Some of those artifacts are from me having to run the vocal tracks through vvocal. Henry ran his vocals through the cubase autotune plugin and it introduced too much vibrato for my taste. I ran them through vvocal and painstakingly removed the vibrato and fixed the pitch by hand.
That's strange - VariAudio (the Cubase tuning tool) does not add any vibrato at all. You can rather
reduce the vibrato with it. But it does cause artifacts as its algorithmic quality is not really comparable with Melodyne. VVocal is not that great either - running both VariAudio and VVocal on the same track will inevitably cause audible artifacts.
BTW, the latest version of Sonar has ARA support and comes - if I'm not mistaken - with Melodyne Essential.
The drums are straight out of the Jamstix plugin though a compressor plugin.
You mean you compressed the stereo drum track and did not process the drums individually? That would explain it.
I'm a little out of my league with mixing because I'm just starting out and I also have hearing loss. Can you elaborate on indirect?
I think it's a combination of using an (in my ears) inadequate room and inappropriate EQ'ing on the drums. The snare is the most important instrument right after the vocals and should cut through the mix (unless you mix for a genre where that's not desirable).
I frankly don't know how you guys get it to sound good on headphones vs monitors vs car stereo vs computer.
Here is on recipe: Do NOT mix in stereo! If you mix in mono, and all the instruments have their place in the mix and are clearly audible, the mix will work in stereo too. I usually set up what I call the "basic mix" (with just the important instruments) first without any EQ, compression or effects. Just faders and panning. Then I fit in the rest of the instruments - and then I switch to mono before I actually start mixing the baby. I do occasionally check the mix in stereo, but most of the time the monitor channel is in mono mode.
Another important aspect is the level you mix at. The louder you mix the less reliable will your ears be. If the mix works well at a low volume level, it will also work well at a louder level.
Small speakers don't have enough energy to translate the low frequencies. So to make the bass and kick cut through, you'll have to give them enough mid range (1 - 4 kHz, depending on the instrument). At the same time you should get rid of those frequencies that they do not need. The bass is usually sitting above the kick, so get rid of the low frequencies to make room for the kick (a low cut up to 70 Hz is often appropriate). The frequency range from 200 - 800 Hz is often responsible for muddiness. The kick does not need any of those frequencies, and the bass often can do without it too. But listen before you blindly cut frequencies (BTW, when removing/attenuating a frequency range with an EQ, it will affect the next frequencies too and change the sound!).
Make sure that the instruments have a consistent level! Use volume automatization and compression to achieve that (in that order)! Otherwise you won't be able to make them sit in the mix.
Use delay instead of reverb, when possible (because reverb makes the mix sound diffuse) - and don't start using effects too early in the mix. Only when the rough mix is done should you start filling up empty spaces with panned delays. Then use reverb to create an impression of depths. Use longer pre-delays on the reverb for sources that should appear closer to the listener! If I want to achieve a natural sound, I try to work with three instances of the same reverb, but with different pre-delay times, to place the instruments at three different levels in space.
I agonize over the levels. I basically start with the drum levels and get that sounding good to me, then I add the bass followed by the rest of the instruments and then vocals. I'm probably using way too many plugins.
I'm sure you do. I did that too when I started mixing.
And it took me quite a while to realize all my mistakes (I mean the ones I have realized - I'm sure I still make mistakes).
Two of the best advices I remember were the mono mixing rule and focusing on the basic elements of the mix before adding all the fill stuff. And to make the individual tracks sound as good as possible in solo before fitting them in the mix! The big guys make it all sound good at the recording stage, so you don't have to use an EQ or compressor at all to create a great sounding rough mix. In homerecording we usually have lots of problems with the seps because most of us don't provide good recordings, so we must do all we can to edit the tracks and make them halfway usable before we actually start mixing.
Any specific feedback like "at time x the guitars are too loud" would be very helpful.
I think it's rather a matter of consistency, as explained above. If you get a solid level on the individual tracks, it should be a lot easier to get a well-balanced mix.
Regards,
Steffen
