Atlantis Bound Bozzbass Mix

[bozzbass]

Here's my mix of this tune.

In a way I thought the vox and drums were pretty exciting so I tried to bring that out. I did mostly replace the drums with triggers and re-amped the guitars.

I wonder if it's a bit bright sounding?

[Jacksoni]

The guitars and the drums sound a bit muddy, especially the snare. It also reminds me of Beastie Boys for some reason so you might want to consider changing or try to mix in some of the real snare sound unless you were specifically looking for dat 80's hip hop sound. The vocals feel slightly dry yet overly compressed and a bit distorted at times, especially noticable in the first verse. You could try easing the compression a little bit and adding some reverb. Have to say I like the bass sound though, no complaints about that

[bozzbass]

Thanks for feedback dude.

I'm kinda chuffed you liked the bass sound. I'm a bass player for a living and that is one of the sounds I use for my own sessions and stuff. With the snare I did go for a synthy white noise drum sound in spots, I got the idea off a song from Hole's Celebrity Skin. I also did overdrive the vocals on purpose though as you indicate I may have overcooked it??????

Regarding the guitars ... yeah they may be a bit muddy but I did purposefully bury the rhythm guitars. I know the drummer from the band posts on here from time to time so I want to be cool, but on the other hand be open about what I did in the spirit of learning which is what this forum is about. I thought the rhythm guitars overall were not played very well - loose floppy strumming where the song demands that kinda Hetfield tightness - and to compound issues their tuning is pretty dodgy. The two rhythm tracks are not tight with each other either, so I found i couldn't get that hard panned, chunky guitar sound. I did try using one of the guitars, straight in the left speaker and delayed a touch in the right to get that sound but it was kinda lame and sucked when collapsed to mono.

As a result I used the bass to get that kinda heavy focus and then put the guitars underneath and out to the sides with a bit of m/s processing (from Mike Senior's book) to give more like a pad of mesa boogie crunch. The solo, the palm muted sections and the clean 'arpeggio' guitars were fine.

Thanks again

[londonmatt]

Hi there, I agree it's a nice bass sound, but I think it's contributing to quite a low-mid build-up, I think maybe taming the sub track of the kick by cutting it a lot in the 150-250Hz range might help? (Or just cutting that area if you're using a different sample without a separate sub track)

Got to be honest as a drummer I don't really like the white noise snare drum - I think the snare you've got sounds fine on its own and the white noise is just a distraction. Your lead guitar also needs to come down quite a bit when the vocal comes back in, it's really competing at the moment. Maybe the lead sound is a bit too modulated / wah-heavy for this song? I think it could use something a bit straighter but that's personal taste I guess. Hope that helps, cheers, Matt

[bozzbass]

Thanks for the feedback. I tried your suggestions and I think you are right re the kick drum sound. I also lost the synth drum on the snare which has made the snare a bit more punchy.

It was astute of you to remark about the balance of the the guitar shredding with the vocal at the end as I struggled with that. I've adjusted it on this mix; I tweaked the levels a little and then put some ducking on the guitar triggered by the vox. Reduced the phaser as well for little less wiggly modulation.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[londonmatt]

Yeah, that's a lot better. I like the slow panning you've got on the picked guitar by the way, I'm sure some would hate it but it definitely appeals to me Only other thing to maybe consider is just the tone of your main rhythm guitars - they seem strangely distant, maybe back off the reverb on them a bit and just bring them up in level a touch. Other than that this is sounding nice, great job.

[bozzbass]

You are right about those guitars but as I said in an earlier post, I kinda buried some of those rhythm parts on purpose. If I was working with the band towards a 'proper' release mix I would have re-tracked them to get better tuning and tighter performances. That's no disrespect to the guys in the band. Other than the rhythm guitar tracking the performances are fine (indeed the drums and vox are great) and I think this is a really tightly and well arranged song. We all have bad tracking days, I've recorded a few less than stellar takes in my time for sure.

[bozzbass]

OK one last go at making these guitars a bit tighter. I did a nasty comp to get the guitars a bit fuller in a few spots. Thanks Matt for spurring me on.