drummingman
Gold Member
So Ive been in the studio for the last 2 days with my metal band working on our new ep. We are a 3 member band, bass, guitar/singer, and myself. The bass player actually considers himself a guitar player who plays bass.
So the last few days I've been in the struggle of not getting buried in the mix. Since the other guys both consider themselves guitar players they want the guitar tracks to be on 10, as well as the vocals, and the drums to be on 4. I keep telling them that if you do that the music is going to suffer and lack power. But they think that I'm just saying that because I'm the drummer.
The Tom's and kick were both mixed super low on the first drafts. They loved it, I did not. So after going back and forth we took the tom's and kick up, as well as the guitar and vocals again. Some of the toms on some of the songs are a bit loud. And I'm cool with bringing them down a bit. But the bass player wants to slash the volume of all the drums and cymbals in half (the guitar/singer will probably feel the same. I have not talked to him about it yet).
We have rough mixes of the songs as is that we have to decide which mix of each we like. We are able to do some remixing if we want, but not full remixes. The bass player currently hates them all. He is used to listening to nothing but extreme metal so any mix that is not every drum triggered sounding like a type writer he hates. But that's not my sound or style of playing.
This is an original metal band that I put together from scratch. Even though I formed this band I don't try to use that to say "I'm the leader" or anything like that. But being that it is a band where we are all equal I also am not cool with allowing myself to get buried in the mix after all the time and effort I've put into this band.
I know that mixing is always tough. I've been in the situation before where the guitar player and singer always want to be louder then everyone else. That seems to be a normal thing for all those guys. And I honestly hate how they try to make the drummer and bass player feel like jerks because we want to be heard as well as them. Since both my guys consider themselves guitar players I don't have a guy that considers himself a bass player to back me up that it's not good to bury the drums!
So who knows what's going to happen when we meet up on Tuesday night to have to decide on which one of the mixes of each song we are going to keep. I know the bass player already hates the mixes, and I won't be surprised at all if the guitar player/singer feels the same. But my goal is to somehow try to make them happy without the drum tracks disappearing in the mix.
I know I'm not being unreasonable or a jerk by wanting to be heard clearly like they are. But I have a feeling they are gonna try to make me feel like one (at least to some degree). But we shall see.
So the last few days I've been in the struggle of not getting buried in the mix. Since the other guys both consider themselves guitar players they want the guitar tracks to be on 10, as well as the vocals, and the drums to be on 4. I keep telling them that if you do that the music is going to suffer and lack power. But they think that I'm just saying that because I'm the drummer.
The Tom's and kick were both mixed super low on the first drafts. They loved it, I did not. So after going back and forth we took the tom's and kick up, as well as the guitar and vocals again. Some of the toms on some of the songs are a bit loud. And I'm cool with bringing them down a bit. But the bass player wants to slash the volume of all the drums and cymbals in half (the guitar/singer will probably feel the same. I have not talked to him about it yet).
We have rough mixes of the songs as is that we have to decide which mix of each we like. We are able to do some remixing if we want, but not full remixes. The bass player currently hates them all. He is used to listening to nothing but extreme metal so any mix that is not every drum triggered sounding like a type writer he hates. But that's not my sound or style of playing.
This is an original metal band that I put together from scratch. Even though I formed this band I don't try to use that to say "I'm the leader" or anything like that. But being that it is a band where we are all equal I also am not cool with allowing myself to get buried in the mix after all the time and effort I've put into this band.
I know that mixing is always tough. I've been in the situation before where the guitar player and singer always want to be louder then everyone else. That seems to be a normal thing for all those guys. And I honestly hate how they try to make the drummer and bass player feel like jerks because we want to be heard as well as them. Since both my guys consider themselves guitar players I don't have a guy that considers himself a bass player to back me up that it's not good to bury the drums!
So who knows what's going to happen when we meet up on Tuesday night to have to decide on which one of the mixes of each song we are going to keep. I know the bass player already hates the mixes, and I won't be surprised at all if the guitar player/singer feels the same. But my goal is to somehow try to make them happy without the drum tracks disappearing in the mix.
I know I'm not being unreasonable or a jerk by wanting to be heard clearly like they are. But I have a feeling they are gonna try to make me feel like one (at least to some degree). But we shall see.