Recording My Band's Demo...

[greatmutah]

So we're in the process of recording our demo and most of the mixing is being handled by me. We recorded these into a TASCAM 2488 Neo then exported to my mac because I feel more comfortable using Garageband for edits then the recorder itself. No disrespect to the recorder. It sounds great but I didn't want to jack anything up there. If nothing else, I can always scrap what's in GB and reload the raw tracks from the tascam.

So here's the setup. Drums are my drumers digital kit in stereo, just two tracks, so I'm somewhat limited on the setup. I've done some EQing on specific areas from bass drum, snare and toms (actually I hit it with a preset EQ and tweaked it. I'm still a n00b so this was my best option I thought). Vocals were recorded wet so I'm working with what's there (not my decision. Singer wanted them wet). Bass was recorded direct and I'm running it through the built in amp sims. Not bad for what it is. I want to bring the bass up and out a bit though. Guitars were done two different ways. Basic rhythm tracks were done at the drummer's place with my Egnater Seminar amp into a 1960A with Greenbacks, being close mic'ed by a Pyle 57 clone, outside of the dustcap area but pointed towards the edge of the dustcap. These were doubled up at my own house with my Metroplex close mic'ed with my E906 pretty much right on the dustcap. Leads were done the same but I cranked the midrange on my amp to fill it out. Double tracked the leads with two different takes of the lead panned ever so slightly left and right of center. The old Iommi/Rhoads/Dimebag trick. At any rate, this is my first real mix and any criticisms, feedback, takeaways would really help. My main concerns are getting more bass guitar mids coming through and a bigger drum sound if possible. Drummer thinks they sound small, I think they fit well, but either way let me know.

https://soundcloud.com/user-800138079/shattered-1

[RIFF]

Its not bad.. The guitars sound good, bass doesnt sound bad..

Heres what needs work.. the hat on the drums is a little to loud &/or present around 5 or 6k.
The vocals are way too loud, & maybe too present.

[shep]

Its not bad.. The guitars sound good, bass doesnt sound bad..

Heres what needs work.. the hat on the drums is a little to loud &/or present around 5 or 6k.
The vocals are way too loud, & maybe too present.

i agree with "riff". the guitar tone sounds great and the bass is fine. not sure what effects you have on the vocals but its a bit too much and its just a hair too loud. the drums sound good, the high-hat seems just a tad loud.

overall, its pretty good.

[ajaxlepinski]

Sounded pretty good in my $19 headphones on my webz PC.

[greatmutah]

Thanks guys. I wound up redoing parts of this mix the best I could. I dropped a low pass on the drums to a point. They were just two tracks, left and right from a digital kit so I was limited to what I could do. Didn't want to kill the highs too much as I didn't want to lose sizzle on the snare. Vocal affects were done during the actual recording. He ran his mic through a floor effects processor on his own. I had zero control over that. But volume I can work with and bring down a bit.

[greatmutah]

Its not bad.. The guitars sound good, bass doesnt sound bad..

Heres what needs work.. the hat on the drums is a little to loud &/or present around 5 or 6k.
The vocals are way too loud, & maybe too present.

Thanks for the specifics riff! I will try these for sure. I think I'll attack the presence on the vocals first and see if that helps before cutting volume (maybe I won't have to cut as much volume this way). The frequencies on the drums should help immensely.

[exafro]

Guitars sound great. Bass fits the mix well. The biggest problem with the mix imo is that it has no width, it sounds like its in mono. If you pan the guitars and drums(if you can) it will open up the stereo image and sound bigger. For a first time, you did a good job though. Very impressive.

[greatmutah]

Thanks sir! Here's an updated mix everyone:

https://soundcloud.com/user-800138079/s ... ar-final-1

[RIFF]

It does sound better.
Its tough when drums & whatnot dont all have their own track, or get recorded with effects. Theres always something to go back & fix.

[greatmutah]

Thanks sir! I think I'm getting the hang of this stuff a little more. I worked out my panning better and have figured out some sounds a bit better. I've got two more tracks to do and wrap up and then I can start putting this to cd and our reverbnation. I'm trying to keep my expectations level on this. Granted if I can fix something I will. But I'm also trying not to overthink it also.