"Vermalla" - experienced ears please comment

I'm having trouble getting the correct EQ on this song. Please listen to both versions and tell me which one is the better direction to go.

TIA

Vermalla 1
Vermalla 2

I liked the 2nd one better...but I agree with bubblefish...want kind of eq'ing have you done on the guitars? There is definately some muddiness here...I like the song though...upbeat...I liked the "wo oh oh" vocals.

the second one is better .. but you should probably get this
mixed by an engineer .. there's quite a bit more that needs to
be done to get it sorted out in addition to EQ ( like levels,
instrument placement, some compressor punch .. and the ambience
needs to get re-worked).

jeff

Thank you everyone for your comments. All of the tracks are recorded "dry"; the guitars and bass are DI, the vocals are through mkII pre-amps, the drums are through mackie 1202vlz preamps and channel EQ- so there is a lot of room for adjustments. I guess the biggest problem is my lack of studio monitors and experience.

Apart from the muddiness (which I will not be able to hear until I get some monitors!), I think the drums are too raw. The drummer is quite good but does not have any studio experience. There seems to be a lot of inconsistiency in the attack and volume of the snare and kick. Plus the drums seem too close to the front. I've played with pantheon verbs on the drums but I haven't found anything that I could set at a high enough volume to move them back without making the drums sound like they are being played in a tunnel.

Right now we are tracking 8 songs, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to get them into a presentable mixdown with my experience level. Would anyone be interested in mixing this down ($$) and perhaps suggesting changes in the tracking process to make it easier for the rest of the songs?

The crappy gear that I have available:

2 SM57s
3 Samson R11s
MOTU mkII 828
Behringer ADA-8000
Peavey guitar stack (sounds like crap IMO)
G-K bass stack
Mackie 1202vlz

ORIGINAL: mlockett

Ditto bubblefish's comment on the freq. The guitars are going to be hard to clean up; they sound pretty muddy. You might re-track with a little less gain on the rhythm guitar; also run a high pass filter over guitar, maybe somewhere around 200hz would be a good starting point.

On the other hand, the song itself is cool, and catchy. I'd say this song is easily worth the effort to clean up. A little polish and it will be really nice.

Thanks! I will try a HPF. I have a question though: Do you think I should EQ it pre or post the distortion?

Chaz Smithhissler of Haven Music Productions (havenmp.com) is your guy.. if anybody can sort your tracks out .. it's him.
jeff

yep I,ve heard some of his work and can second that emotion. look him up and see what terms you can arrange.

all the best kieran

edit: follow the link to chaz here

ORIGINAL: Kicker

ORIGINAL: mlockett

Ditto bubblefish's comment on the freq. The guitars are going to be hard to clean up; they sound pretty muddy. You might re-track with a little less gain on the rhythm guitar; also run a high pass filter over guitar, maybe somewhere around 200hz would be a good starting point.

On the other hand, the song itself is cool, and catchy. I'd say this song is easily worth the effort to clean up. A little polish and it will be really nice.

Thanks! I will try a HPF. I have a question though: Do you think I should EQ it pre or post the distortion?

Especially, since you're recording DI, you'll almost definitely want to EQ after the distortion.

Fester,

I can put it up on an ftp server. Send me an email so I can give you the login info.

My email address is kicker3082<at>hotmail<dot>com.

ORIGINAL: jmarkham

Would anyone be interested in mixing this down ($$) and perhaps suggesting changes in the tracking process to make it easier for the rest of the songs?

Chaz Smithhisler of Haven Music Productions (havenmp.com) is your guy.. if anybody can sort your tracks out .. it's him.
jeff

Thanks, Jeff..... and Kieran... for the plug.