Advice on Mixing a recording

[Lev]

Hi Guys,
I have a problem that you experienced producers may be able to help with. I've been trying to record a song and can't get the mix right, the problem is that I have a really heavy riff/rhythm that I love and I've overdubbed several tracks to get a really full sound that rocks. Now when I try to add a lead to the mix the lead just gets lost. I've tried lowering the volume on the rhythm and increasing the lead but it still doesn't sound right.

Maybe I just need to play around with my lead sounds until I find something that cuts through a little better. So far I have about 6 guitar tracks and 1 drums and 1 bass, so maybe I'm 'over producing'.

[Moshe]

You could try exporting all of the backing guitar parts as one high bit rate .wav and then importing it back as an audio file. then when you do your final mix the program wont try to give each guitar part a separate voice and might leave more sonic room for the lead.

Then you have 1 track of riff/rhythm.
Also try offsetting them in the stereo.

It might work??

[oldguy]

Sometimes I have left the backing @ center in the mix and panned the lead part left or right till they came out cleared. And sometimes I pan the bass/drums/rhythm till it sounds good.
Then I mix it all down and finish it and...
it doesn't sound right!
but you might try panning the inst. left and right in different combinations, it will give it a much different sound than just changing tone, depending on which ear you hear it with, esp. w/ headphones.

[stingx]

The key to a good mix is EQ. All mixes sound best when each instrument is in its proper frequency range.

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[Fingers]

You could try copying the solo track to another track......insert a 0.05sec silence at the start of the copy, in order to make the overall sound cut better. Then pan one track left and the other right and leave the rhythm in the middle..................

It might help.................oh, and increase the higher end of the eq....it will bring the solo forward in the mix.