Socky42 Mixing Workshop Options

[Darius Wave]

Hey man! Wellcome to Your personal thread

I need some sound samples of what You're working on currently and I need to know Your recording gear set-up. Please post those below so I could know what we'll be working with

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[Socky42]

https://soundcloud.com/socky42/without-lead

Guitars - Axe FX II
Bass - Spectrasonics Trillian
Drums - Superior Drummer 2 and Steven Slate Drums 4
DAW - Logic Pro X

There is meant to be a lead part over the top of this. Just having a hard time making it fit; i'll record a bit of it later so you'll know what I mean.

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[Darius Wave]

Ok so You got pretty descent recording gear. Please export all tracks with exactly the same export range / locators and send me a pack of wav files. This will make our workshop much easier. It would be nice if I get raw tone of all track (no eq, no volume adjustment) I want to have same raw tracks as You see in Your Daw. This will make our work much easier in many cases. You can mixdown overdeads to stereo track.



P.S if it's possible send me full song. Some adjustments might not work for all the song parts. If I have everything I can verify if the drums (for example) sound well not only in such a dense playing

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[Socky42]

I didn't bounce out the whole song cause of the file size. But the song doesn't get any more busy than the staccato strings/guitar part. Some fades got left in accidently.

The lead guitars are just quick recordings, a bit sloppy; but I think you'll be able to judge the mix from them.

I think the biggest issue is i'm not using the 'right' guitar tones. Maybe the rhythm guitars are too trebley and bright compared to the lead parts?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/32870324/Stems.zip

Lemme know if the link doesn't work. I'll upload to somewhere else.

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[Darius Wave]

I'll put this all together within next few days and make a careful analysis. It's sound to simple to be true but it really is like in this good old saying "If somebody play a lot, You play less :: If Somebody play loud, try to play quiet :: If somebody play high, You play low". Of course those are too subjective words but can be found proper for mixing as well.


Very first tip (the one that will make You try to find best setting instead of just giving Your ready solution)

When I fit my guitar to the mix I usually work this way

1. Before messing with any kind of compression or EQ I always spend some time on testing different amp sims and cab impulses. Probably the cab impusle is more the key to success than the amp itself. Try to get as close as possible to the tone that fit's the mix naturally (without any tweaking).

2. It's not a rule and not a must but just a good tip to start:
Use 2 eq sections - 1 for setting the guitar tone alone and 2 for little adjustments in the mix
With section 1 You can add some obvious EQ like LPF and HPF to remove both - muddy bottom end (leaves space for bass drum and bass guitar), LPF - cut's harsh treble end (Warning! - some cab impulses might not necessary need any LPF, in fact metal guitar usually are less filtered in the high frequencies than the rock).

Now SECOND EQ is to make small boosts or cuts to fit instruments to each other.
I usually set up two points on this paramtric eq - low mids and high mids because rhythm guitars are focus in the low mids and solo guitars usually in the high mids. Good starting points are :

200-300 Hz
400-500 Hz
800 - 1000 Hz
1000 - 3000 Hz

Always ask Yourself a question - what range is essential for particular part of guitars? And try to cut it in different track before You mess to much with other eq

Example:

I like the tone of rhythm guitars and the solo guitar alone but the are not clear enough when I play both.
1. I don't want to destroy the tone of any of those
2. I detect essential frequencies for both guitar parts
3. I ask myself - which part makes which part covered
4. Let's say rhythm guitars are played in the key of A - root note A (5th string) is 220 Hz. If I feel that solo guitar covers the backing guitars too much, I'll try to cut 220 Hz a few dB (-1 to -5 dB) from SOLO GUITAR track.

Opposite situation - If I feel that backing guitars cover the solo too much, I'll see for it's essential frequencies in the higher mids and cut a few dB's of those in the backing guitars


Tip 2:
You can create group track in the DAW. Stereo group with Two EQ mentioned above. You can send there both - L and R backing guitar track so You will set up EQ for both at the same time instead of copying the eq each time You change something. Also you will hear in a real time how the mix changes because both L and R guitars will be affected by EQ changes immediately.

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This post has been edited by Darius Wave: Mar 19 2014, 10:10 AM

[Socky42]

Hey man,

https://soundcloud.com/socky42/test

Still gotta work on the strings, but the lead and rhythm guitars seem to fit a bit better. Been experimenting a bit with mid/side eq since its free with logic; cut the highs from the sides of the lead guitar and cut some highs of the rhythm guitar from the middle to stop them clashing so much. I'm not sure how m/s eq actually works, so I kept the cuts really small around 1-2db.

The string parts, I just deleted all the notes that weren't essential, so its just the top notes playing for most of it.

Drums are getting a bit lost in the mix, but I think I can make it work with enough time.

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This post has been edited by Socky42: Mar 28 2014, 01:31 AM

[Darius Wave]

Drums get's lost in many professional mixes and I think we deal with 2 kind of losses

1. Loss is loss - there is not enough drums, they're to quiet
2. Loss because of the mix density = boosted energy of the track. Sometimes when things are to clean, to sterile we loose the feel of power in the song because in the real life it's what actually happen - loss of details caused by the all band playing loud and dense. We perceive this as booost of power.

This means that it's no necessary a problem

I like the snare brightness. I'm only wondering about mastering compression...maybe there is one frequency (narrow but high boost) that makes compressor react an hide all the snare lower in the mix.


From my experience in case of matching instrument that play in the same range (guitars and strings are focused in the mids) best method is to mess with just a 1-3 dB boosts or cuts and the whole track volume

Because the strings affect guitars take a look at spectrum (You can You Voxengo Span) and see which part of frequency range get;s most boosted while both - strings and guitars are ON. it will be usually 600 Hz-1kHz range.

Speaking of You mix I would:

1. Cut 3 dB (maybe more it's not a hard rule) with wide Q and around 800 Hz center point.
2. Ask Yourself a question about is the presence of strings ok in the mix. I mean - too much of highs from strings cutting through the mix or not. If You feel that highs are ok and after adding cut on 800 Hz still a bit overlaying the guitars....then just go down around -1 to --2 dB on the Strings TRACL volume

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[Socky42]

https://soundcloud.com/socky42/test-1/s-kN0X8

Sorry to take so long to update you, been busy with exams. New parts are at 1:50.

Probably just my ears but, when the harmonized guitars come in for the second section do they sound weird to you? And after the second solo and before the key change does it cut off too soon? I've already maxed out the reverb and delay at the last note.

Any comments on the mix overall will be helpful too.

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[Darius Wave]

https://soundcloud.com/socky42/test-1/s-kN0X8

Sorry to take so long to update you, been busy with exams. New parts are at 1:50.

Probably just my ears but, when the harmonized guitars come in for the second section do they sound weird to you? And after the second solo and before the key change does it cut off too soon? I've already maxed out the reverb and delay at the last note.

Any comments on the mix overall will be helpful too.

Hey man! Sorry for the late response. I'm vgery busy lately and I had to pass some of feedback threads but I'm still looking here to respond...just with a bit of delay. Could You upload the file here in the post? Unfortunately somehow soundcloud doesn't work :/

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[Socky42]

Hey man! Sorry for the late response. I'm vgery busy lately and I had to pass some of feedback threads but I'm still looking here to respond...just with a bit of delay. Could You upload the file here in the post? Unfortunately somehow soundcloud doesn't work :/

No worries, I took a break from working on this track anyway, getting kinda sick of listening to it.

I'll update you when I start again; got some people working on a guest solo, so no point doing anything extra till I get all the parts.

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[Darius Wave]

Great man! Let me know about the response through PM to make sure i get it

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