Mixing Opinions

[hicksjd9]

Recorded some great friends of mine from A Beautiful Mess (formerly Wiskerbisket) over the past couple weekends and wanted to get your opinions on the mixes. They did five common barband covers for a promo CD they're doing.

I'm putting Billionaire and Spin me Round up here for you guys to give feedback if you want. I think putting up some familiar tunes and hearing your suggestions will help me to solidify what musicians are looking for in a mix. Just for fun, when you post, tell me what instrument you play. I'm interested in how that will influence opinions. Be critical.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8827405/04%20Dope.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8827405/05%20Billionaire.mp3

To anyone who does booking, if you like what you hear, let me know and I will put you in touch with Harry.

[floodcitybrass]

Overall nice job.

Everyone has a different ear but this is my opinion on dope:

- The Hi hat sounds like the HPF could be lower. That is let more low range pass through.

-Sounds like the drums need some adjustment during the chorus. Around 1:10 to 1:20, the snare and kick are lost in the mix and the HH seems to dominate the drum mix.

Keep in mind - if the intent of this recording is a promotional marketing cd, then the recording is more than adequte. In that case, I would leave it alone.

my 2 cents.

I play guitar, sax, and trombone.

[RobTheDrummer]

Use a click track.

[hicksjd9]

FloodCity,

Thank you for the thoughtful response. I can see what you mean about the hats. I didn't notice it so much on my monitors, a boombox, or in my car, but on a cheap set of earbuds connected to my laptop the hats overpowered the whole mix. One of the most frustrating things about recording and mixing is trying to get your source material to sound good on as many different players as possible. I will be dialing down the hats a bit.

Rob,

I use click tracks for drummers all the time, but some drummers just don't feel comfortable using them. Many feel that there is something unnatural about playing along with the clicks and pops of a metronome. I feel it's my job to give the person who is recording what they want and if a click track makes them uncomfortable, then we don't use one. I know that a click track can boost the quality of a recording (and makes my job MUCH EASIER), but if it makes the drummer uncomfortable or has them feeling less creative then it can't lead to good things.

[Killjingle]

it keeps giving me an error... it wont let me ck them out