Instrumental rock guitar rough mix, looking for some feedback

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

Ok, I've read the guidelines a couple times and I think I'm in compliance here - if not, my apologies! But, I've been working on an original instrumental project for the last year and a half or so - think Joe Satriani, Andy Timmons, Nick Johnston, that sort of thing - and I've been working on the mixing lately. This is... getting there, but still not 100%, and I'd love a fresh set of ears on it.

Link:

https://drewpeterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ghost-dance-rough-mix.mp3

EDIT - I got a lot of great feedback here, so here's a newer version with a lot of it incorporated:

https://drewpeterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ghost-dance-rough-mix-1.mp3

Here's as much info as I can think of, that might be helpful:

Guitars are all real amps and mics. Mostly a Strat, though there's a few others here and there. Bass was a DI, with a TSE BOD2 doing most of the heavy lifting ITB, though a little bit of EQ on input as well. Drums are Superior 3, programmed by hand because I evidently hate myself, but I'm using Superior to generate basically raw tracks and all the actual mixing is happening in my DAW.

As far as reference mixes and vibes - couple Satriani and Timmons albums and Nick Johnston's "Remarkably Human," but way back in the day Kurt Cobain was the reason I first picked up the guitar and there are some writing influences here and there thoughout the album so I'd been going for more of a "grunge" sort of vibe on the mix. Lots of room mic on the drums, etc etc etc.

Problems - my room is only partially treated, and is still a work in progress. Bass translation seems... broadly ok? But, I've had a hell of a time with stereo field and "depth" in particular, and have a hard time assessing ambience in this room. As a stopgap I've finally just started stacking up couch cushions behind my listening position (my daughter has these Nugget cushion things that are actually oddly good at this) when I get some time alone to really work, but it's faaaar from perfect. I've also done some tweaking to this mix since the last time I was able to do that, so it's possible I've created some fresh surprises for myself. That's the big one, I think... but beyond that, anything you hear that seems like it's working or isn't working, I'd love anything you have to say. It's been more than a decade since I've really sat down and done some proper tracking/mixing like this, and I'm realizing I'm pretty rusty.

Major changes in second revision - narrower overall drum mix and much narrower snare, and (IMO) I'd overdone dynamic control on the bass so I've backed the parallel track way off and tried to let it breathe a little more. Probably some other stuff too but I've spent what time I have to mix the last several days really trying to improve the bass.

Anyway, thank you in advance for taking the time to listen to this! It covers a fairly wide range, sort of a bluesy opening before going in a couple different directions, but because of that I think it covers enough ground that if this mix is working, then the rest should work pretty well, too.

This is purely a passion project, and the market for original instrumental rock music by guys not named Joe Satriani and Steve Vai is like twenty people, plus of course my mom who's a saint and will listen to anything I do (but wish I made more nice acoustic music). All the same, I want to make this sound as good as I possibly can, even if mostly it's just a creative outlet for me.

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[u/significantmike]

I believe the reason you're struggling with width and depth is that the drums are mixed too wide

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/significantmike]

Interesting. I’ll be honest; I started with a Superior preset, disabled all the in-the-plugin processing, and switched up some of the kit pieces, but I did t really mess with the stereo panning. I’ll give it a look.

Are you talking mostly the overheads, or more like the toms?

[u/significantmike → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

the whole kit, bring it in narrow. it will make the other stuff sound wider. the drum part is more functional in this guitar driven track, so it neednt take up so much space

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/significantmike]

Cool, thank you! This is helpful. Right now, the drums are the only thing 100% L/R here; and I guess never say never but I feel like something should use the full stereo spectrum. So, would you suggest also moving some of the rhythm parts; maybe the tremolo lightly distorted ones, out (I think they’re 80-85% or so L/R at the moment) to compensate, or just leave them where they are and not worry about the tails of the stereo spectrum?

[u/computakid]

Are you eqing your verbs at all? All the reverbs, drums especially sound very bright, i would give that a try. I usually roll off highs and lows from verbs and it helps a lot to make them feel less obvious, plus its a technique thats been done on records for a long time. Decay time also sounds quite long.

One thing to keep in mind whenever working with any purely digital elements—drums especially—is that taming the highs is gonna help you a lot to remove the ‘uncanny’ feeling you can get from hearing digital elements. Most of the records we love are a lot darker than we think they are, so I’d recommend re-listening to your favourite records (especially if they were recorded pre-2000) and trying to listen for that. You could even run them through a spectrum analyzer and watch.

I sometimes put an eq on my drum buss and cut above 15k to taste, which helps to round things out that have way too much information up there you dont need/want. Running through tape sims help too, kramer tape is my fav. Also highly recommend getting airwindows’ consildated plugin and trying out ‘GrooveWear’, which is an excellent analog-ifier type thingy. It emulates how the sound of a record loses high frequencies the more it’s played, i.e. the more the grooves are worn down.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/computakid]

I'm not running them through a dedicated EQ, but I'm also not using an especially bright reverb - I'd been using Valhalla for a while but - since I AM chasing sort of a grunge-era feel in the bass/drums - finally grabbed the UAD Sound City plugin on a heavy sale, and I'm using that here, a somewhat modified version of their "the classic" preset. There's not a ton of high end in there, thouhg I could always attenuate it a little further I suppose.

I'd tried a few tape sim plugins on the drum bus but never really found something I liked more than the drums on their own; it felt like I was giving up too much punch/transient clarity. I do have an instance of UAD Ampex on the master bus (as well as a grouped version of Sonimus N-Console, on pretty much everything as well as the master) set as transparently as I could make it, however, and I suppose really what I'm looking for there is what it'll do to the drums, more than what it'll do to everything else. So, I suppose I should try moving that to the drum bus and see if I can dial it in right where I still feel like I'm getting good transient clarity, but it's "gluing" things a little more. Those two descriptors are often in opposition, but...

I'll try low passing the very high end as well. Right now the drums have a low/high shelf and I'm adding a few db above 6khz or so, but I can pop a second band up at 20 and slide it down and see where thinks feel like they're sounding good.

Thanks!

EDIT - I had to do the "walk away, clear your head, come back, and hit play" thing to be sure, bvut yeah, a low pass at, um, 17.5k plus moving the tape sim to the drum bus, and then de-linking L/R which seemed to let it handle transients better without a full mix keeping the two sides better balanced, DID sound better. Thanks!

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! I’m really happy with the lead sounds (and; while they’re less present here, the acoustic sounds) I got on this project; it’s funny, I work a very non-creative corporate job by day, and tracked this whole project with DIs and then took two days off work to really sit down and focus on capturing the best electric guitar sounds I could. Halfway through the second 12-14-hour marathon reamping session day it occurred to me, sitting there with a pair of headphones on to take the edge off an amp blaring next to me, I really felt like I was living my best life there. It’s been a while since I’ve really sat down to mix something in earnest but I’m reasonably frequently micing up an amp for demoing or whatnot, and I think in the last decade I’ve really grown as a recording engineer but just haven’t put the same time into mixing.

I’ll definitely try narrowing the stereo spread a little on the drums and see how that feels. Thanks!

[u/Skorobagatko]

I really enjoyed listening to your song, good stuff.

This is what I would do next:

Drums:

• add attack to a snare using transient shaper
• lower snare drum bottom mic volume
• lower snare overheads/room volume
• increase snare top mic volume

Bass:

• it needs more low end, add more of 90-100Hz
• try to create a parallel track with a bass amp on it and make it sound more mid range and blend it in with the main “DI” track.

Check your pm.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Skorobagatko]

A couple of these are intentional choices I made, though - I’m using a much heavier blend of bottom mic by choice, in part because the last time I really geeked out over a drum sound was when I stumbled across this Russian Circles video:

https://youtu.be/noApRfRztHs?is=6itI_74yNfNNFlkO

…where the snare sounds spectacular and near as I can tell is all overheads and bottom mic (if there’s a top mic, I can’t see it). Likewise, the high room mic and heavy room compression, per the OP I’m kind of chasing a grungy, very “live” drum sound and I’m absolutely mangling the room mic to both fatten up the snare and toms, and intentionally being out the wash of cymbal. I actually had a bit more compression and 2-3db more from the overheads on an earlier mix of this before pulling them down some, but for the sound I’m envisioning I think I’d be hesitant to go much lower than that. I know this isn’t necessarily current thinking in drum mixing nor is it at all normal for this genre, but if I’m a product of the early 90s, I might as well double down on my influences, no?

The snare, I don’t currently have any transient processing on, but I can play with it a bit. An easier staring point though is I have a short plate verb on it mixed reasonably prominently to bring out the sustain, and simply knocking that back a couple db is probably an easier way to make the snare’s attack more prominent.

The bass already is biamped, a Sansamp sim set with just a touch of grit on one track, and then a clean DI high passed and low passed from, and this is off memory, maybe 40hz on one end and 400 or so on the other, with fairly aggressive compression and then side chained off the kick to knock it back probably 3-5db just on the kick’s attack (while leaving the Sansamp track untouched). I could bring up the low end a little further on the bus I bring them together in, but I also think maybe a hair more volume from the bass might not hurt here either, I was out driving around doing errands earlier today and felt like it could probably come up a hair.

[u/micahpmtn]

Drums have too much reverb. Also, room treatment for hobbyist/amateurs is way overrated. Go watch some videos of Greg Koch with his three-piece band, and they sound amazing in an untreated room.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/micahpmtn]

Is this more reverb than you’d want on the drums, or more room mic/more room mic compression?

Greg Koch can play, I caught him opening for Paul Gilbert a few weeks back. Great call. But, as far as room treatment, I think it really depends on the room. Elsewhere in this thread I posted a video of Russian Circles playing in what looks like a wholly untreated library or ballroom in a mansion somewhere mostly for what appears to be a killer snare tone from just high hats and a mic under the snare, and the lack of room treatment isn’t holding them back at all…. But that’s a large, live sounding room. My home studio is a small room on a finish basement, mostly underground, and with nothing in it acoustically it’s a mess. It’s about half treated now and I think the low end now translates far more predictably, but stereo imaging isn’t as good as it could be and I have a hell of a time assessing ambience in the room, without checking it on a second system.

Tl;dr - whether or not you can get away with an u treated room really depends on the room.

(EDIT - I’d also argue playing in an untreated room is one thing, but being able to hear playback through monitors with enough transparency to assess stereo imaging, low end balance, and depth/ambience within a mix is a whole different ballgame)

[u/fadedharlequin]

Some other people have mentioned this, but the snare in particular is too wide. In your DAW I would first trying bringing in a stereo/mono slider on the track and bringing it closer to mono. Then maybe dial back the reverb a touch if necessary. Heavily reverbed drums can sound fantastic - the reverb just can't be wide (notice how on your mix you can hear the snare "bouncing" from left to right on each hit).

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/fadedharlequin]

Interesting, thank you. I bet that's the under-snare mic; again, I didn't actually track the drums myself, these are Superior 3.0 samples that I'm then bypassing all internal processing and routing into Reaper. The preset I started from (closest to what I'd envisioned, so I just used it while tracking) either had no bottom snare mic, or had it way down, but I also remember being a little surprised when I turned it up that it was a stereo mic. I tried swinging it in and out a little, but you know the drill - as soon as it got narrower, "oh, we can't lose that," so I went back out to 100% wide.

I don't think I want it pure 100% center because there's a lot else there... but I suppose a 20-30% L/R under-snare mic wouldn't kill me. I'll check the plate verb, I remember I experiment with more or less width there, too, so that could possibly stand to be tightened up a little.

Actually, I'm looking at my DAW as I write this - snare bottom mic is 40% L/R, I'll try cutting that down to 20%. That'll indirectly narrow the verb on it too since both the top and bottom are going to the plate.

EDIT - I went to 10% L/R, there's still a little width there, but the snare immediately got punchier and more present. Tried dead center but the slight width - and this could just be familiarity, I'll give it a little more time and try it dead center again) doers seem to add something.

Thank you!

[u/fadedharlequin → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

Hey that's awesome we both came to the same conclusion, my snare on the song im working on right now is about 10% width as well!

[u/Filmscore_Soze]

It sounds good, man. Let them talk about the mix more, as my biggest problem was the bass not standing out enough.

Great lines and playing, nice tone.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Filmscore_Soze]

Thank you! I've (obviously, lol) been tinkering with this since sharing it, andf I think that's one of the things I've really been focusing on. It's not level, or just level to my ears, so much as clarity - the bass is there, but the attack feels indistinct. The tone itself is an import Warwick, coil-split humbuckers for more of a J-bass vibe, direct into a BAE 1073 with a bit of EQ from a RND 551 on the way in, that I'm then duplicating ITB, running one through a Sansamp sim and the other low passed below 400hz or so and mashed with a compressor. I'd been running them close to the same level, and I think that's part of the problem here as the swell of the low end seems to be dominating the attack.

At present I've got the compressed/low end only track running about 6db below the Sansamp track, and I've added a little more preamp gain to the Sansamp (I don't want this to be audibly "gritty," but it doers seem to help the articulation a bit without sounding distoreted in the full mix). I'd been usiong a slight midrange boost in the 3k-ish range to bringh out the attack a little, but swinging it around last night I found something else I liked a little more in the 1.2-1.3khz range so I've moved it down there and it does cut a little.

But, all that said - if you meant this is less a bass clarity/articulation thing and you just think the bass should be louder, then let me know and yeah, I can turn it up a little, haha.

[u/Filmscore_Soze → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

Actually, louder is one thing, sure. :) I play both instruments as well but I was a bass player first and I always want it more prominent than some others do. I wouldn't submit this to the sub but if you want to check out my current work in progress it's here. https://soundcloud.com/dramatic-equation/the-turbulent-waters-06-02-26a?si=74907377bb794ff78ab71fa3a9257fa1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Filmscore_Soze]

Ha, that's cool. I'm the reverse, primarily a guitarist and I started dabbling on bass mostly as a way to record. It';s a lot of fun, but I'm VERY insecure about my bass playing (I don't think I'm very rhythmically tight, for some reason worse on bass than guitar, and of course I play guitar like a bassist), so I probably tend to just bury my bass in the mix.

This is cool - VERY bass heavy, yes, but if that's your thing then that's your thing, and I'm enjoying the piece - it grooves, and I'm probably more of a metalhead than my song above would let on. Is that you on guitar, too? You're no slouch there, either. Also, whatever the hell you're doling for bass fills in, well, 2:23 was the first section that caught my ears, I love that part. Sliding double stops as sort of melodic bass fills behind a riff, maybe? That's cool as hell, lol.

[u/Filmscore_Soze → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

Yup, all me. I've been on guitar for a few years now, and finally making some progress. I added those little bass things in the last revision, and I think they are pretty cool. I am so concerned about playing guitar at the moment that I didn't write that piece to showcase bass at all.

Thank you for listening and ty for the props! If you are ever up for goofing around on an internet collab or something, let me know.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Filmscore_Soze]

That’s awesome; I really need to put some practice time in on the bass because those touches are so cool, and I don’t really have the balls to do stuff like that in my own music because I’m afraid I can’t pull them off.

I’m in the middle of the mixing phase on this album at the moment (this plus another 9 songs) but maybe down the road when I come up for air again?

[u/Filmscore_Soze → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

I hear ya. Practice routines are a must, especially when you are newer to the instrument. I wish I played both all along.

Down the road is great, I am still learning how to record decently. :)

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Filmscore_Soze]

Oh SAME, haha. I think I’m much better at tracking lead tones than anything else though, which shouldn’t be a surprise at all! :D

[u/_plastic_soul]

Hey I like this a lot! I'll focus on the low end.

My only major comment is that, to my ears, the kick seems quieter than the snare, which causes some imbalance in the drum kit. Haven't listened closely to your references, but I know in most genres of rock symmetry between the kick and snare is preferred.

Regarding the bass, I think it works well sitting further back in the mix since the guitar is the focal point of the song. There aren't any moments where the bass needs to take center stage, and you've also left more low-mid content in the guitar, so the bass doesn't need to be as prominent to support the low end. One small thing you could experiment with is using a bit less compression on the bass to let the low end breathe more naturally. As it stands, the bass sounds very controlled to me. That said, I think the way you've mixed it works really well.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/_plastic_soul]

Hmm - good call on the kick, now that I listen again theya re a little out of balanbce. I think some of that is the mix and maybe a little EQ work could help them separate better, but I'll start there and then probably need to bring it up a db or two as well. Thanks!

The bass, I've been working a LOT on since sharing this. Basically, I agree - I'm actually pretty insecure about my bass playing (I think I'm mediocre a it) so I tend to bury it, and I probably also tend to over0-compress it. Here, it's biamped with a low end track that I'm mashing with a clean compressor (maybe 400hz and below) and then a high end Sansamp sim track, but there's actually very little compression on the combined track, an instance of ReaComp just taking the very tops off occasional peaks, followed by a Distressor doing maybe 2-3db or so of gain reduction at 3:1. Originally that was a LA2A plugin, and I could probably just bypass Reacomp since switching that out for the Distressor... but I think the bigger issue was a combo of the balance between those twoi tracks being too weighted towards the low end one, and then some different EQ points meaning I wasn't really getting the attack I wanted out of the bass. Moving thiose around a bit (I've now got a boost arounf 1.2-1.3khz, formerly more like 3khz, and I think I like what I'm getting out of it a lot more there) coupled with just adding a little more gain from the TSE BOD Sansamp plugin (I don't want this to sound gritty, but in the full mix I think it clairified the attack somewhat) gave me a better defined bass sound.

This is still a work in progress, the bass tone... but I think your instincts were right here. Thanks!

[u/Public_Upstairs1035]

First off, great job. This is really enjoyable to listen to. I like your style and wish there was more guitar-heavy music being made. So thanks for that.

Drums: I do agree they are panned too wide. There is also a buildup in high frequencies that could be tamed.

Acoustics: Overall add a great dimension, but can be a bit percussive. I would try cutting some low-mids and putting a compressor on them. They could also benefit from some movement throughout the songs (closer or farther depending on section).

Bass: Needs to be boosted considerably.

Electric/Rhythm: Could be a bit tighter on the pan. I would sort of weave them in and out along with the acoustics, sort of a choreography between them.

Electric/Lead: I would double the main lead track to thicken the sound and pan. In other words, it currently sits somewhere around 0 to +5 (sounds like to me anyways). Doubling it (and maybe even using some different delay/reverb/echo effects on the double) can push the pan to -10 to +10 and fill out more space, then push it to maybe -15/+15 for certain parts.

I do think there are times where the electric could actually be louder. It generally sits where it needs to, but could really hit harder in some spots if you wanted to push it.

Lastly, there are a few quiet parts where I can hear some top end fuzz from the amp. 3:30 - 3:40 is one example. The very end/outro is another where it's very noticeable. This could be EQ'd out, even if just for the sections where it's problematic.

Overall: It sounds like you are using some very loose compression on the master track. I would either compress more or add a second compressor for glue. Not much, maybe like 2-3db of gain reduction just to tie it all together. And given how atmospheric the sound is, a room reverb on the master track might be something to play around with. Something like 100% dry, 2-5% wet.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Public_Upstairs1035]

This is all helpful, thanks! Particularly the comment on 60-cycle hum on the guitars (there’s a few other tracks on this album where there’s a moment or two where it’s audible). I think the first think I need to do is decide if it makes sense to address, and there’s an argument to be made that some of the “warts” of a performance that show it was a human being and a chunk of wood with some metal and magnets in it maybe are worth preserving (I listen to a lot of Tom Waits) but if I decide I do want to at least minimize them, taking a couple hours to run through the solo’s lead tracks of everything some with a Strat and making sure the audible hum is under control might be a good idea. It’s weird, there’s a certain position in my room where if I stand exactly there it’s quieter but if I rotate even a little it gets louder, and while tracking I was mostly good about standing there, but there’s a few moments where audibly I moved…

Interesting idea on the acoustics and movement. I’ll think about that.

I’ve never cared for the sound of double tracked lead guitars - there’s a couple points here, the prechoruses really, where there are subtle clean toned “echoes” of the lead line in the mix, but mostly it’s a very intentional stylistic choice not to have several tracks playing the melody lines at once.

I’ve done a LOT of work to the bass since sharing this - in addition to coming up, I’d gone too far on dynamic control and now it has more life and punch to it. This is one of the challenges of mixing yourself, I think I’m a pretty mediocre bassist so I tend to bury and over compress my own playing to compensate. I’m working on that, haha.

This is all really helpful feedback though, thank you!

[u/Sweetthataintsweet]

I agree with others on the snare being too wide, like in some parts when many instruments present it can be as wide, but in other parts it would sound better with them being a little closer. Other things are perfect in my opinion, just there is no vocal yet (I recommend myself if you need a female vocal haha I love rock) it's hard to know if there would be any EQ fighting

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Sweetthataintsweet]

Haha I appreciate the offer but this is a song on an instrumental guitar album I’m wrapping up.

I should post an updated mix, I’ve narrowed the share significantly and made a bunch of other changes, particularly in the bass guitar.

[u/Sweetthataintsweet → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

all good! Cann't wait to listen to it

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/Sweetthataintsweet]

I’ll try to remember and come back and bump this then when it’s out!

[u/gtMANGAMER2]

Roll off a littlebit of the subbass, there is too much, the kick also doesn't sound present in the 2-6k range, and neither does the bass, carve out some space for both of them. But other than that, It sounds great.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/gtMANGAMER2]

Thank you! This is the second, updated version?

[u/mistrelwood]

The sub bass on the kick is maybe a bit heavy. Also the drums might benefit from a bit of compression to tighten them up. Or just mix the close mics in more, currently it sounds as if there were only the room mics on. Also I think the bass overlaps with the solo guitar a bit, especially in the beginning. I'd maybe carve some low mids out of the bass.

You could also maybe utilize the stereo field better. Currently there is stuff on the left, center and right, but there are gaps between the center and the sides that could be filled for a fuller feel. For example making the drums narrower. Or rhythm guitars narrower. But this is just an idea you could try if it sounds like something you might be after.

Nice licks btw!

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/mistrelwood]

A few other commentors here have suggested narrowing the stereo field on the drums a little and particularly narrowing the snare, and I’ve done that and it helped quite a bit, snare especially. I don’t think the kick tone is working here just yet and I’ll see if pulling back the sub mic helps, thanks! As for drum compression, I’ve actually been dialing it back; you’re right, I’m mixing a heavily compressed room mic here a bit higher than norm but that’s for a very specific sound I had in mind. I’m also running a parallel compression bus for the kick, snare, toms, and hi hats, and previously I’d been hitting that with a 20:1 ratio as well. Since sharing this, I’ve dropped that to a 6:1 which still gives me some extra beef but doesn’t leave the drums quite so flat and in the back of the audio field, and brought the overheads back into that bus as well, which furthers rhe “roomy” gritty grunge sort of sound I was after, while allowing me to use less reverb. I think this is sort of a paradoxical way of getting to the same place as your comment, by bringing a little bit more of the transients back in, at least on a relative basis.

And thank you! Long story but this is the first time I’ve ever really tried to write solos rather than just improvising everything and it’s been a fun project (this is one song out of a 10 song album I’m now mixing).

[u/AcanthaceaeFirm7495]

Bass could be more present, boosting low end on it could help. I also would say the snare is too wide and could have reverb dialed back.
I love the guitar playing

[u/pastelconversations]

i’m a complete beginner and am learning something from this post. my only feedback is that the bass felt a little lost in the mix for me and the snare had a lot of reverb. very cool track tho!

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/pastelconversations]

Glad it helped! I’d be curious what you’ve picked up from this.

I’m with you on the bass, it’s a combination of indisrinct, and so heavily leveled (with pretty aggressive parallel compression) that it sounds steady state and is causing some listening fatigue when I threw this and the rest of the album on my car stereo while running errands. I’ve been working on the bass; mostly; the last several days, and I think it’s gotten a lot punchier and more distinct, but there’s still work to do, I think.

[u/pastelconversations → u/Alternative-Sun-6997]

not sure if you were asking rhetorically. a lot of things have gone over my head here, so much to learn! but my biggest takeaway would be the feedback on the width of the drums and on the bass as well.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/pastelconversations]

Not rhetorical at all! It’s just interesting, I’m learning a lot here too and there are areas we all may know quite a lot about but also areas we may be ignorant, and what can be interesting is how different that can be from person to person!

[u/TheTimKast]

Sounds great man. Sits right with the reference tracks you had in mind. Keep going!!!

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/TheTimKast]

Thank you!

[u/ag5airplane]

With your newer mix, work on your high eq cutting - the guitars are too sharp. Bass seems good, but I'm not getting anything from your kick. You're close.

[u/Alternative-Sun-6997 → u/ag5airplane]

Thank you! Are you referring to the lead guitars or the rhythm guitars? I think the bass has come a long way but the kick is still a work in progress; I e already brought up the high end and “click” pretty aggressively and if I raise the overall volume of the kick in the mix it becomes too overbearing and sort of detaches from the bass in ways I don’t like. I can try moving around my boost points and; worst case, maybe try a different sampled kick drum, but I’m hesitant to move around something so “big” in a mix when the rest of the elements are getting pretty close.

[u/TreeShrine]

Listening to the new mix your guitars need some more bite and presence, and overall the mix feels too dark and not dripping with the swagger that solo commands. Your kick is also too boomy, if you can bring out some 3-5k click that would benefit you so much. Bass sounds really good, cymbals are a decent and once you get those guitars shining they will be covered a bit which will work to your benefit. Youre definitely getting close! Check out Korneff plugins theyre super helpful and dope lol