Rum Scum - TheParadigms

Hi again.

Good luck with those stems you're giving to other people. I saw those offers of help before.

I'm mostly just replying to say: "Do you really know me?"

I've never heard of Dopetracks so perhaps you've got me confused with another Static. Or Nomad. Or maybe even another Static Nomad.

"Glad you are diggin it man"

I do and I know it can be be better and suspect it will turn out that way.

Hello.

This is pretty good stuff, with some vibe and attitude.

I definitely agree with other comments about the drums lacking clarity and being too low in the mix. However, this actually provides a certain interesting vibe and I quite like the power of the guitars and their buzzing tone.

I can actually hear the vocals really well and don't think the guitars interfere with them. This sounds better the more I listen to it.

So, I'd say it's mostly just a drum problem.

2:15 is the biggest drum problem. They really need to break out in that guitar solo section.

Otherwise, you have a good track so best of luck with it.

its sounds a tad too messy... the sounds are mixing up..
and this can be a great track...
no clear drums

OK so I recorded a jam track for you as an example. I am of course aware that the style is way different but the mixing concepts are the same.
Mixed as follows:
First I rolled the treble off the chords and the Bass off the lead.
Then panned slightly left and right.
I used 2 send effects; Delay and Reverb, with opposite amounts on each track. A lot of reverb on the chords and a little delay; a lot of Delay on the lead and a little reverb.
Try this trick with whatever send effects you use.
Also I pumped up the sends in the send effects, sending reverb to delay and vice versa, then panned the effects pretty hard left and right. In retrospect I should have panned them in the opposite direction (i.e.; so the effect with the most chords send was opposite to the side the chords were panned. I have gone back and done that in the recording software and it's better. You get the idea though right?)
I might try recording some Bass and Drums to go with this then chop the tracks up and see what I can come up with. Recently bought a set of V-Drums.
Anyway here it is;
https://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/167680

From what I am hearing, the guitars are taking up too much room in the mix. They drown out the drums to the point where I barely notice them. They also make it difficult to focus in on the vocals. As mentioned, subtractive EQ is your friend. A neat trick with subtractive EQ to make something stand out (the vocals in this case) would be to make a somewhat narrow EQ curve to boost & sweep through the frequency range of the guitars. Pay close attention to what frequencies are masking the vocals the most and cut them until you can clearly hear the vocals. Also, if you are using any kind of stereo or phase delay on the guitars, try toning it down a bit. In comparison to the rest of the track, the guitars sound really wide. In addition to this, your track might benefit from widening the higher frequencies of your drum kit.

Finally, if you aren't using a reference track, try pulling one into your session and use that for comparison and making informed decisions about the frequency range of each sound. If you'd like, you can send me a copy of your files and I'll make a rough mix for you to use as a reference!

Oh and by EQ I mean subtractive, not boosting. That will only add to your problems. Carve out some space for each voice/instrument across the range of frequencies. Take the treble out of the Bass and the Bass out of the guitars etc.

OK Main observation is that everything is fighting for the same sonic real estate. And I mean Everything. Vocals, guitar, Bass and can hardly hear the drums. My suggestion would be to use some EQ on each part. Decide where to put each in the EQ range ( and possibly stereo field)
Compression has been mentioned already

Cool track...the vocs are like young Dave Grohl (though I advice some work on it, specially in the chorus)...groovy is great, guitars are pulling hard mix is overgained a bit...:-)

Handshake, Danke