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BoneDigger 11-27-2016 01:19 PM

Mix help!
 
I'd like some constructive comments on this mix. It's a bit long. My wife says she feels it's a bit too "busy" and I am kind of conflicted about it. Any comments would be appreciated.

This was recorded as individual layered tracks with me playing all of the instruments. Drums are EZ drummer. Recorded with Mixcraft 7 Pro and a Focusrite Scarlett 18i8. Final production in Ozone 7 using only a slight compression. I did EQ the vocals and overall mix a bit.

One caveat, I'm a complete amateur, in playing/singing/songwriting and in recording/mixing/producing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63...ew?usp=sharing

Todd

buzzardwhiskey 11-27-2016 04:07 PM

Dang! That sounds really good to me. Well done.

KevWind 11-27-2016 04:44 PM

First : what things do think you would like to see an improvement on ?
Second: can you post a screen shot of your mixer window


Things to consider:
The more tracks you have the more you might want to consider EQ (mostly subtractive possibly with some additive ) and compression directly on each individual track , before you do any global Comp , EQ or mastering

Constructive critique---- over all it seems like you have a good start . It maybe a bit heavy in the mids and upper mid frequencies and thus some distinctive detail from the different instruments is being lost and also I had a hard time hearing any drums. Granted I was listening with my earbuds plugged into my laptop. But all these issues can be addressed with EQ and perhaps compression on the tracks themselves

sdelsolray 11-27-2016 04:47 PM

All I hear in the recording is an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a vocal. I cannot hear any other tracks (e.g., drums, bass).

As to what's already there, you might consider ducking the acoustic guitar during the electric lead and during the vocals and bringing up the electric when the vocal phrase is over and is absent for a measure or two.

KevWind 11-27-2016 05:54 PM

Ah again with the lack drums, so with that in mind....

Are you outputting the EZ Drums to individual tracks for each instrument or just a single stereo track in Mixcraft ?
With midi it is almost always more advantageous to output the drums to individual tracks for individual processing.

Here is an example of session with the drums coming into Pro tools on individual tracks with EQing and compression on each track. While this obviously a completely different type of production (with the production aesthetic to feature the vocal forward with bass and kick anchoring the center yet just behind the vocal and the rest of the kit slightly off of dead center as per audience perspective. With the rhythm acoustic guitar sitting further back in the mix and the electric guitar & FX, floating around in between) Also note as sdelsolray suggests the electric git and FX not conflicting with the vocal . And while certainly not there yet as a pro level mix, still it gives an idea about the possibilities and individual track processing before global


BoneDigger 11-27-2016 06:46 PM

Thanks everyone! I think my first issue here, from what folks are saying, is in the mix. I need to back off on the noodling in the background, bring the drums a little more forward, and maybe touch up the bass a bit. I might need to back off on the rhythm acoustic and bring the vocals out a bit too.

The drum track is a single track in the mix. I'll take a look at the video posted by Kev and see how that works.

As for EQing each track, would you bring the mids and highs down a bit? I did EQ the vocals some based on an earlier video from a previous post, looking for that boxy spike at around 800.

Do the vocals come across okay?

KevWind 11-27-2016 09:04 PM

I am not sure what video on multi output you are talking about but this link might help for multi track out for EZ drummer in Mixcraft

The video about using the parametric EQ I posted in another thread still holds true particularly the part where he shows the narrow Q boost sweep to find the boxy honky stuff. BUT note it will not alway be 800 usually depending on the particular voice or guitar the worst sounding frequency will fall somewhere in the range of 400 to 800 (again I would do less gain reduction then the 14 or so db., he was showing) but the basic theory is sound.

BUT first you should bring down the lows everything below from somewhere about 50 to 100 hz on all the tracks as a start point.
Then the other thing to think about is the technique of eq to help in making instruments more distinct by carving out (or make room) for the instruments to feature in slightly different frequency ranges from each other .
Start with cutting first often you hear an good improvement in clarity with just cutting the lows

Then :

For example lets say you find 450 hz to be very boxy on your acoustic and then hopefully it will be slightly different for the electric say 550 then you can do a fairly narrow 3 -8 db reduction centered at 450 on the acoustic and one at 550 for the electric.

If they happen to have the same boxy frequency say it seems to be the worst at 500 hz for both, you can try cutting one at 450 and one 550 with a bit wider Q or you cut both at 500

Then you can think about doing a slight 2-4 db boost with a little bit wider Q and do one centered at 300 or 400 and the other one at 500 or 600

Again all these frequency numbers are just examples of general start points and theory, ultimately it is matter of careful listening and let what you are hearing steer you towards the actual cut and boost frequency and amount choices

But when it comes to mixing multi track, the biggest mistake we all make in the beginning is thinking we have to have all the music information ( all frequencies) from all the instruments and then we often try to start EQing from there. Where what we really need to do is get rid of buildup clutter (particularly in the lows) then probably also in the mid's and then start thinking about carving out different spaces for different instruments and voice and then after all that (baking of the cake) then think about possibly boosting EQ slightly for the last bit of icing of separation.

Once you have done all and you have the rhythm section sounding good, then you can focus on the vocal, and how to mix the leads and noodling to help and not fight each other.

BoneDigger 11-28-2016 03:19 PM

A revised version. Any better?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63...w?usp=drivesdk

KevWind 11-29-2016 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoneDigger (Post 5140891)

Much better. I can hear the kick now but (on laptop earbuds) I still can't tell if you have a bass part.

Again can you post a screen shot of you mixer window ?

upsidedown 11-29-2016 11:09 AM

2nd mix is better.

My 2 cents; it's excruciatingly brittle or high end. Especially the vocals.

BoneDigger 11-29-2016 07:01 PM

I agree about the high end. I'm going to rerecord the vocals so I can isolate them from the strumming.

Kev, thanks again! Yes, there is bass, but I suck at bass so I'm hesitant to bring it out too far. I'll be making a few more tweaks, including new vocals, then I'll take a screen capture.

upsidedown 11-30-2016 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoneDigger (Post 5142337)
Yes, there is bass, but I suck at bass so I'm hesitant to bring it out too far.

I do too, so I know where you're coming from. But for the sake of the experiment, and learning to mix, you should emphasize the bass as if Junior Huskey was playing it. The mix is the thing.

muscmp 11-30-2016 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upsidedown (Post 5143148)
I do too, so I know where you're coming from. But for the sake of the experiment, and learning to mix, you should emphasize the bass as if Junior Huskey was playing it. The mix is the thing.

wow, what a nearly forgotten but blast from the past player.

play music!

BoneDigger 11-30-2016 07:43 PM

Thanks guys! I hope to post up another version this weekend.

BoneDigger 12-04-2016 09:32 PM

Okay, I brought up the drums and bass a bit and tried to EQ the high end so it's not as shrill. I don't really want to re-record the song right at the moment, so there's not much I can do about the vocals being out of my range. I may re-record this at a later date.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think about the changes...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63...ew?usp=sharing

Todd


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