disappearing from the mix!

[Barfly]

I laid down some rhythm guitar and drum tracks and then I laid down a guitar solo-intro thingy... right? Well, the wierdest thing happened.. when I got high in the neck the lead guitar would disappear completely from the mix. Why is that?

I tried messing with the EQ to pull up and down mids, bass but nothing helped (until I put a compressor on it. Then I could hear the high end of the neck fine.

Any suggestions or ideas or reasons? Out of the amp it sounded great... I used a custom guitar with Dimarzio X2n pups. I also used an SM57 mic. Thanks for any tips or advice...

Barfly.

[Barfly]

?
hehehe anyone? I guess I stumped the panel.


:D

[skip tracer]

I thought you figured it out:

I tried messing with the EQ to pull up and down mids, bass but nothing helped (until I put a compressor on it. Then I could hear the high end of the neck fine.

I was going to suggest more mids and compression...

[h4f0n]

Maybe try the reverse and pull down the mids from the rhythm track and decrease its volume?

[Barfly]

Originally posted by skip tracer
I thought you figured it out:



I was going to suggest more mids and compression...


I guess I didn't ask the right question.. I'm trying to understand what was going on more than the fix for it. The fix ended up being the compression but it was a bizzarre thing. I was playing, the amp was cranked loud as hell and I could hear it fine, except through the headphones! I wondered if it was a mic design limitation as I messed severely with the EQ and that made no difference whatsoever. It was funny until I laid down like 8 diff. solos and was getting annoyed! Thanks for the replies.

[dearly missed]

Originally posted by Barfly
I guess I didn't ask the right question.. I'm trying to understand what was going on more than the fix for it. The fix ended up being the compression but it was a bizzarre thing. I was playing, the amp was cranked loud as hell and I could hear it fine, except through the headphones! I wondered if it was a mic design limitation as I messed severely with the EQ and that made no difference whatsoever. It was funny until I laid down like 8 diff. solos and was getting annoyed! Thanks for the replies.

The reason for this is that you have several instruments that are fighting to fill the same frequency ranges. The result, as you have seen first hand, is that certain elements of your mix get buried underneath and become lost. The key to getting a good mix is understanding equalization and how to use it. EQ is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to fit the seperate pieces together so that they fit nicely. Certain frequencies can be cut from certain instruments in order to make room for other instruments that need that frequency.

[bluesumm]

i used to have that same problem but more with the bass and the kick. that is until i heard to eq the kick higher. it's tough sometimes to eq so things don't run together and just turn into a big mess.

[idealflaw]

isn't compression amazing?

The guy above pretty much nailed it: too many sounds fighting for the same frequencies. Panning sometimes helps too, btw.

to be more specific, stereo speakers aren't sophisticated enough to manage all those frequencies. Phasing issues can LITERALLY make sounds dissapear.

Here's a cool trick/example of phasing at work.

Chris Issak, I read, doesn't like to record with headphones, but when they were recording WIcked Game, they kept getting the speakers bleeding into his vocal mic. Their solution? The put 1 speaker on each side of the mic, and he stood & sang into the center. Each Speaker was playing an inverse phase of the other.
The result? The sound magically dissapears in the mix.

I gotta be honest, I don't understand it, but it works...

[dearly missed]

Originally posted by idealflaw
I gotta be honest, I don't understand it, but it works...

I made a diagram to help explain phase cancellation better.

Phase cancellation diagram (http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/2465/phasecancellationdiagram2zu.jpg)

[idealflaw]

Originally posted by dearly missed
I made a diagram to help explain phase cancellation better.

Phase cancellation diagram (http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/2465/phasecancellationdiagram2zu.jpg)

that's really cool! I've seen it work many times. it just still seems like MAGIC when it does, though. even though i know the principles, it feels like my mind is being fooled...