13-08-2014, 10:44 PM
Hey HB, sorry it's taken me so long to get feedback to you. My life is so hectic anymore.
At any rate, you're aware of my tastes and preferences so consider that when reading my comments. Whether or not I'm on point is hard to say because I look at balance in a different way than fans of heavy music. I only listened to V2 after you mentioned having referenced Death Magnetic for the original. Funny story about that... Death Magnetic is often labelled the biggest loudness war casualty ever, and it got a lot of media attention when fans complained that the guitar hero version (which is significantly less squashed) sounded much better than the version they paid for separately... and the band and their producers have obstinately refused to re-release it! Several online mastering personalities have commented that the media coverage of that scandal was a turning point, after which you started seeing more dynamic masters. I personally don't find DR values to be 100% (key word) subjectively accurate 100% of the time, but that Pharrel's "Happy" and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" were both hugely successful with reported DR values of 8 (as opposed to some songs on Death Magnetic that are variously reported as DR 3 or DR 4...) could be evidence of that.
Whatever you did to the backing vocals, they're blending very well for my tastes. It could be that you did nothing at all? But I found the tracks to be too prominent in the treble, and I'm having no such issues here. Your lead vocals are vicious and nasty in a way that seems completely appropriate for the style to me. The singer's voice is similar enough to James Hetfield back in Metallica's glory days that I understand your temptation to reference their music! Although if it were me I'd have gone with Kill 'Em All or Master of Puppets personally. Quite hilariously... what they called metal in 86 is soft-core compared to the normal radio rock nowadays....
The guitars for me have too much mid (between 600 and 1000 my gut is telling me) and not enough just about everywhere else? Especially in the lower mids, I think they could use more growl... however, I think I completely understand your reluctance to allow that content through, because the kick and bass aren't getting along at all in my opinion. There's a ringing, very deep rumble on the bass guitar that sounds to me like the bassist might be muting a low string so that he could really aggressively bash on those 16th notes, but it's not muted completely, and I wasn't able to control is nearly as well as I would have liked either. From a purely technical perspective, there really needs to be less sub bass when the bass instruments are so hellishly fast and running at the same time, because only the very biggest most powerful home systems are going to be able to reproduce what you've mixed. Quite often during those crazy fast runs, the kick and bass blend into a long, wobbly whooahoooahooahoooa and there's no definition at all... it least on my system.
But I'm guessing that you cut so much from the low mids in the main rhythm guitars because you were aware of that issue... if it's even an issue at all. Like I said, I'm only just beginning to learn about this market.
I think the best solution is to highpass both the kick and bass at 40 at least... but I think 50 is better. Sounds pretty severe, but I don't see any other way a normal subwoofer is going to be able to drive them both at the same time. Strapping a limiter on the bass would probably also give some more control over the way the kick and bass are working together.
My instinct tells me you're really not far off the mark and thinking in the right direction... you're just having a hard time judging the overall mix sonics because the kick and bass are smearing the low end out so much. Try highpassing them both at 50 and see where that takes you?
Just my thoughts, for whatever they're worth
Thanks again for helping me out with my version 
At any rate, you're aware of my tastes and preferences so consider that when reading my comments. Whether or not I'm on point is hard to say because I look at balance in a different way than fans of heavy music. I only listened to V2 after you mentioned having referenced Death Magnetic for the original. Funny story about that... Death Magnetic is often labelled the biggest loudness war casualty ever, and it got a lot of media attention when fans complained that the guitar hero version (which is significantly less squashed) sounded much better than the version they paid for separately... and the band and their producers have obstinately refused to re-release it! Several online mastering personalities have commented that the media coverage of that scandal was a turning point, after which you started seeing more dynamic masters. I personally don't find DR values to be 100% (key word) subjectively accurate 100% of the time, but that Pharrel's "Happy" and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" were both hugely successful with reported DR values of 8 (as opposed to some songs on Death Magnetic that are variously reported as DR 3 or DR 4...) could be evidence of that.
Whatever you did to the backing vocals, they're blending very well for my tastes. It could be that you did nothing at all? But I found the tracks to be too prominent in the treble, and I'm having no such issues here. Your lead vocals are vicious and nasty in a way that seems completely appropriate for the style to me. The singer's voice is similar enough to James Hetfield back in Metallica's glory days that I understand your temptation to reference their music! Although if it were me I'd have gone with Kill 'Em All or Master of Puppets personally. Quite hilariously... what they called metal in 86 is soft-core compared to the normal radio rock nowadays....
The guitars for me have too much mid (between 600 and 1000 my gut is telling me) and not enough just about everywhere else? Especially in the lower mids, I think they could use more growl... however, I think I completely understand your reluctance to allow that content through, because the kick and bass aren't getting along at all in my opinion. There's a ringing, very deep rumble on the bass guitar that sounds to me like the bassist might be muting a low string so that he could really aggressively bash on those 16th notes, but it's not muted completely, and I wasn't able to control is nearly as well as I would have liked either. From a purely technical perspective, there really needs to be less sub bass when the bass instruments are so hellishly fast and running at the same time, because only the very biggest most powerful home systems are going to be able to reproduce what you've mixed. Quite often during those crazy fast runs, the kick and bass blend into a long, wobbly whooahoooahooahoooa and there's no definition at all... it least on my system.
But I'm guessing that you cut so much from the low mids in the main rhythm guitars because you were aware of that issue... if it's even an issue at all. Like I said, I'm only just beginning to learn about this market.
I think the best solution is to highpass both the kick and bass at 40 at least... but I think 50 is better. Sounds pretty severe, but I don't see any other way a normal subwoofer is going to be able to drive them both at the same time. Strapping a limiter on the bass would probably also give some more control over the way the kick and bass are working together.
My instinct tells me you're really not far off the mark and thinking in the right direction... you're just having a hard time judging the overall mix sonics because the kick and bass are smearing the low end out so much. Try highpassing them both at 50 and see where that takes you?
Just my thoughts, for whatever they're worth
Thanks again for helping me out with my version
I'm grateful for comments and suggestions. Thank you for listening!