Advice/critique on mix for a short, instrumental rock song

[JohnnyAmato]

Looking for critique on this mix. I'm going to be sending it in for mastering, and want the best mix possible. Was done on the Tascam 2488neo, I think it's mixed ok, but want to see if anything stands out to different ears. My main concerns are volume and track EQ, as I feel the panning is satisfactory. The layout is simple;

One stereo drum machine track (audience perspective)
Two rhythm guitar tracks (distorted) one panned hard left, one panned hard right (two separate takes/performances/tones)
One mono bass guitar track (centered)
One stereo lead guitar track (centered)
One stereo lead harmony guitar track (panned slightly off-center)
One underlying stereo keyboard track (low in the mix intentionally)

Any advice or criticism would be GREATLY appreciated.

http://johnnyamato.bandcamp.com/track/roadstar

 

[Arjan P]

In general, it sounds good to my ears (and I like the music!), but there is one thing I would change: I would make sure the lead guitar would be centered or at least more centered. With a really centered guitar the main melody gets to be more 'in your face' IMO. You call it centered, but it is stereo, so depending on how you mix, turn the L and R closer together or create two mono tracks of the stereo source first..

Here an example of what I mean with the lead guitar more centered:
https://soundcloud.com/soundbytestudio/polaris-joris-van-eijk

 

[JohnnyAmato]

Thanks Arjan! I see what you mean by "more centered." Is it typical to record lead guitar tracks in mono? I've always done them in stereo because I feel it just sounds better. But if I brought each side in just a bit, I can see where it also might let the hard-panned rhythm guitar tracks breathe a little more. I will definitely try that!

One of my concerns was that the rhythm guitar, and possibly lead, has a little too much mid or maybe low mids on it. When I roll off a little of the mids on those tracks it doesn't really seem to improve it, and I kind of like it better like this.

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[Arjan P]

About mono; in the track referenced above, I recorded the effected lead guitar in mono, but also a clean version from a DI box during the same performance. This clean track was sent through a re-amping plugin in Cubase, and both were slightly panned L-R in the final mix. You have to be careful about phase problems though, always check the two in mono monitoring. (I once recorded a fantastic lead guitar in stereo from a Line6 amp, which in the final mix totally disappeared when mono was selected - turns out the stereo sound was created by counter phase)

 

[JohnnyAmato]

Gotcha. Thanks again for the tips! I will keep all of this in mind for future recordings, plus I have about 30 other recordings that are finished except for the final mix. Most are like this one, so the advice on this one will help with all the others. I'd like to get a new drum machine also, (or software) as I'm still using a Boss DR-770 that I bought in 1998!

Thanks again, your song sounded great, by the way!