My first X2 mix --- cover of Mustang Sally

Danny Danzi

Well since you're asking for mix and master advice...who better than your favorite person on this forum to add some input? LOL!

To be honest, the mix itself level wise is great. I'd not touch a thing. It's clean, clear and everything is audible at all times. The only slightly negative comment I can give you is...it sounds a tad too high passed to me. Like...sort of AM radio sounding with how the low end is curbed. Ok wait, AM radio might be a bit too extreme....I honestly don't mean that in a mean way....I'm trying to think how else I can explain it. Like...it doesn't have the low end impact it needs in my opinion. It kinda sounds like an eq curve you would hear (low end wise only) in the 1950's. You know how they were a bit conservative in the lows back then due to fidelity reasons? That's what I mean.

Bass guitar is good...it's the lack of kick drum/over-all drums and thinning of the drums/cyms that makes it a little small...if that makes sense? Like...I put it on a scope for you. Your bass is right where it needs to be, but your kick drum seems to be putting out more high end "click" energy than it should be. Like, the highest peak I see in this is 95 Hz in the low end. For some power in the low end, 50-75 Hz for your kick drum depending on where you want it to thrust...bass can be 60-90 depending on what you want the bass to be.

For example, you have a nice balanced bass in this that has more "oom" than high end clack. So if I'm you in this situation, I'm going to leave the bass...maybe add a little more 80 Hz depending on what my kick drum outcome may be, and grab a kick drum to thrust at about 60 or so...maybe 55 Hz...depending on if you want a little low end kick thrust. Tighter Q so it doesn't boom out on you. You just want a little sub harmonic boom to it...the clickiness you have there in it sounds like it's hitting at about 4.5 k to me...which I like. I just think you need a little more low end oomph to the mix and maybe not high pass as much if you are.

The other instruments sound a bit tight on high passing as well, but again, if the kick and drums were a little thicker with some meat, you may not need to touch them. It's amazing how a drum kit and a bass can alter the entire sound of the mix on the whole. Once you get the drums and the bass forming a team, then you can make the decision as to whether or not the other instruments need a little more low end.

But from what I hear, it just needs a little less high passing over-all. This can come from cans that may throw out a little too much bass, so it makes you a little more conservative with allowing low end to be present. That said, it's a great mix really...add a little more oomph to it and it will be perfect. Clean as a bell though Bub...which is always a plus in my opinion. Nice job, hope this was the type of feedback you were looking for.

-Danny

RusLow end is very hard to tame even if you're experienced (ie: Danny is, I am not), but the most important thing when mixing is balance.

tbosco


Hey Bub!  That's always a fun tune to play.  I pretty much agree with everything Danny and the others said here about the low end of drums and bass, and the bit about drums being weak in the mix.  Mixing in Headphones has never worked for me...

So you have a mono drum track to work with if I read that correctly?  I think there are a couple of "stereoizer" plugins out there, and I am in need of one myself as a matter of fact.  I think they work on frequency/spectrum analysis and somehow spread the highs toward the sides.  Another trick I have been thinking about for this dilemma is to copy the track twice, and with some serious EQing of each end up with a pseudo "kick" track, a "snare" track, and a "hi hat" track, each panned appropriately.

As far as "fixing" your original drum track, I'm wondering if a good 3 or 4-band compressor might be able to boost the output of just a select band of frequency, such as the kick, and then the level of the whole drum track could be raised in your mix.  And hey... if none of this works, you could always just "play" another kick drum part in on the fly!!  Layers are great!

Depending on the frequencies of your bass guitar and your kick drum, you can sometimes get great separation of the two by boosting a tad in the kick (90k for example), and CUT that frequency in the bass guitar.  Boost a bass guitar frequency (say 140k) a tad, and CUT that same frequency in the kick.  Then do something similar in the higher frequency attack portion of those 2 instruments so you can define the beater and the string attack sound.  The ProChannel in X1/X2 is waaaaay too much fun for doing this!  LOL

Unfortunately, I am not in my studio as I listen to your  song...on a laptop... and the whole mix sounds a bit mono to me except for the backup singers and oddly, sometimes the bass, are wide.  Could be my imagination... been a long day.  LOL  If this is the case, you may want to think about panning a little differently.  Rhythm guitars sound AWESOME when copied to another track, delay the copied track by 10-40 ms or so, and each track panned hard left and the other hard right.  (known as the Haas Effect.)  It makes them big and wide.  Add a different EQ or saturation to one of them... experiment and have fun with it!

Do pay attention to what Danny said about the whole mix being a liitle on the High-pass (bright) side.  An EQ adjustment will tame this I think.

A fine first cut Bub! I hope you don't think I've been too critical... after all, it's only my opinion...and we all know about opinions....LOL

I can't wait to hear the 2nd cut!!

Rus W

Danny Danzi

Rus
Low end is very hard to tame even if you're experienced (ie: Danny is, I am not), but the most important thing when mixing is balance.

So true....and actually, I struggle with it too sometimes. The hardest thing for me has been...when to boost the low end in frequency and when to just turn up the instrument instead. Like...you got a good kick drum happening that you want to hear more of. When you turn it up a little more...it sounds good. Yet if you back it down to where it was and then slightly boost the low end that's accentuating it...it sounds good there too. So it's more a decision making process for me more than having a problem taming it. The best method of handling it in my opinion Rus, is to not have it there in excess to begin with.

Like one thing that I've noticed from doing this stuff all the time is...you sort of know when something is a good sound "for the mix" before you even print it where years ago, I printed sounds that were more "for my head" because I liked them. 8 times out of 10, I failed doing stuff like that. It's like you have to find this happy medium that doesn't sound too good because if it does, it usually needs some intense tweaking, ya know what I mean?

One of the hardest things for me used to be guitar tones. Like most guitar players, I liked the way low end made the tone sound bigger and thicker while missing the mask of low end woooooooooossss it literally put into the mix. Or thinking "a bass guitar is a low end instrument...it should have a lot more lows in it" were some of the things I used to think. The reality there is, sometimes the kick drum may be the lowest sounding instrument to which you *could* then, allow the bass to have a little more clack or be a bit brighter. Or you may decide you want a kick with a bit more beater attack in it...so here is a good chance to let the bass rattle a little lower and be the low man on the poll.

The good thing about how I do things now is....the only struggling I do is making up my mind, which I welcome with open arms as opposed to second guessing or wondering how to tame or control the bass as well as where to look for the offending frequencies. The right monitor rig has definitely helped me in that area though. Unlike Bub, when I used to mix more on headphones, what I used at the time seemed to always need more lows. So I'd add them....and then the car test would be like this wall of "whooomf" and mud. So even during those times, I'd be happy with a mix like his and would rather be a little bass light than bass heavy and loaded with mud like I was getting. That loaded with mud sound after you've worked on a mix for hours and hours is the most depressing thing I tell ya. I so don't miss those days.

-Danny

The mixing on headphones (small monitors or earbuds) I'm not one to mix with them either, but they are useful too point out the low end problem, but they'll definitely clue you in on mids and highs. With the issue of just turning it down, in this case, it appears to be that way then more frequency tinkering, but always be aware of both options. Making up one mind as a result is frustrated, but I think we all agree that, leaving the project and coming back with fresh ears even if something seems obvious, will point out the problem. Nothing like being to close to a mix even if it is mixed well.

Test the mix in different environments; however, do mix it well (not perfect) in the source environment because if it's not right there, it won't be anywhere else.