Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
Thanks! it seems alot fuller, It still needs alot of work but I think I may have laid a decent foundation! Anyone got any words for improvement?
Where does a mix become "BIG"? Mixing or Mastering?
- Thread starter Antenna
- Start date
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santucci218
Hello
its getting there. Like somebody said, you want to add reverbs. Even very subtle delays. Listen to devin townsend and you will get a feel for how he mixes things to be so huge. I can get a huge guitar sound. It is about...lets see. Left and Right, a separate take for each, panned Left 80% and Right 80%. Left and right reverb, panned 100% left and 100% right. Left and Right delay panned 100% and 100%. So thats 6 tracks just there. Then within those, i EQ. EQ the delay to be more midrangey so that it doesnt muddy up the bottom end too much and leaves room for bass. Same with the verb for a more airy sound. All these effects I do are 100% wet. No sense in blending signal.
I feel like when you do seperate tracks for each effect, and then fit them in using a digital slider for the volume, you get a much more organized sound than if you have a left and right track with effects on them. Do this...
Take your left and right tracks and break them down. Take off all their effects. Than duplicate them both twice. Pan your distorted tone to 80% left and right. Then on one duplicate of each add just reverb. You dont even have to have distortion, so long as its the same duplicated track used. Just reverb the clean guitar tone. (assuming that you are recording with a VST or something). Then pan those reverbs 100% left and right. And same with the delay.
Im sure thats confusing, and you may not be recording with a vst, but hopefully you can find your own way of doing things that will get your sound.
I feel like when you do seperate tracks for each effect, and then fit them in using a digital slider for the volume, you get a much more organized sound than if you have a left and right track with effects on them. Do this...
Take your left and right tracks and break them down. Take off all their effects. Than duplicate them both twice. Pan your distorted tone to 80% left and right. Then on one duplicate of each add just reverb. You dont even have to have distortion, so long as its the same duplicated track used. Just reverb the clean guitar tone. (assuming that you are recording with a VST or something). Then pan those reverbs 100% left and right. And same with the delay.
Im sure thats confusing, and you may not be recording with a vst, but hopefully you can find your own way of doing things that will get your sound.
santucci218
Hello
ooh! another cool trick is to put a clean guitar track in the center at a low volume. adds a nice element sometimes, so try experimenting with that.
Splees
splees
in the mix. a lot of it has to do with the content too. the stereo spreads are cool but I wouldn't rely of them entirely.
Typically the lows are in the center and highs are on the outside. try bring the drums in a little bit. all of it. toms, hats, OHs, rooms. Try the OHs at around 70%. give the guitars some room. Now with those room mics (if you have them) make them 85-90%.
try monitoring at lower volumes if you aren't already. bring down your control room level to almost a whisper. now play with your levels (guitars, drums, bass, vocals, everything really) you want to hear them all fairly distinctly. of course there are things you want to be a little lower in the mix but this will give you a good staring point. now bring the crl back up to your normal level.
also peep dis http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/2143908-post29.html it's not very heavy but it's still tight shit to check out. I think you may be more interested in the last clip.
as for the reverb on the mix, use a tiny bit. this will definitely give it some sense space, but it will also smear your mix in the process. plates are usually pretty good on most things.
Typically the lows are in the center and highs are on the outside. try bring the drums in a little bit. all of it. toms, hats, OHs, rooms. Try the OHs at around 70%. give the guitars some room. Now with those room mics (if you have them) make them 85-90%.
try monitoring at lower volumes if you aren't already. bring down your control room level to almost a whisper. now play with your levels (guitars, drums, bass, vocals, everything really) you want to hear them all fairly distinctly. of course there are things you want to be a little lower in the mix but this will give you a good staring point. now bring the crl back up to your normal level.
also peep dis http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/2143908-post29.html it's not very heavy but it's still tight shit to check out. I think you may be more interested in the last clip.
as for the reverb on the mix, use a tiny bit. this will definitely give it some sense space, but it will also smear your mix in the process. plates are usually pretty good on most things.
Clocks
Well-Known Member
This has some awesome stuff on getting a mix ready for mastering and is very very useful to read.
http://www.massivemastering.com/index_assets/MASTERING_-_Getting_the_Most_out_of_Your_Mix.pdf
http://www.massivemastering.com/index_assets/MASTERING_-_Getting_the_Most_out_of_Your_Mix.pdf
Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
God damn dudes I think this is turning into one of the most useful threads I've seen in the recording forum so far! Thanks everyone whose posted advice all of this is relevant and critical for any engineer at any level of competence! I'll post up an update when I have a chance to work on the Massiveness again!
Splees
splees
it's good to see threads like this instead of a "PEEP MY NEW MIX TEST DAWG(axe-fx, rg2888, ssd, snozzwanger content inside)" thread.
they should have an new sub forum to share mixes instead of in here.
they should have an new sub forum to share mixes instead of in here.
GinoBambino54
Well-Known Member
Mr. Antenna, what are you using for your guitars? they sound great!
Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
Haha! I do love a good "Rate My Mix" Thread, just because it lets you know when you suck balls at mixing lol! On the other hand it is nice to start a thread that helps everyone add a new tool to their "mixing tool box".
I'm using the TSE X30 plugin with a TS and an Engl Pro 412 Impulse.
It's kind of a WIP guitar tone, I'm still trying to get a good clean djenty guitar tone that doesn't eat up my mix..... And my mixes as of recent are WIP as well, and I am quite discouraged so thanks for the pickup on atleast the guitars sounding good!
GinoBambino54
Well-Known Member
yea dude, its sounding on the right track!
GinoBambino54
Well-Known Member
what kind of setting are you running on the amp? i just picked up the vst today, still tweaking but starting points would be rad
Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
Pretty much everything is right around 12 o'clock except the lo mid its at 2 o'clock and I backed off the treble a bit. It's just under 11 o'clock. I have contour on and Hi gain on but my Gain knob is rolled back to about 7 o'clock. The TS I'm using is just being used as a booster/tone shaper the gain is rolled all the way back. Hope that helps!
sol niger 333
I like stuff
The stereo widened version of the song sounds HEAPS better dude. Keep tweaking you are making progress. You are waaay ahead of me thats for sure. I dont even know how to master I just chuck an EQ and a limiter on the output channel and hit bounce!! Would love to have my shit sounding as big as yours 
Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
Thanks a milly dude! Mastering is hard but its worse because no matter how much you dig you really don't find out much about it unless you finally talk to a mastering engineer. I've just picked up bits and pieces and added them to my "toolbox" lol. It's amazing how much you can find on mixing anywhere but mastering has to be this enigma that some people may know but they're not telling! Although personally I think that in order to get an awesome sound it comes from tracking and mixing anyways, my mastering only utilizes Compression, slight EQ, Multiband Compression, and Limiting.... and of course now Stereo Enhancement but nothing that super duper makes my sound polished. On the other hand I could be doing it all wrong lol!
Scar Symmetry
Ex Whiny Bitch
I'm finding recently, the mixes I tend to gravitate towards as a point of reference for what I want mine to sound like (Katatonia's latest album being one) tend to have huge bass.
I really am ashamed to say that I did at one point in my life think that bass didn't matter.
[/knucklehead guitarist]
Antenna
Oh God Damnit!
Been There! But lets not tell the bassists that!
