Rough first mix feedback!

[stringmaiden]

Hey guys! This is one of my first posts here in SSO, even though i've been lurking here for quite some time now. So i'm glad to finally join!

I'm in desperate need of advice/critique or just general mixing tips to improve. Please be warned it is a pretty shitty first mix since i honestly dont quite know what i'm doing yet. So any input is really appreciated!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/stringmaiden/mix-test-1[/SC]

Thanks!

 

[KingAenarion]

How about you start by giving us a bit more in depth knowledge of what you're actually doing yea?

 

[Joshua]

Yeah, let use know what you're using (amps plugins, etc) so we can give you some tips!

 

[stringmaiden]

Okay, great

Reaper is the DAW i use and i record with a POD X3. I just got a pair of Mackie MR5's so i think that is going to help in picking out certain things, but i mixed this one using just my headphones/laptop speakers.

I use EZ drummer with DFH and am still trying to figure out how to EQ properly. Any suggestions on the drums in particular?

I double track guitars and pan them left and right, bass is also recorded but it's centered. i try not to add too much fx on guitars, i just experimented a little bit with the ReaEQ on this one.

Besides all the other issues with my mixing, what i find really hard is getting a nice volume level without things clipping. I get really low volume mixes even after using a limiter.

So anyway, any tips/feedback is really appreciated and thanks!!

 

[KingAenarion]

There are a HEAP of online tutortial for mixing drums, how to properly EQ a kick drum especially.

Are you using the multi out from EZ Drummer or just as a stereo instrument?

 

[MarcusProg]

For the guitars, I'd take out a lot of those bass frequencies, it's making them all muddy and undefined. Take those out from the source of your tone, as it'll just sound better the earlier you eliminate that useless sonic information, rather than trying to EQ it all out using ReaEQ.

Oh, and lower the gain as much as you can while still retaining decent note saturation. The less gain, the less mud.

 

[stringmaiden]

okay gotcha, yeah muddiness is definitely something i need to work on eliminating. so thank you for the tip!! i'll make sure to take out the bass freq from the pod tone and less gain.

KingAenarion yes i'm using the multi out. i click on "build multichannel routing for output" and then assign each thing to its own track

 

[ShawnFjellstad]

The clarity of your mixes will inherently improve a metric ....ton if you focus on getting really solid takes. Most of the parts here sound quite sloppy. Clean up the takes a bit and you'll be able to more easily pick out what's mudding up the mix.

 

[stringmaiden]

Okay, will definitely have to work on that.

Thanks for the input!