picklebunker
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Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
I NEED HELP! I'm about to start mixing a project for my band and I'm having trouble finding a nice "pocket" when mixing. Can I please get some advice from both experts and rookies on what is wrong, all the way from levels to compression etc. Performances are what they are (sadly, we could use some practice) but hey, very few are doing this for anything other than fun... right. This was recorded live into a Korg 1600 (dinosaur unit) and some tracks exported (analogue, as it would not transfer digitally) into Sonar 6 PE for tweaking. Needless to say, I did this only when absolutely necessary. Mastering is not my thing so I tried the best I could with Ozone 4, and playing with some presets. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. The song in question is THIS WORLD APART This World Apart. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=805324
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Wookiee
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/15 15:43:28
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I quite enjoyed this, from my my perspective, noting that mixing bands is not something I do, the kick could do with a little more thwack and a little less whoomp. In some places, choruses I suspect, it gets a little too messy not enough instrument positional definition. Having said all that 
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timidi
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/15 18:11:26
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lead at :48 too loud. 1:07 fill worked though.
really falls apart in the chorus with the bvox coming in. I mean it just becomes a big mush of distorted sound. I'm listening on a laptop, but, I would guess you have too much lows and mid-lows competing (probably in the guitars and vocals) which is causing the overload.
Is there any compression on individual tracks?
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picklebunker
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/15 20:38:07
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Wookie: Thanks for the comments and I agree on the kick "Whoomp" I regret not recording the kick drum with a mic near the beater and only having one on an uncut skin. This is making it hard to find the thwack. Thoughts on repair? Also, I think my little m-audio monitors are having a hard time clarifying the lows while I'm mixing. I might have to do a little guess work to clarify these tones and listen in the car.
Timidi: See above for the eq of lows. Thoughts on how to clarify this? I also have a redundant guitar track that I left in there which could be removed. This might be one of the issues.
I have compression on kick, bass, and a limiter on lead vox. I have an exciter on the snare. I also mixed out some highs on the bu vox. Is this a mistake?
Thanks
al
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timidi
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/15 21:03:58
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Maybe some sort of spectral analysis plug in wiould help. I mean, if you can't hear it, you could see it.
As far as guessing goes, I would imagine you can use a high pass filter on all the guits down about 6db sloping at 200hz. The high pass is your friend. try it. mix around the drums, bass and vocal.
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Wookiee
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/15 21:08:49
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Al you could try for some surgical eq on the bass and kick or a transient shaper which SONAR 6 unfortunately does not have. Look on KVR for a freebie. You could go the whole hog and look at drum replacement or reinforcement. i.e. find a sample that gives you the thwack and drop it in parallel with the existing kick.
One trick on clarifying the mud is to put a steep 80hz high-pass shelf on the master buss this will stop the mud reaching your monitors and causing any confusion, most listeners will not notice as they will not be hearing it on anything like studio monitors.
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
Karma has a way of finding its own way home.
Primary, i7 8700K 16Gigs Ram, 3x500gb SSD's 2TB Backup HHD Saffire Pro 40. Win 10 64Bit Secondary i7 4790K, 32GB Ram, 500Gb SSD OS/Prog's, 1TB Audio, 1TB Samples HHD AudioBox USB, Win 10 64Bit CbB, Adam's A7x's - Event 20/20's, Arturia V6, Korg Digital Legacy, Softube Modular, Arturia Keylab-88, USB-MidiSport 8x8
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picklebunker
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/17 13:55:21
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I had someone suggest a FabFilter ProQ plug in to shape this. Has anyone used this? I've seen a Youtube video and it looks very user friendly. The video also says that it is common practice to put a high pass filter on everything but the kick and bass to clarify low end. Thoughts?
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jsaras
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/18 19:09:53
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I think that Ozone is likely a part of the problem with the sound. The middle part of the stereo spectrum seems to be missing. Turn of all the "maul-da-band" stuff and keep it to just a single band compressor and some light limiting.
The drums are VERY prominent and very dry. I would suggest making the lead vocal dry for the verses.
The good part is that you have very workable elements to get a good mix.
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picklebunker
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Re:Mixing help needed by Experts and Rookies!
2011/05/18 22:59:25
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JS - Hey, thanks for the advice. I'm beginning to think that a lot of people overuse Ozone and over processing and stereo spreading might be working against me. Ya, seems like the general opinion is to draw back the drums a bit, marry the bass and kick a little better and define the chorus. I'll work on it.
al
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