Rock yeah!

I love the back vocals.

Rock yeah! I love the back vocals.

Love that you're doing vocals each week.  Wish I could sing / write lyrics. 

Songwriting is there, but mix is the weakest part.  That being said, I can already tell that you're improving week over week.  Please let me know if I can help in any way. I've always loved to share what little knowledge I have

Love that you're doing vocals each week. Wish I could sing / write lyrics. Songwriting is there, but mix is the weakest part. That being said, I can already tell that you're improving week over week. Please let me know if I can help in any way. I've always loved to share what little knowledge I have

Hell yeah man, this is sweet.  Very well written song and very catchy chorus.  I love how you make the vocal harmony pop a lot more at the end of the 2nd chorus.  That’s a really cool touch. 

Hell yeah man, this is sweet. Very well written song and very catchy chorus. I love how you make the vocal harmony pop a lot more at the end of the 2nd chorus. That’s a really cool touch.

Thanks! I'm flattered that you liked this enough to check out my other songs.

[quote=djippy]Rock yeah! I love the back vocals.[/quote] Thanks! I'm flattered that you liked this enough to check out my other songs.

I totally agree, I am really trying to get better at mixing. I have a whole bunch of songs in the bank that I don't want to record until I can do them justice. From my perspective, drums sound is my biggest weakness. I feel like they always sound small and boxy when I record them. Eager to hear if you have specific things that stick out to you in the mix, and how you might handle them. I'll take all the advice I can get!

[quote=PantherMountain]Love that you're doing vocals each week. Wish I could sing / write lyrics. Songwriting is there, but mix is the weakest part. That being said, I can already tell that you're improving week over week. Please let me know if I can help in any way. I've always loved to share what little knowledge I have[/quote] I totally agree, I am really trying to get better at mixing. I have a whole bunch of songs in the bank that I don't want to record until I can do them justice. From my perspective, drums sound is my biggest weakness. I feel like they always sound small and boxy when I record them. Eager to hear if you have specific things that stick out to you in the mix, and how you might handle them. I'll take all the advice I can get!

What's your drum process?

What's your drum process?

big brain... totally intentional

[quote=Chrisfoo]Hell yeah man, this is sweet. Very well written song and very catchy chorus. I love how you make the vocal harmony pop a lot more at the end of the 2nd chorus. That’s a really cool touch. [/quote] big brain... totally intentional ;)

Haha, well if it was an accident, it worked!

[quote=blighters_rock][quote=Chrisfoo]Hell yeah man, this is sweet. Very well written song and very catchy chorus. I love how you make the vocal harmony pop a lot more at the end of the 2nd chorus. That’s a really cool touch. [/quote] big brain... totally intentional ;)[/quote] Haha, well if it was an accident, it worked!

I WISH WE COULD BE IN A BAND TOGETHERRRRRRRR

I love your music.

I might have some mixing/drum tips, but I'd say listen to PantherMountain before me.  What DAW do you use?

I WISH WE COULD BE IN A BAND TOGETHERRRRRRRR I love your music. I might have some mixing/drum tips, but I'd say listen to PantherMountain before me. What DAW do you use?

I've got a couple of overheads on the kit. I move them around all the time trying to get something I'm happier with, but here's what it looks like currently:

https://imgur.com/a/pCvvxQI

D112 on the kick, SM57 on snare top, then a pair of AKG C414s for overheads. I usually don't use a hi-hat mic because my overhead mics sound so shrill with the cymbals that I don't feel like there's room for it. My overheads/kick/snare go into some API preamp clones I haven't been using a room mic (mostly laziness, I think)

I noise gate the kick and snare, then compress the kick to bring out a little bit more of the initial hit (or at least that's what I think I'm trying to do).

I'm usually finding that my overheads have so much snare that there's not a whole lot of room for my close mic. When I try to compress that at all, I find the attack a little bit too sharp, so I've been leaving it dry and keeping its volume low anyways.

Like I said those overheads can be a little bit shrill so I've been using a high cut to take off a few dB of everything over 3k or so. As I describe all of this, it seems like turning the overheads down is the solution, but then it sounds imbalanced or cymbals too quiet.

I tweak the kick/snare/overhead volumes to make them sound balanced with each other, then I usually add a compressor to the drums, but I'm kinda just wandering around in the dark here. Trying to make it sound better-er without really knowing what will work.

Usually when I'm towards the end of I mix I think... "Oh yeah, I should probably add some reverb to some stuff." Usually the vocals and lead guitars get some, and occasionally the snare drum.

I spent a little time trying to tweak the drums now that the time pressure is off. I'll work on it some more and post a link tomorrow if you guys wouldn't mind critiquing that too.

orangedrink! Thanks so much. You're my first listen every week, I love your stuff as well. See my response above for info about drum setup and "mixing".

[quote=PantherMountain]What's your drum process?[/quote] I've got a couple of overheads on the kit. I move them around all the time trying to get something I'm happier with, but here's what it looks like currently: https://imgur.com/a/pCvvxQI D112 on the kick, SM57 on snare top, then a pair of AKG C414s for overheads. I usually don't use a hi-hat mic because my overhead mics sound so shrill with the cymbals that I don't feel like there's room for it. My overheads/kick/snare go into some API preamp clones I haven't been using a room mic (mostly laziness, I think) I noise gate the kick and snare, then compress the kick to bring out a little bit more of the initial hit (or at least that's what I think I'm trying to do). I'm usually finding that my overheads have so much snare that there's not a whole lot of room for my close mic. When I try to compress that at all, I find the attack a little bit too sharp, so I've been leaving it dry and keeping its volume low anyways. Like I said those overheads can be a little bit shrill so I've been using a high cut to take off a few dB of everything over 3k or so. As I describe all of this, it seems like turning the overheads down is the solution, but then it sounds imbalanced or cymbals too quiet. I tweak the kick/snare/overhead volumes to make them sound balanced with each other, then I usually add a compressor to the drums, but I'm kinda just wandering around in the dark here. Trying to make it sound better-er without really knowing what will work. Usually when I'm towards the end of I mix I think... "Oh yeah, I should probably add some reverb to some stuff." Usually the vocals and lead guitars get some, and occasionally the snare drum. I spent a little time trying to tweak the drums now that the time pressure is off. I'll work on it some more and post a link tomorrow if you guys wouldn't mind critiquing that too. [quote=orangedrink]I WISH WE COULD BE IN A BAND TOGETHERRRRRRRR I love your music. I might have some mixing/drum tips, but I'd say listen to PantherMountain before me. What DAW do you use?[/quote] orangedrink! Thanks so much. You're my first listen every week, I love your stuff as well. See my response above for info about drum setup and "mixing".

Drums are tough man!

You have already a really good start here. You play your parts well, you use great mics too. Looks like you have quite a bit of acoustic treatment as well.

Spaced pair like you are now works good. I really like as well the Recordman or Glyn Johns technique for a focused stereo image.

I like to throw a room mic as well at the end of the room, it can points to the wall, if you want more low end on your ambiance, can be on a corner of the room...

First step is to tune the drums right, but this seems to be fine for you. Then look for potential phase issues. Overhead mics should be equidistant from your snare. Try to solo them with the snare and flip the polarity. there are quite a bit of vids tutorials about that over the internet but yes using multiple microphones can mess out with the phase, and it can "suck" a lot of the punch-power.

I won't go too far on different techniques-way to color the sound for now, but here some little tricks that works good for me:

Compression, loads of it but starting with slow attack to let the transients get thru before it starts to compress then using make up gain to get everything louder... (take the quieter source and take it louder)

Most of the time if I go for "natural" sound I don't gate my closed mic, blead doesn't matter... Especially if you want a full drum sound, the close mic can help and get stuff "bigger". The counterpart is you can't really go for crazy processing if you go this way (You can always duplicate the track and gate the second one)

If kick is not too present on the mix, fight with the bass for example, a trick that works good to me is to add maybe 2-3 db of 50-60hz and remove 2-3 to the bass guitar, then they don't fight each other. you can boost some other frequencies of the bass if not present enough. (Sometimes you can boost somewhere else on the kick as well some like clicky kick, the point is that you dont want instruments to fight for the same frequency spectrum).

Another secret sauce is to throw some saturation on the snare if it doesn't cut that much. It can be tube saturation in parallel and you can go pretty far.

Anyways! Good luck with that. N.B., it is in my opinion easier to have a good sounding drum if you use only one microphone and find the right place on the room. No phase issues, no soloing on the kick for 45 mins trying to make this sounds huge by itself then adding it on the mix and realize it is worse like that then if you bypass the processing.

[quote=blighters_rock] I've got a couple of overheads on the kit. I move them around all the time trying to get something I'm happier with, but here's what it looks like currently: https://imgur.com/a/pCvvxQI D112 on the kick, SM57 on snare top, then a pair of AKG C414s for overheads. I usually don't use a hi-hat mic because my overhead mics sound so shrill with the cymbals that I don't feel like there's room for it. My overheads/kick/snare go into some API preamp clones I haven't been using a room mic (mostly laziness, I think) I noise gate the kick and snare, then compress the kick to bring out a little bit more of the initial hit (or at least that's what I think I'm trying to do). I'm usually finding that my overheads have so much snare that there's not a whole lot of room for my close mic. When I try to compress that at all, I find the attack a little bit too sharp, so I've been leaving it dry and keeping its volume low anyways. Like I said those overheads can be a little bit shrill so I've been using a high cut to take off a few dB of everything over 3k or so. As I describe all of this, it seems like turning the overheads down is the solution, but then it sounds imbalanced or cymbals too quiet. I tweak the kick/snare/overhead volumes to make them sound balanced with each other, then I usually add a compressor to the drums, but I'm kinda just wandering around in the dark here. Trying to make it sound better-er without really knowing what will work. Usually when I'm towards the end of I mix I think... "Oh yeah, I should probably add some reverb to some stuff." Usually the vocals and lead guitars get some, and occasionally the snare drum. I spent a little time trying to tweak the drums now that the time pressure is off. I'll work on it some more and post a link tomorrow if you guys wouldn't mind critiquing that too. [/quote] Drums are tough man! You have already a really good start here. You play your parts well, you use great mics too. Looks like you have quite a bit of acoustic treatment as well. Spaced pair like you are now works good. I really like as well the Recordman or Glyn Johns technique for a focused stereo image. I like to throw a room mic as well at the end of the room, it can points to the wall, if you want more low end on your ambiance, can be on a corner of the room... First step is to tune the drums right, but this seems to be fine for you. Then look for potential phase issues. Overhead mics should be equidistant from your snare. Try to solo them with the snare and flip the polarity. there are quite a bit of vids tutorials about that over the internet but yes using multiple microphones can mess out with the phase, and it can "suck" a lot of the punch-power. I won't go too far on different techniques-way to color the sound for now, but here some little tricks that works good for me: Compression, loads of it but starting with slow attack to let the transients get thru before it starts to compress then using make up gain to get everything louder... (take the quieter source and take it louder) Most of the time if I go for "natural" sound I don't gate my closed mic, blead doesn't matter... Especially if you want a full drum sound, the close mic can help and get stuff "bigger". The counterpart is you can't really go for crazy processing if you go this way (You can always duplicate the track and gate the second one) If kick is not too present on the mix, fight with the bass for example, a trick that works good to me is to add maybe 2-3 db of 50-60hz and remove 2-3 to the bass guitar, then they don't fight each other. you can boost some other frequencies of the bass if not present enough. (Sometimes you can boost somewhere else on the kick as well some like clicky kick, the point is that you dont want instruments to fight for the same frequency spectrum). Another secret sauce is to throw some saturation on the snare if it doesn't cut that much. It can be tube saturation in parallel and you can go pretty far. Anyways! Good luck with that. N.B., it is in my opinion easier to have a good sounding drum if you use only one microphone and find the right place on the room. No phase issues, no soloing on the kick for 45 mins trying to make this sounds huge by itself then adding it on the mix and realize it is worse like that then if you bypass the processing.

Great title. Crisp tonal pallet. Sick songwriting.

Remote collabs are easy

Great title. Crisp tonal pallet. Sick songwriting. [quote=orangedrink]I WISH WE COULD BE IN A BAND TOGETHERRRRRRRR I love your music. I might have some mixing/drum tips, but I'd say listen to PantherMountain before me. What DAW do you use?[/quote] Remote collabs are easy :)

Great tune, you can write a banger thats for sure!

Great tune, you can write a banger thats for sure!

You said it! Thanks for the lengthy post. This week I'm going to try to spend more time recording and mixing this week, possibly at the expense of writing. You've got a great sound, and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I'll try to put it to good use.

Compliments considered. And accepted. Thanks!

Trying to keep 'em coming! Thanks

[quote=djippy]Drums are tough man![/quote] You said it! Thanks for the lengthy post. This week I'm going to try to spend more time recording and mixing this week, possibly at the expense of writing. You've got a great sound, and I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I'll try to put it to good use. [quote=Drum Bender]Great title. Crisp tonal pallet. Sick songwriting.[/quote] Compliments considered. And accepted. Thanks! [quote=Nyarlos]Great tune, you can write a banger thats for sure![/quote] Trying to keep 'em coming! Thanks

Great guitar sound and I like the vocals and hook of the chorus. Balls out rocker!

Great guitar sound and I like the vocals and hook of the chorus. Balls out rocker!

I love the punk energy you're bringing here

I love the punk energy you're bringing here

Rock on dude! Nice arrangement and vocal harmonies.

Rock on dude! Nice arrangement and vocal harmonies.

Thanks everyone! Most appreciated.

[quote=NWSPR]Great guitar sound and I like the vocals and hook of the chorus. Balls out rocker! [/quote] [quote=Devieus]I love the punk energy you're bringing here[/quote] [quote=pineapple_dan]Rock on dude! Nice arrangement and vocal harmonies.[/quote] Thanks everyone! Most appreciated.