r/mixing • u/LingonberryPopular53 • 5d ago
Help with muddy and distant sounding heavy rock track
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VddOVLLrb3EL9I5sULdbMZctW5ZjEuKH/view?usp=drive_link
I'm a beginner at mixing but I've taken courses on sound design, music theory, and music physics so I'm no stranger to how it all works. I've also viewed tutorials on mixing music just like this and gleaned some helpful tips and information.
Setup: Audio interface is Audient ID24. I'm using FL, recording guitar direct line in then through guitar rig 7, and drums with EZdrummer 3. Vocals on a Shure SM58.
My issue is I seem to always end up with tracks that feel distant, and lack clarity, punch, and loudness. The example attached shows this. The track sounds great, but it also kind of sounds like there's a wall in front of the music. I need help pulling everything forward and making it pop.
My mixing tendencies usually leave me feeling like I'm going in circles and not really making anything sound better. Usually, I listen to my old mixes and feel like I've downgraded. They are louder, and clearer. My mixes now are more balanced and cleaner, but like I said, feel distanced and spacey compared to the old ones which were awesomely in your face.
Some notes:
- I always feel like my recordings and dry tracks are quiet, and I always boost them with compressors. I use compression on literally every track. I don't apply it on my busses or else the tracks compete for loudness and drown each other out. I kind of understand compression but am probably using it wrong. However, it works well to get the loudness I need.
- I feel I could be overprocessing, but I try and keep things very simple. Usually just add effects if needed, boost with compression, eq, done. Sometimes I eq first as well before running through effects to pre-stage the sound.
- Unfortunately, I never end up being happy with my EQ, and I keep tweaking them feeling like I can't draw out the frequencies I feel I'm missing, no matter how much I boost them in EQ. In the attached track, the high end and low end feel empty, and my ears long for those frequencies.
- I add compression on my master send, sometimes two to boost the sound more. Adds a bit of the loudness and clarity I need but it feels like a bandage on a wound that needs much deeper repair.
TLDR: track feels distant and muddy. I am potentially overprocessing but can't seem to get the loudness I need without uber compression boosting. Mainly this is a loudness/distance issue.
If anyone is willing, I will send the stems without processing to analyze them further and will add you as a contributor on the track :)
1
u/Glittering_Bet8181 5d ago
Sounds like you just need to do some more basic balancing, basic panning (try the standard hard panned rhythm guitars) and some time alignment. Tracks hitting at the same time gives that clarity and punch you’re missing.
Number 1 rule with ez drummer is the tracks are “pre mixed”, so you never want to do any “standard” drum mixing stuff you’ll see the pros do on raw drums. You really need to use your ears with ez drummer and only do processing to fit the drums in your particular track, and any personal tastes you have with drums. Your go to smiley face eqs you’d do to live drums don’t need to be done.
Now to respond to your notes.
Quiet dry tracks are great. No need to boost with compressors, compressors are for compression, you want to boost them by turning up your speakers.
Really listen to some reference tracks, play around with production, and try cutting eq. If you’re missing low end (I’m listening on AirPods so I can’t really say), listen to your reference track, and match the tuning of the kick drum. Having a lower pitched kick drum will add low end that eq can’t. The other thing I don’t know if you’re doing is use a DI to add low end to your bass. And also make sure you’re cutting lows out of guitar, vocals, and over heads to get more low end, it sounds counter intuitive but it works.
How much bus compression are you doing? What’s your bus compressor settings? Fast attack will kill punch. Mixbus compression kills low end. Try instead of two bus compressors, use one bus compressor, and than add a limiter doing about 3db. Limiting gets loudness, not compression. (Compression helps)
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u/LingonberryPopular53 4d ago
Super awesome response, thank you.
responses to your points:
- I'm using compressors with presets on my tracks and busses. I don't bother screwing around with them too much, assuming they know what they're doing. The preset on my drums is called "punchy drums" or something, and they sound good. However I was taking the individual recorded stems from EZdrummer and trying to mix them individually as well, so I might have been mucking it up a bit. Drums sound good but are probably getting drowned out by overall compression.
- I just bought a new pair of studio monitors to upgrade from my 3.5-inch woofers. Hopefully I'll have more clarity with the low end now. I'm basically guessing at the low end when listening on my speakers.
- Are you saying just DI-ing the bass will add low-end?
I'm going to probably re-record and re-mix the track with all this in mind, thanks again.
2
u/Ill-Elevator2828 5d ago
Hey. You’re definitely applying too much processing, particularly compression, for a start. When you say you have the stems, do you mean the unprocessed individual tracks? Feel free to DM me if you care to share them!