10-12-2016, 03:23 AM
For a mix that's supposed to be "organic" it really is harsh (those presence frequencies are just ear splitting) and brittle. As Blitzzz already mentioned the lead guitars are way off where they're supposed to be in the song and makes your mix sound strange. Take your time, this is a pretty challenging mix and one that requires you to listen to the reference mix pretty religiously as that is sound the band is going for (also take a listen to Marigold by Periphery if you want another track in the genre to go by).
About dynamics: limiting really isn't going to harm the dynamics of the guitars in this (lets face it saturated electric guitars aren't really dynamic in a conventional sense), it will actually allow you to keep the guitars consistent level wise and move the level of them throughout the course of the track. In order to hear the bass clearly through the track, it's going to need some heavy compression to get those notes to sing and give you a solid foundation with your kick.
About "breaking the mold", there is something to be said for originality and doing something interesting in a mix to take it away from the "norm", in this case going for a more organic sound, going for it is fine however it means you really need to make it impressive sounding and take the time to perfect the sound you're going for. In your case I'd go back and find where that presence spike is (sounds to me it's in the cymbals at the 3-5 kHz range) and fix it with some Eq, fix the placement of the growled vocals and lead guitars, lower the kick in the mix a touch, center pan the soft vocal during the bridge, and fix the distortion and panning on the overdubbed vocals so they aren't as disjointed from the mix.
I really thing you have some good ideas when in comes to what you want to do with the track, at this point they really aren't coming together and ultimately working against you.
Cheers and hope this helps,
Doug
About dynamics: limiting really isn't going to harm the dynamics of the guitars in this (lets face it saturated electric guitars aren't really dynamic in a conventional sense), it will actually allow you to keep the guitars consistent level wise and move the level of them throughout the course of the track. In order to hear the bass clearly through the track, it's going to need some heavy compression to get those notes to sing and give you a solid foundation with your kick.
About "breaking the mold", there is something to be said for originality and doing something interesting in a mix to take it away from the "norm", in this case going for a more organic sound, going for it is fine however it means you really need to make it impressive sounding and take the time to perfect the sound you're going for. In your case I'd go back and find where that presence spike is (sounds to me it's in the cymbals at the 3-5 kHz range) and fix it with some Eq, fix the placement of the growled vocals and lead guitars, lower the kick in the mix a touch, center pan the soft vocal during the bridge, and fix the distortion and panning on the overdubbed vocals so they aren't as disjointed from the mix.
I really thing you have some good ideas when in comes to what you want to do with the track, at this point they really aren't coming together and ultimately working against you.
Cheers and hope this helps,
Doug
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6