Topic: Terrible FOH mix. Help?

[dakapc]

The link below is to a full set from a recent show. it was recorded with full permission from the band and venue. however the 1st band and the last band's sound turned out spot on. For some reason the band I was there to record turned out very muddled/bleeding together. We had no idea as we were side stage. The mic was in the same place with the same settings all night so FOH must have dropped the ball on this set. Of course when the band heard their set next to the recordings of the other bands they were VERY disappointed.

I haven't been using post audio software long so I am hoping if anyone here is bored you can help me with this. We captured a lot of good angles on this and it'd be a real shame to waste all that video from a bad FOH sound mix. If anyone can make this sound usable it would be much appreciated and of course you would get the credit for the post audio mastering. But with my limited knowledge of plugins and effective use of them I just can't seem to bring this audio to life.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzZbzZnaKYh9dTRvUU93aHpwTFk&authuser=0

PS: Google Drive will say there's an error, it's due to the size. It can be downloaded and played just fine. Just not listened to on Drive.

[bombdiggity]

It may help to provide a little insight as to the sort of music (and recruit someone who knows this sort of thing better).  Metal/hard for those who wander in here. 

That is indeed a terrible mix! 

Some eq and tweaking may help.  It shouldn't really be that hard to fix this sort of thing up since there's nothing subtle about it so a simple graphic eq may be all you need. 

It appears to me the mids/lows are pretty much AWOL (at least relative to what's there).  It's very thin.  Using a basic frequency analysis I'd say start around 4K but certainly no higher than that peak at 6.5K lowering from there up and probably lifting the frequencies under that to varying degrees to get something like what the band should sound like.  It is better to lower than raise but the lows are so much quieter here you may need to raise some parts of the range while lowering others.  You should end up with a slope from the lows louder on down.  This is flat across, with the higher end a little louder than the rest.  This sort of music typically would have a pounding low end.  This mix does not. 

I have a rough idea what this sort of thing often sounds like from some festies I go to that are diverse, but really it's not something I can listen to so I'd not really delve into it in terms of a substantial effort (curiosity almost killed this cat ). 

[Life In Rewind]

It may help to provide a little insight as to the sort of music (and recruit someone who knows this sort of thing better).  Metal/hard for those who wander in here. 

That is indeed a terrible mix! 

It might be a terrible mix...for the taper...but its probably a good mix if you're in the band.

Some bands just play too fucking loud...and then - stuff like guitars end up not in the mix...vocals get buried...

A buddy mixed "Black Pussy" in Pitt the other night - he threw up his hands...126db! -- - - out of his control!!!

[bombdiggity]

^ Yes and no... 

This is an AUD.  Usually those sound somewhat like what it sounded like there in the audience where the hall mix is in play...  I'd not think this was how these guys should sound though... 

Agreed if the band has their monitors up too high there may be nothing one can do.  And of course a SBD may not carry all the sounds nor in a mix down for a different purpose represent things the way they were there in the hall. 

mixing is as much an art as recording.  Sounds like the FOH got 2 of 3 right here, which is a pretty good average IME. 

It seems like maybe the taper wasn't in a listening spot out in the hall so maybe it sounded bad there or maybe not...  The tape says it would have sounded thin but live the low end would at least feel more present if everything was cranked... 

[dakapc]

It may help to provide a little insight as to the sort of music (and recruit someone who knows this sort of thing better).  Metal/hard for those who wander in here. 
That is indeed a terrible mix! 



The band is NoMara, they were formed by Evanescence ex-guitarist John LeCompt. Sort of Hard Rock, But still some slower songs like most bands of the genre. It just baffles me (and them) that everything sounds so bled together, there's literally no distinction of instruments. I have now recorded dozens of bands at the same venue and all have turned out WONDERFUL, most need less than 10 minutes of post editing.

The only song I was able to mix to their satisfaction was the last song, all the rest of them have drove me nuts trying to get some sort of balance and clarity of instruments. If any of you have downloaded my tracks you can compare the last song of he set "Tesla" to the original here and see how far off the house mix was for their set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syEYYd_vg_w

[dakapc]

It seems like maybe the taper wasn't in a listening spot out in the hall so maybe it sounded bad there or maybe not...  The tape says it would have sounded thin but live the low end would at least feel more present if everything was cranked...

I had the mic mounted to the FOH SB booth about 6ft above the crowd, direct line of sight to the monitors, & level with the monitors. It's the same tactic I have used many times now at the same place. I had many audience members comment to us that something didn't sound right after the set, but we had no idea just how off it was since we weren't in the audience.
As reputable as this place/chain of venues is, and as long as the same guy has been in that booth I would have liked to think he's catch it and correct it. 

[beatkilla]

I just downloaded your recording,ill see what i can do with it.

What is the recording equipment used?

[dakapc]

I just downloaded your recording,ill see what i can do with it.

What is the recording equipment used?

Zoom H6, MS capsules, recorded in raw, 48/24.
thank you

[beatkilla]

Sorry to inform you that i have made no improvement to your recording.It sounds like they had some terrible compression on the master fader or something.If you do alot of video like we do than it is really almost necessary to record at least 4 channels ,2 ambient and also a soundboard feed,something like the tascam 70d would work .Good luck.