wanted and bought a Peter’s Chimera. That amp was badass. I never should’ve sold it.
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Yup…Josh fuckin Parsley…Boone county legend…. He could fuckin play to…
 
itsgoodnow said:
Can we get an example of a sound you’re looking for. Tone is subjective and tracking/mixing is highly subjective as well.

Can I also ask a bit about your workflow. What is the gain set to on your amp. How many takes are you doing for layers. Are you using more than one mic. Are you checking the phase? What are you doing for eq and compression especially on the guitars? Bus compression? Mastering at all? It sounds like it needs some glue.
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The first point is a good one even if you don’t have the sound on a particular album or albums you are shooting for. I sure don’t shoot for the sound of a particular album but I do consider references to try and focus myself mentally/aurally when I am going to record or mix something.

Depending on the music itself, listening critically will reveal different things that you need to think about. Like, which instrument or instruments are driving the song at different times? What is most important and how is it treated? What about the other elements? Tones, dynamics, panning, levels and automation and more are all at play.

It is a lot to absorb and it is easy to get lost in the weeds. You need some idea of the overall sound and feel you want the track to have. You need to have an understanding of what elements are most important and how to highlight them, as well as how best to treat the supporting elements or whatever you want to call them.
 
When I mic up my Marshall and do everything like people say, it sounds like fucking shit
 
I'm so fucking sick of cantankerous difficult gear/software not sounding the way it should. It should not be this hard. It's like I'm cursed. If I touch it it sounds like shit.
 
Ok, also I listened to the clip from your original post. First the guitars seem to be a single performance in mono. Two takes panned left and right respectively will make a huge difference. Tonally the guitars seem to maybe have a weird reverb going on and they’re also kind of fizzy.

If you applied a reverb to the tracks, remove it. Distorted guitars don’t usually benefit from reverb and when they do for a stylistic reason, you need a real specific idea of what you’re going for with it and how to make it happen.

Tonewise I’m guessing that’s an amp sim but I don’t know which one. I am not the biggest fan of amp sims personally. A real amp, a reactive load and really good impulse responses works 100x better at least for me.

Mixwise the bass is too loud and the tone just doesn’t blend well with the drums as it is. The thing with the sound of that Charvel video is mostly you just hear drums and guitar. The guitars are multiple takes/different parts panned to stereo. The bass tone is dialed in to sit in the background and just fill out the low end in an unobtrusive way - because of the obvious, that the track is meant to showcase the guitars.
 
Bardagh said:
Ok, also I listened to the clip from your original post. First the guitars seem to be a single performance in mono.
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NO THEY’RE NOT!

They are dual tracked. Twi separate performances, hard panned!
 
Bardagh said:
Ok, also I listened to the clip from your original post. First the guitars seem to be a single performance in mono.
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NO THEY’RE NOT!

They are dual tracked. Twi separate performances, hard panned in
pipboy90 said:
Because you’re micing a small combo amp and using too much gain. You’d probably have better success with guitar sims and IRs to be honest.

You want to mic a 4x12 with good speakers that should be moving air.
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A dsl40cr is not a small amp. Its a quality tube amp with nice 12” speaker
 
BigGuitars said:
NO THEY’RE NOT!

They are dual tracked. Twi separate performances, hard panned!
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Then you're rendering in mono because that's a mono track, not a stereo one. What are the render settings in your DAW?

What's your exact signal chain? Guitar, amp, cab, speaker, microphone, mic preamp, interface. That's a good starting point.

Good guitar tone and a good mix are two separate things that require different tools.
 
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