It seems I'm confusing heaviness with, what, chugginess? Then what I feel is that I'm missing some of the original chugginess in the new mix. Well, maybe I could try to enhance the heaviness too...
platinumears, do you suggest cutting out the bass guitar completely below 50Hz in favour of the kick or can they both live happily there? Would you try to fit some kick into the hole between bass at 80Hz and guitar at 100Hz? Finally, about different eq settings for the dist guitar free sections - can I ask you to be a bit more specific? Not sure what you mean, sorry.
How to fit heavy guitars into mix
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1269 posts since 6 Nov, 2002 from where moose mate, mate
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- KVRAF
- 6740 posts since 25 Mar, 2002 from sheffield, england
Both subjective terms.. don't want to argue those with youpekadan wrote: It seems I'm confusing heaviness with, what, chugginess?
No. Use the least eq possible to get the job done. The best mixes are those that need very little corrective processing: If you can go back to your source sounds (change drum samples, amp simulators etc..) that is probably better than eq-ing everything to death.pekadan wrote: do you suggest cutting out the bass guitar completely below 50Hz
You may also want to play with compression: side-chaining is a bit of a buzz-word atm, but you can also get good results with sub-groups: try grouping the kick with the bass & running both through a compressor.. or maybe group the guitars with the bass?
What I mean is; eq is not the only way to seperate instruments in a mix.. experiment with panning / stereo fx / reverbs.. even your arrangement (why do you think so many Tarnce tracks combine 4/4 kicks with off-beat basslines? cos if they never sound together it means they can both have loads of bass)
I simply mean that you don't have to stick to the same bass sound for the whole song; if you need to notch out 100Hz to leave room for the guitar, try automating your eq to remove it in the heavy guitar sections, but put it back in the softer bits..pekadan wrote: Finally, about different eq settings for the dist guitar free sections - can I ask you to be a bit more specific?
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1269 posts since 6 Nov, 2002 from where moose mate, mate
platinumears,
Must be useful under many circumstances. (I could use this to "widen" the kick for the final part of the song too for example).
No let's not. Oh, and the comment was really for jens.It seems I'm confusing heaviness with, what, chugginess?
Both subjective terms.. don't want to argue those with you
I definitely get your point and it makes a lot of sense. To keep the natural characteristics of the instruments as far as possible, yet avoid muddiness. Haven't tried compressing sub-groups to get the low freq parts working better together. That I must do!No. Use the least eq possible to get the job done. ...
Ah, I get it! That sounds very smart actually. I wonder why I never thought of this before.try automating your eq to remove it in the heavy guitar sections
Must be useful under many circumstances. (I could use this to "widen" the kick for the final part of the song too for example).-
- KVRian
- 624 posts since 22 Jan, 2003 from USA
Actually, I JUST figured that out a couple of weeks ago. In one part of the song, I've got a really cool guitar type sound playing a lick for about 4 bars and then a bunch of stuff kicks in. I brought up the high-mids just for that 4 bars and then when the rest comes in, I bring it back down.pekadan wrote:Ah, I get it! That sounds very smart actually. I wonder why I never thought of this before.try automating your eq to remove it in the heavy guitar sections
Definitely a great tip!
-="I beat the Internet...the end guy is hard"=-
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1269 posts since 6 Nov, 2002 from where moose mate, mate
Spent another few hours on this song on Sunday, applying some more of the things I've been suggested. I think I've achieved the best result so far. I widened the rhythm guitars a little bit more and subgrouped them with the kick and bass. Compressing these instruments together gave more "power", definitely. I also increased the upper mids and low treble as well as the total loudness. I think the mix sounds a lot clearer and crisper now.
For anyone interested, the remix is here: http://www.forpetessake.info/wait_for_me.mp3
The old version is here: http://www.forpetessake.info/wait_for_me-mixA.mp3
I seem to always also lose something in every improved mix. This time I lost some of the original snare punch. Obviously the villain is the limiter I used to increase the loudness. This problem might actually call for a new thread...
Thanks again for all the great tips! I won't get much further on this project now I think. I've learned a lot and surely will learn a lot more now from the mixing to come. I will probably want to go back and try more things on this piece at some later time.
For anyone interested, the remix is here: http://www.forpetessake.info/wait_for_me.mp3
The old version is here: http://www.forpetessake.info/wait_for_me-mixA.mp3
I seem to always also lose something in every improved mix. This time I lost some of the original snare punch. Obviously the villain is the limiter I used to increase the loudness. This problem might actually call for a new thread...
Thanks again for all the great tips! I won't get much further on this project now I think. I've learned a lot and surely will learn a lot more now from the mixing to come. I will probably want to go back and try more things on this piece at some later time.