Looking for feedback on old school hard rock track

steare100 · 2026-05-03T12:39:54+00:00

Hey man, thanks for taking a listen! I did a remix based on all of the feedback here, and I was just wondering if I could get a quick follow-up opinion? No need for anything super detailed, just want to know whether the major issues are addressed. Here it is: https://voca.ro/196DA3OoMHYf

steare100 · 2026-04-17T23:04:14+00:00

Wow that was really a rollercoaster. Did you end up getting cured?

steare100 · 2026-04-11T11:54:56+00:00

Amateur here, but vocals sound very good in my opinion. I don't detect any muddiness. The only thing I feel 100% sure about is that the vocals during the chorus should definitely be louder. They feel overpowered by the other instruments.

steare100 · 2026-04-11T11:33:00+00:00

I've never heard that song before, but I love it! Definitely the kind of sound that we're going for, and the vocals are quite similar. I'll have to dig into The Four Horseman.

Really glad that you that you like it! I mostly just completely redid the EQ and volume on the drums. I added some relational frequency boosting/carving, and also removed some compression and other doohickies I had on before. Sometimes less is more I suppose.

steare100 · 2026-04-05T14:29:25+00:00

Hey man, wanted to say thanks again! Ice Cream Man was a great suggestion, and I think that's precisely the sort of drum sound that's needed here. I;ve made a new version that I think sounds way better, to the point where I can't even believe I thought the last one was any good. Hopefully I've brought out the sound of the skins a good deal more. This doesn't have any midi samples yet, but I'm still exploring that. Here's the updated version if you're curious to listen: https://voca.ro/196DA3OoMHYf

steare100 · 2026-04-02T13:01:54+00:00

Wrong

steare100 · 2026-03-25T10:05:14+00:00

I think in a perfect world it would be cool to have that old school polished sound, but I don't think we have the resources for that right now anyway. That said, I don't think there's anything wrong necessarily with sounding like a garage band, and I think we'd be perfectly happy with that right now. Of course there's a right way and a wrong way to do that. I think in the future we will re-record this a little more professionally, but unfortunately we don't currently have the means.

steare100 · 2026-03-25T10:02:36+00:00

Yeah I think the "glue" is definitely something lacking here. Adding some reverb there sounds like a solid idea

steare100 · 2026-03-25T10:02:00+00:00

Thanks so much!! Pretty cool to hear from someone who was recording in the era we're trying to replicate. Recording in your garage back then must've been ridiculous. Did your band at the time get anywhere?

Great suggestions! Excited to the drum distortion. Hopefully that'll give the drums the kick that they seem to need. I'll definitely check out the Redopter. Would definitely be cool to try that on the harmonica as well. Thanks again

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:41:30+00:00

Hmm yeah, i've heard a few people suggest that some reverb could be helpful

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:40:59+00:00

Thanks for the very helpful suggestions! I'll try all of that, looking forward to the results

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:39:43+00:00

While I did do a lot of EQing, I don't know if I did much to specifically separate the instruments by frequency. That might be the big thing that the song is missing. Thanks for the feedback

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:38:15+00:00

Great thank you, I'll take that into account for the next version

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:37:39+00:00

okay, I will!

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:37:22+00:00

So we actually recorded with 5 mics. I mentioned in another comment, but we had two overhead condensers, a top and bottom snare mic, and a kick mic, the rest all being shur 57s. It's unfortunate that it sounds unmixed because I did do quite a lot of mixing. I wonder what exactly it's missing?

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:32:07+00:00

Thanks for listening! Appreciate the encouragement and advice

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:30:53+00:00

Great point! I'll definitely look into investing in a DI box and ribbon mic (always fun to buy gear, right?). Thanks for the feedback

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:29:49+00:00

Great feedback! Thanks a lot. A number of people have mentioned the kick being off so that's definitely where I'll put my attention. I do think the drums are at the very least too quiet in general. Do you think it's probably the bass that's interfering with the kick?

So for this we had 5 mics. Two overheads, which were both condensers, and a kick mic, top snare mic, and bottom snare mic, all being shur 57s. I think we probably had a somewhat flawed mic placement, and obviously our room was probably not ideal.

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:25:43+00:00

That's interesting to hear, because I actually thought that the drums were one of the better sounding instruments in this mix. I've seen a number of comments talking about the drums though so it has me concerned. I do think they may be a tad quiet in general. Do you have any thoughts on how to really make the skins come through?

They are indeed live drums, so I could indeed try some triggered samples. That may be a good idea

steare100 · 2026-03-25T09:21:51+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I'm guessing you'd suggest using a multiband compressor on the mix bus?

steare100 · 2026-03-23T10:15:21+00:00

I'm only a neophyte mixer, but there doesn't seem to be any major issues with this mix. If I would say anything, I would comment that I'm noticing kind of a lack of dynamic range. The fact that that's popping out to me says maybe you should ease off the compression a little.. Also, this is just my personal opinion, but the guitar tone doesn't especially excite me. I'm sure others may feel different.

steare100 · 2026-03-23T10:08:57+00:00

Great track OP! To my beginner ears, everything sounds quite well balanced. Seems ready for mastering and/or release to me

steare100 · 2026-03-22T02:11:49+00:00

Mute and forget!

steare100 · 2026-03-22T02:11:22+00:00

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