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I am mixing this band full of kids just out of high school. They tracked at their home and I'm mixing ITB with DP4.5.

I can't get the distored guitars to sit how I want them to. Any suggestions to make them gel better? Other comments are welcome too. I don't fancy myself much of a mixer, but I'm working hard to improve. I always struggle with distorted rhythm guitars and snare drums.

Mystery Girl

Hard to say without really hearing the mix(can't tell much on little computer speakers playing an mp3 here ), but offhand, it sounds like you might be boosting the volume level too high on the drums/guitars to bring them up where you want them. Are you compressing either of them? If you put a compressor on the channel, you can raise the volume a lot higher without extra distortion.

-lee-

<small>[ November 09, 2004, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: LaptopPop ]</small>

The intro gtr is too loud for one. Compared to when the track comes in.

Drums feel lost in the quieter section of the song.

You have too many things mono. All this mon stuff fighting for the same space. If you stay mono, then eq stuff out of the way of the other items.

Thanks Manager... I'm a self taught "engineer" (used liberally) and I think your comments helped me learn a big lesson.

I just uploaded a new mix. Not perfect, but a lot closer.

Updated Mix

<small>[ November 10, 2004, 02:55 AM: Message edited by: swiftness ]</small>

Hi,
the new mix sound much better (on my mono-internal-mac-speaker).
Some Tips that might help.
Learn and use volume automation to bring up the guitars when they are solo and bring them back down when the voice comes back in. Sometimes it also helps to put a compressor on the guitartrack and feed it‘s sidechain with the vocal. -> Guitar get‘s compressed when the vocal comes in (the sidechain) and stays uncompressed when the vocal is off.
On the snare drum it can help to use the SPL Transientdesigner to give it more punch. It is easy to use and sounds great. Could also help on the guitar. There are many PlugIns in the style of SPL‘s TD, but the hardware is really fast and helps to get rid of some problems when you record. Then you can record on higher levels wich results in better sound.
Right now i‘m mixing a countryrockband and have to deal with the same problems...

Good luck and good sound ;·)

Excuse my bad english. I‘m just a german.

I agree with side chaining and I'd add trying MW multi band compressor so you be more precise about your boost. Also on my subwoofer the low end sounds a bit heavy, make sure your not over boosting the subsonic end of the bass track, it might be eating up some of your dynamic range in the mix.

Thanks for all the suggestions. They will help me a lot. Can anyone recommend a plug-in compressor with a side chain input?

What are some of the plug-in equivilants of the SPL Transient Designer? I saw that waves has the TransX but it is only available in a bundle, and I don't need the rest of the plugs it comes with.

Hi again,
found the article about Transient Designers.
There are not many PlugIns...
You mentioned the Waves one but it comes in bundle (like you said) and that makes it expensive.
Anotherone is the "Emagic Enveloper" wich comes with Logic. But it only works with Logic...
Sony has the "Transient Modulator" wich is really good but right now i just know that it comes for ProTools. Maybe also for the powercore but not native.
Another way to work on the Transients is "Propellerheads Recycle" wich comes with a "Transient Shaper". But the handling is not what you are searching for. You would have to export and import everything. The last one is the "Dominion". It is not as good as the other PlugIns but comes for FREE. But - yeap another problem - it comes only as VST in OS 9...
I use the SPL PlugIn. It was just developed for the Creamware Scope DSP Cards. An they just work with OS 9.
So i use my old G3 with a Lunacard installed and use it like a Hardwareunit. Not as easy as a Plugin but it sounds great.

Sorry, that‘s all.
So try to get a hardwareversion, hmm...???

Hope you find a way. Transient Designer is soooo much easier to use and much more effective than a compressor. (mmhh, sounds like bad english. But - yes - i‘m still just a german)
I hope i helped somehow...

Third time the charm?

Mystery Girl

<small>[ November 19, 2004, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: swiftness ]</small>

Double the harder guitars, pan hard left and right, that way they wont sound thin, but it sure sounds better than the first one.....

mic top AND bottom of snare for a great hit....also a gate ona snare can help a bit too, give it more of a "pop"

Keep Rockin

Erock

There is a mic on the top and bottom... like I said, these kids recorded themselves, so the tracking was done very poorly.

I had double the guitars and panned them hard L&R before, but then I got comments that everything was too mono