Need advice on mixing and mastering pop rock (Mp3 included)

Hi, I'm new to mixing and mastering and was wondering if you guys could lend an ear and some advice if possible.  I am currently working on a pop album for a friend of mine, and have just finished recorded everything (except the vocals) for a song called "Light Me Up."  The song includes 2 different steel acoustic guitars (A Martin and an Ibanez), a cello from Reason 4.0, a piano from Reason 4.0, and synthetic drums written in fruity loops.

Here is the current mixing and effects properties of each instrument:

Guitar (Martin):  Volume at 2.0,  50% right, Compression, Sonitus Reverb (Default)
Guitar (Ibanez):  Volume at 2.0, 50% left, Compression, Sonitus Reverb (Default)
Piano:  Volume at 1.0, Dead center, Compression, Sonitus Reverb (The Venue)
Cello:  Volume at 2.0, Dead center, Sonitus Reverb (The Venue)
Drums:  Volume at 5.0, Dead center, no effects

Here is a link to the soundclick page where you can listen to the mp3.

http://www.soundclick.com...288&songID=9371969

I am probably going to add leading notes to the cello, at least in the verses since there are already leading notes for piano in the chorus.  I really have no idea how to do a proper doubletrack for these guitars, but gave it my best shot.  Please let me know what you think.  Thanks!

The guitar sound and playing is terrible... No mixing will make them sound good. Needs to be re-recorded. Full stop. Sounds like it was recorded DI, needs to be done with a mic in a nice room or acoustically dead space. There is plenty of info out there on getting a good guitar sound. Just make sure you get it right before you hit the record button.

Drums could do with some reverb. They sound too dry for my liking, but that is very subjective. Try just a little bit of verb and see how then go. Even just on the snare. If you do put reverb on the rest of the drums, leave it lower than what you have on the snare.

Cello and piano sound good. It's tricky to say much about them when everything else was not too great. I didn't notice anything wrong, but with everything else fixed up, some issues could come forward.

I think the width is fine. Don't have a problem with that. Just please fix the timing issues!!

Mastering is nothing to worry about yet. Ultimately, mastering is all about making songs work together in an album so they all sound like they are from the same album, not just a random collection of songs, among the technical tweaks necessary in each song. Not something you should be worrying about just yet.

And finally, please post in the songs forum!!

Cheers,
Matt

Thank you for the replies!

Yes, I am not happy with the guitars, or the drums!  but that is his department, and he has to fix that himself.  I did however add a little reverb to the drums and it made a world of difference, so thanks for that!

As for sounding too narrow, I agree, good call.  I pushed the guitars farther apart at 60% each, threw the piano 30% to the left and the cello 30% to the right.  Sounds much better.

Yeah he wrote these drums to be played along with, and this is how every song is unfortunately.  Also there are never any stops in the guitar music, which gets on my nerves.  But oh well, what can you do?  I don't have the time to help him rewrite all of his music.  All I can really do now is make it sound as good as I can, and diversify it with some orchestral instruments.  Thanks for all the advice, it was very helpful!

And yes, I will be posting to songs next time if I am looking for feedback in the future.

Thanks to whoever said pushing me away sounded good, that is an instrumental version of a linkin park song that I made.  Don't you love that delay effect on the piano?

Have a good one all!

Ahh there we go. Drums fit in much nicer now. They sound like they are part of the song now. It all does sound much better. Reminds me of the band 'Air' and a song of theirs called Space Maker. Very similar style to that song. Infact, I think I might listen to some Air today... Maybe have a listen to some of their songs to get some ideas?

One thing is coming to me now. I think the low end of the kick may be a little too much. Only ever so slightly. See what you think. I'm pretty sure that frequency doesn't have a major room mode... So check on your system. Just compared it with the low end of the kick in Air, and theirs is MUCH lower in volume. So just do some comparisons.

I would like to have heard the original track but unfortunately you deleted it. Nice to hear the comparison.

BTW the timing issues are killing the track.

I know playing to a click can be tough but is a necessity if you want it to sound tight.


 Keep going :)