Can You Tell Me How to Get More Clarity in This Mix - Solved

Hi,
 
This piece is an instrumental rock style bit of royalty free music. Compared to better tracks, it sounds muddy. How can I make it "sparkle" more?
 
Reverb in piano is part of the VST setting, no reverb on bass, other instruments a little Blueverb. Drums have Anderton Collection Drum Room Ambience. Brickwall limiter on final mix.
 
https://soundcloud.com/artturnermusic/instrumental-rock
 
Thanks!
Art

I am no expert at all but I would try notching a little around 400hz as Lynn suggested and maybe try the hf exciter that comes with Sonar. I turn the mix knob all the way up ,then sweep the frequency to find what jumps out at me and then adjust to taste.

Lynn makes a good point. I think it sound good on my monitors. You should worry that issue when you have the vocal

Lynn
If you're using samples then, you are at the mercy of the samples you use.  Your mix actually isn't all that muddy, but if you think it is then you could scoop some low mids out of the final mix  rather than add highs to the EQ.  Or, in this case, you could work on the arrangement to give it more "sparkle" by adding an instrument here or there, or writing a bridge or something so that it doesn't seem to loop the same part over and over.  Sometimes a work in progress doesn't gel until you put in that final ingredient.  You have a good start, but I think the arrangement needs more attention at this point.

SongCraft
In addition, panning i.e. guitar could be a little further away from the piano. Another consideration is the actual instrumental-arrangements, sometimes too much play can overwhelm other key instruments

 
Thanks for reminding me about using panning to clear up the mix. I could probably simplify the piano part as well.
 
 

SongCraft
And also, what I do is separate the bass (piano) to a separate track -- this allows me greater control in the mix and to give the bottom end more clarity and punch. Works wonders for typical compositions that have bass, drums, guitars (L/R), piano.

 
I'll definitely give this a try, if not on this piece, others for sure.
 

SongCraft
From what I've heard so far, your compositions and performances are excellent.

Thanks for the encouragement!

 
 

 vocal 

Thanks! Part of my problem may be a muddy room :) I don't have the best mixing environment.

 If you're serious about mixing and you (like everyone else) don't have an ideal mixing environment, then consider looking into ARC 2 software.  It calibrates your room and speakers and helps to remove the room from your mixes.  It has done wonders for numerous people on this forum.

I took a shot from the hip.
 
http://stabilitynetwork.blob.core.windows.net/g-tunes/20150411_ForumExample2.mp3
 
I tried a video showing the things I was trying...
 
http://youtu.be/Ki_s3X6LYyA
  
I hope this isn't inappropriate. I'd be glad to kill the links if it bugs you.
 
 
 

gswitz
I took a shot from the hip.
 

I think it's a big improvement, it's definitely closer to the sound I'd like to hear.
 
And thanks for the video (and your time), that gives me plenty to mess around with. And no, the links don't bother me at all!

Panning helped. Piano, guitar and bass sounds much clearer. Interesting when the mix is dramatically cleared up, you can hear all the performances much better.
 
The organ on the left doesn't contribute much to the mix.
 
EQ: a little too much mid and low end cut out of the mix - example, the snare now sounds a bit thin, the overall mix has lost a bit of warmth. Be careful not to carve out too much (EQ)! 
 
Overall Instrumentation-arrangement requires more interesting changes however, vocals could be all that's needed. And highlights for example, strings and piano bass.
 
When taking the piano bass out. I usually play single or two notes (octave apart) on a separate track (for more control) to reinforce the bottom end (panned dead center). I usually add the piano bass to i.e. Chorus, to give certain parts of the arrangements a nice dramatic lift (piano bass 'grunt')... Blend the piano bass in - start with zero level and raise the vol up (piano bass) till you get that nice bottom end growl.
 
 
 
 

It surprised me that I liked the clean punch of the song without the organ.
 
However, I also liked it when I switched from a rock B3 to more of a Farfisa kind of sound.
 
It is primarily intended for background (goes pretty well with snowboarding/skateboarding videos). But I still may go back in and add some subtle variations here and there.
 
Thanks again for all the help...gswitz I PM'd you about the file.

TerryC
Specifically, throughout the bridge section and the A chord on the verse section should not be 16th notes. If a bass player played 16th notes on my gig I would not let him put his rig back on the bus.

Good point. I was just hellbent on using some of the new content, so the bass part is from the Brian Hardgroove Bass Library distributed with Braintree. I should go back and take out every 2nd and 3rd note. :)
 

Wow to that many posts.
 
Like the song. Can I here some Hey!?