Marcello

14 minutes ago, Supa Reels said:

Just to say mixing is really much harder than people think, for me I have mixed and mastered songs in the past that I cringe when I hear them now ... meaning I meant no disrespect for the work you have done ?

I, like yourself, watch and read a lot of stuff on the procedures of a good mix and have done for many years ... and still the experience of the guys here put me right when they hear somethings out of kilter so to speak .. anyway hope we're good .. I leave you with this gem from YT

 

Thanks, I appreciate your tips, just not sure you are confident with this genre.

Consider I have used amp sims, so the guitars are already compressed when you apply distortion from the amp sims, if you also put a compressor on them as this guy says, they will be squashed I guess and loose their original tone.

I already put a compressor on the mix bus.

I used this track as a reference, you can compare it, if you can spot a difference with my track let me know.

https://toucheamore.bandcamp.com/track/-

8 hours ago, Kevin Walsh said:

I'm responding because you quoted my post.

He's suggesting (or someone suggested somewhere) that your guitars sound somewhat isolated and that ambient reverb can help. Adding a reverb to a single track will have the reverb being panned along with your signal. To fix that, don't use a track-based reverb plug in, use a bus-based plug in that will spread the reverb across the sound scape regardless of where you have the individual instruments panned.

To that, create a new stereo bus, name it reverb. Then add a reverb plugin (or use the pro-channel Re-Matrix Solo plugin) and set the mix to 100%. Then go to your guitar track and go to the Sends box and add a send, then select the reverb bus. You can adjust how much of your guitar signal to send.

This has the advantage of being a stereo reverb and you can eq the reverb signal without monkeying with your guitar tone, and it creates a nice fill of sound to your track. Adjust the reverb bus slider or the individual sends to control the level of reverb. 

You can also do sends for multiple or even all your guitars to that one reverb bus, or even (like I do) send drums, guitars and vocals to the reverb bus to get everything to sound like the instruments are all in the same room. I do the same thing with delays and vocals. 

ok thanks for the advice, but on all tutorials I've seen they don't recommend to use reverb on guitars especially distorted ones, when they are played with other instruments together, because it results in the mix being muddy. Everyone is recommending to not use reverb on guitars but rather delay, to prevent muddyness.

Again the separation is probably due to the guitars being panned 100% L/R, so they sound separated, but at the same time this is to make the whole mix wider in terms of stereo image, everyone on tutorials I've seen recommends to pan guitars 100%L/R and not to use any reverb.

There might be different schools of thought.

It might also be that in the middle there's only bass and drums and the guitars are mosto of the times panned 100%, but maybe when I'll record the voice should be ok

12 hours ago, Kevin Walsh said:

I'm no professional, but I think the mix sounds pretty good. You've done a really nice job here. Look forward to a cut with the vocals in it.

You are also saying I'm using reverb on the panned guitars? Strange cause I did not!

I just used some delay on one of the guitars on the right side during the octave riff, and reverb only on the central guitar solo during the quiet part of the song

30 minutes ago, Supa Reels said:

Hi,

Are you pushing everything through the same output channel ie no separate bus's? To my old ears there is little differential between guitar and drums when it comes to reverb .. this gives an overall output similar to an overly compressed sound. You have separated ( by choice I assume  ) some of the guitar solos which does seem a bit harsh so maybe pull them closer to the middle field ?.

The skins are great but I feel could do with a little more compression on their own bus before the LR Mix ( Main O/P )this way you could adjust to lead the overall mix.

As said the reverb is IMO a little too wet .. but who knows when you add vocal ... great project

 

Thanks for the comment.

Hang on I don't get it, of course I pushed each track into their own bus, GUITAR bus, DRUMS bus, BASS bus, then all of these go to the master bus.

I don't get this reverb thing you are claiming, I didn't put any reverb at all on the guitars or bass, only on the drums bus, and I put only reverb on the central solo guitar  in the quiet part of the song to give some depth., are you referring specifically to the reverb in that section of the song? is it too wet?

And then, how panning a guitar in the middle fileld should make it sound less harsh? not clear.

I only compressed the drums (parallel compression) , the bass, and a little bit on the master bus to give it some glue (-2 gain reduction)

Should I just reduce the reverb level on that guitar part and on the drums bus?

Maybe I could automate the panning and leve the lone guitar in the middle and pan it back 100% when the other instruments come in?

I just used delay occasionally in the panned guitars when needed.

Thanks glad to hear that.

I did not use any reverb on the panned guitars, just occasionally on the central guitar.

I think you hear it kind of separately when isolated because they are panned 100% left/right, that's why, but that's the general rule to make a  wide mix.

Actually I panned them 95% L/R to leave a tiny bit of glue.

All that I have used is: A laptop, a DAW, an interface, amp sims, MIDI drums software.

Hi there! I need a feedback from some experienced mixing engineer about my DIY home mix here, possibly into rock/metal/punk stuff (still missing the vocals but interested into the instrumental part)

I'd like to know if any of the following is ok or needs improvement: volume balance, performance, compression, EQ, dynamic, loudness for a mix (I kept it around -6db)

PS: the drums are programmed.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q13gbotrcH3jCGcTEEdmWW9qMYk7eXQS/view?usp=sharing

On 5/4/2024 at 4:44 PM, mark skinner said:

Great production !  I'm not a drummer but really appreciate really hard hitting almost frantic drumming like on this. 

Always enjoy watching drummers doing stuff like this and the way they work themselves into an almoast trans like state. I thought the programming was very impressive as was the bass and  guitars. Loved the tone on the bass. 

curious what drum instrument you used on this ?   

Enjoyed it ..  mark

I used Native Instrument Studio Drummer

Suggestion from an experienced drummer needed (rock/metal/punk) I recorded and mixed this track with midi programmed drums, can you kindly take a listen and tell me if they sound realistic enough or is there some artifact or things that doesn’t sound good? Could be timing, velocity, execution issues…
Ps: Im not a drummer 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZc3sAl0H351uL2bSaRWTj7u6oCd2nwr/view?usp=drivesdk

I see, 1 DB difference is a lot though.

Hi there, I always use the cakewalk meter on each track to see if peaking and track is running too hot.

I usually try to maintain each track around -6 db or maximum -4db.

I noticed that if I use the youlean loudness meter 2 plugin on the same track and I compare the highest peak with the cakewalk embedded meter, there is a difference of 1db or so.

I believe I should maybe rely on the Youlean meter for more precise measurement?

What do you reckon?

Hi there, I always use the cakewalk meter on each track to see if peaking and track is running too hot.

I usually try to maintain each track around -6 db or maximum -4db.

I noticed that if I use the youlean loudness meter 2 plugin on the same track and I compare the highest peak with the cakewalk embedded meter, there is a difference of 1db or so.

I believe I should maybe rely on the Youlean meter for more precise measurement?

What do you reckon?

5 hours ago, Wookiee said:

@Marcello Here is the message from your Google Drive

Unable to play back as it requires access permissions 

You need access

Request access, or switch to an account with access.

Here’s also the song played live during rehearsals, I basically tried to copy exactly what the drummer was doing and reprogrammed it. Indeed he plays a lot of cymbals, do you think is still too much cymbals even here?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1faRpHgbcZqiXm4tKhaBAL0xkrAQu-rBP/view?usp=drivesdk

5 hours ago, Wookiee said:

@Marcello Here is the message from your Google Drive

Unable to play back as it requires access permissions 

You need access

Request access, or switch to an account with access.

Should be accessible now

3 hours ago, Wookiee said:

To these furry ears, the overall kit balance if off, to much overheads.  Did you program the drums? If so did you make use of velocity to control dynamics?

A question though, is this a tune with just a drummer and bass guitar? Even so the drums are a little to busy.

No I have to record the guitars on it.

I did put different velocities on the cymbals but a little bit, not too much.

anyway here’s the original song played live during rehearsal, I basically tried to imitate everything the drummer was doing.

what do you think? Is it in line with my track? Indeed he uses a lots of cymbals.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1faRpHgbcZqiXm4tKhaBAL0xkrAQu-rBP/view?usp=drivesdk

1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Sounds pretty cool. Those fills and rolls and stuff are not easy to program from scratch. Impressive.

I'm a drummer and the drums sound realistic enough for contemporary styles. So many live drum performances these days are gridded after being played that the lack of imperfections in the timing isn't as much of a giveaway as it used to be, and if it's going to be a loud, busy rock mix, the instruments that you do play live will help cover for that. If you haven't already done so, nudging velocities at random spots can help further the illusion of a live drummer playing.

I'm not versed enough in post-hardcore to say for sure, but the one thing I might adjust would be to use a snare sound where you can hear more snare wire. That's just a personal thing, I do not like the pank-pank snare sound. I loved The Police, and Copeland's drumming, but that damned clanky steel snare detracted from their sound (to my ears). I play an Acrolite (aluminum) and tune it deeper and wetter, but I don't play post-hardcore either. Since your drums are canned, you can change out drum sounds at will.

It all depends on how it sounds in the mix, though, and personal preferences and traditional sounds for different genres. What you have here should work fine.

Got it thanks a lot for your suggestion. I used a reference drums sound from a band I like and tried to make it similar indeed.

Maybe I could have gone for a much lower snare sound, I mean biffy chunky snare sound, but I'm not too fussy on that,

Now I actually fixed some minor timing issues with the feels and I decreased the velocity on the ride which is giving the tempo, it seemed maybe a bit too washy, here's the final version if you want to give it  alisten.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mNlNV3L5KQNdR5sIjxjGLGWt5EAqfAG_/view?usp=drive_link

Hi there, I recorded this track with NI Studio Drummer, since I'm not a drummer but a guitar player, I need some experienced drummer or mixing engineer to tell me if the track sounds natural enough, if the drums are played realistically enough or there is some feel or part that sound strange, and also if the mix/sound of the drums looks cool or not.

I kept the bass and the scratch guitar just for you to grasp the grove and put it into the context. (please notice the scratch guitar is player very badly and definitely not on time in some parts but just as a reference)

The drums is supposed to be a bit chaotic and not too "standard", the genre is post hardcore

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mNlNV3L5KQNdR5sIjxjGLGWt5EAqfAG_/view?usp=drive_link

1 hour ago, Bajan Blue said:

Agree with KS - cymbals definitely need dialing back or if it were me I would take them out in most places

Hope this helps

Nigel

 

but the crash isn't that present, it's mainly the ride which keeps the "tempo", maybe I hit the ride too strongly, maybe I should hit it more gently.

Anyway I found this old rehearsal video of my band, and I'm basically trying to recreate in MIDI everything the drummer was doing, pretty mad hey?

This is the video with the original drummer playing the song, he smashes the ride quite often, don't you think?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1faRpHgbcZqiXm4tKhaBAL0xkrAQu-rBP/view?usp=sharing

2 minutes ago, Mr No Name said:

That makes alot more sense now with the rest of the track in there for context, nice track sounds very good, can see some long haired rocker shaking his hair about to that.  cymbals sound a bit washy in places, only thing I would say.

thanks! do you mean cymbals too loud in some parts?

7 minutes ago, KSband said:

I think it would help to hear the rest of band to give us context for the style you're going for. Sounds like you put some work into an arrangement.

here you go, but I didn't record the rest, it's just the guide guitar and it's played very badly, hope it helps a bit to grasp the groove

Hi there! I recorded this MIDI programmed drum track with NI Studio Drummer (recording my own song), since I'm not a drummer, I need some real drummer or mixing engineer to give it a listen  and kindly tell me if they sound realistic enough and either if some parts or feels sound strange.
I'm looking for suggestions from an experienced drummer or mixing engineer.

The genre is post-hardcore.

Also if the mix is good enough?

I left only the drums and the bass so you can grasp the groove a bit.

29 minutes ago, Mr No Name said:

Ok, I've had a more critical listen to your track, imo, the mix of the drums is pretty good, the bass could cut through a tiny bit better,

I made some notes,

Start is very good

52secs  - 1 min ?

1 min onwards - drum hits need sharper transients, attack not fast enough,bit flabby on timing with bass

2 mins on, drum hits sound faster, sound nice

2.20  some timing issues

2.50 nice feel

3.00 on, little bit off on timing, cymbals too splashy

3.25 on nice groove,

3.40 on nice groove,

3.53 , flabby kick note

4.10 on, cymbals to splashy, snare not timed well

4.30 on , nice ending.

 

 

 

 

good thanks a lot I will check this out.

I didn't record the rest, only the guide guitar and I didn't play it well at all,