Test Listening Rock Mix

Steinberg Lounge
#1

Hi

I would like to know how my latest Work sound in other Ears.
It’s a little local Band I produced.
This would be a long Story if i tell how i have recorded this.

In Mixdown:
-ART Pro Channel on lead Vocals for eq and compression
-Lexicon MX200 for vocal and drum reverb
-REverence for ambience and Guitar Room
-Selfmade Spring Reverb on lead guitar
-Yamaha CS1x Synth
…
Rest Cubase Onboard Plugins


The Stereo Mix is clean of Master-Compression or EQ, its just the “real” mix
Edit:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/526926/inbloom/Endmix_1/optical_Endmix1.mp3
(now with Bass)

Thx for Responses

P.S. Sorry i’ve made a mistake on the Mixdown of my first Mix (Bass)

#2

Not bad. The drums didn’t sound very good to me, way too much use of toms for my tastes, sounds almost tribal. The singer needs to hit the notes properly too, preferably without autotune. Some timing issues throughout as well, the band need to hit on the beat otherwise you’ll end up doing it in the mix :smiley: You could raise the volume a little too, sounds like there’s plenty of headroom.
Cheers
Phil

#3

My initial thought, If I heard this on my local radio as a demo of a local band: I’d probably make an effort to see them.

Yes, the drums are a bit distant - apart from the “tribal” bit: but hey: nothing wrong with a bit tom-tom IMHO.

Yes, the vocals get a bit lost in the mix every now and again - personally I can’t hear pitch correction, but there is occasional “vagueness”. [1:16 for example]

Bass?

Minor quibles: the “ghost” echo of the vocal at the very start, I had to get a pair of closed back headphones before I could workout what it was - a wee bit distracting. Also the singer’s accent changes a wee bit throughout the course of the song: “optical illusion” - but that really is nit-picking.

Oh, and just listened again, the final fade is just a wee bittie abrupt.

But hey: what do I know‽

R.

#4

Couldn’t hear the bass over here. But otherwise seems you worked well with what you got; I don’t think there’s much to get from the song, the arrangement, or the performance, to be honest.

#5

Thx Guys

I ve noticed the lack of bass myself, it was a mistake during mixdown. Sorry that i have wasted your time.

I edited my first post with the right link to the right mix.

#6

This is a very friendly mix,rock productions recorded in big studio’s will always sound bigger, I am not going to compare it with that.
I think a lot of the dynamics could be improved by the musicians, not by the mixer/engineer.

The vocalist is singing a bit ‘dry’ a bit top neat for my tast, especially on the break where she sounds solo. That piece could be spit out some more.

I say,to the mixer: job well done!

Greetz Dylan.

#7

Thank you Dylan

Do you think i should use a little more reverb on the Vocals?
My goal was to mix it to mix her as dry as i can.

Maybe i need to push her voice more with effects.

#8

O, what I meant with dry is the way it’s sung, not how it’s mixed. The use of reverb here is a matter of taste not quality, and I actually like the in your face dryness.

I listened again because of your question and then I realized that the whole mix is quit centered, The voice is on top of the guitars and the drums. How many guitars are there in the piece?
Maybe pan them hard left and right to create space for the vocals because they share some frequenties. The drums sit well and they will always get through because of the transients.

Making the stereofiled wider will also result in a ‘bigger’ mix offcourse.

You could also run all guitars through a groupbus and install a stereo delay.
Set feedback to 0, pan channels hard left and right full wet.
Left channel at 0.1 and right channel between 0.15 and 0.30
This way you open up the centre and the vocals can be heard better without getting to much on top.

If you want even more space then also put a HP filter on that same guitar bus and remove all the low frequenties so the basguitar can pump through. Dial in the settings while you listen to the complete mix.

Greetz Dylan.

If you do this be shure to check the guitars on a mono output, cause you could cancel a lot this way.