Haunted Age with completely new recorded guitars, lots of samples, FX & synths.

[Blitzzz]

I´m hearing a lot of bands like The Acacia Strain lately and I instantly fell in love with this deathcore song when I was listening to a mix from Pauli here on this forum. After downloading and checking the raw tracks for the first time I almost immediately had a "final version" of "Haunted Age" in my head.

Too bad that this song has serious problems: The original guitar tracks have MASSIVE tuning issues that I couldn't fix it with Melodyne. The drums are programmed from start to end and feel lifeless and the bass track has no character at all. The vocals are cool but the song is lacking a catchy chorus. The verse on the other side was quite strong so decided to mix "Haunted Age" just like it is and see where it takes me.

After spending several hours on my first mix I wasn't satisfied with the outcome. I had a much, much, MUCH more powerful version of this song in my head but unfortunately, there was no way to reach this goal with the original tracks.

So while listening to a Joey Sturgis podcast the other day I had the idea to re-record and re-arrange the whole thing. My main goals were:

- Build a more interesting song structure
- Add additional rhythm guitars to fill the gaps between the parts
- Add new samples/voices to tell some sort of story (in this case: a zombie outbreak from the view of a zombie )
- Add catchy melodies/solos to support the mood/story of the song

I basically did everything to make this song better and take it all the way from a shitty home recording to a pro sounding production. I couldn't add any new vocals though so I had to use the existing vocal tracks to build a new, stronger chorus.

It took me about 12 hours to write and record new guitar tracks and completely rebuild and mix "Haunted Age", but I think it was worth it. Hope you like it too.

------------------------------
7.6.2017: Added a new mastered version called "Haunted Age - NEW MASTER.mp3" - have fun and tell me what you think =)

[pauli]

Wow, dude, this has a lot to recommend it. I had a distinct notion that I was misunderstanding the purpose of the double tracked vocal as a matter of genre convention, but wasn't quite sure how else to approach it... you obviously knew exactly what they were trying to do, and the way you've presented them makes me wonder why I didn't try it? because it seems to obvious now that I'm hearing it this way.

Your additional production, well, hell man. It's great. Really helps the song out... it's subtle, but huge.

Obviously this needs a lot of automation on your second pass... note how the mix shrinks inward suddenly while transitioning after "Eternity." I find myself wanting a little more power and drama in those sections. The overheads are very wide throughout the song... I'm not really a fan of wide overheads personally, but I'm aware it fits the genre. Part of me thinks that narrowing the overheads 10 or 15% in the verses would give the entire mix more room to expand outward and move the song forward.

Does anyone else hear crackly distortion... I think it's on the overheads? I can't put my finger on it and I can barely hear it... but something's amiss there.

[Blitzzz]

I think I gonna rerecord the guitars today It's not that hard given the fact that this song has only 3 rather simple riffs and I can add more guitar juicy to them :-P Plus I get rid of the massive tuning issues which is a big plus

[pauli]

Yeah, it's almost always a better idea to re-record than fix the source. Some of the picking is pretty fast, though... I'm not a metal guitarist mostly blues

[Blitzzz]

here is the new version (also see the first post)

[pauli]

Very nice, Blitzzz. Sounds like you've got really good right-hand chops. Love how you've worked the vocals into the mix, in spite of some shortcomings in the secondary vocal track.

There's a lead guitar (I think?) hanging out in the outro that's pretty buried, at least in headphones... I'd like to hear more of that.

Good job, dude, you really worked your tail off.

[Blitzzz]

Thx Pauli, the mix sounds a bit muffled on my consumer speakers but fine on my adams and on all headphones (AKG 271 II, Presonus HD7, Beyerdynamic MX 300 and my earbuds). Maybe I have to turn of the small bass boost (+1 db lowshelf) on my air eq on the master bus. The lead guitar is just a background melody - the same melody that you can hear in the intro and the chorus at 2:49. It's just there to give the part more depth, but it's to "busy" to bring it up.

[pauli]

yeah, I have a really horrid mono speaker designed to be used in the shower... Think about that for a minute but it turns out to be pretty good at catching low mid issues. based on that speaker, I'd say the mix would translate better without the shelf. On the full range system though, it's really quite good.

[The_Metallurgist]

yo!

nice ideas and contributions.

my consumer is also struggling - bookself, 3 inch woofer, no tweeter.....sweet as a nut. it's the low mids and especially the bass end that are majorly problematic. the kick and bass guitar are murdering each other and need some spectral separation. the problem is that a resonant port will make life difficult to achieve this....i don't know if Adams take kindly to having a sock shoved in them?

there's a 10 second run-in which feels like half an hour to a man on a busy schedule

if you fixed the clarity issue with some enforced judicious EQ'ing in mono first (not stereo mono!), the mix would have more spectral space so you could employ some power. but there's serious congestion going on here which my speakers are expressing/exposing. and so it's forcing you to seek some clarity up in the mids.....and this is what you've done. unfortunately, my speakers can't deliver it because you've nailed them - lol. it's very fatiguing too in the cans...how can you mix this, especially with the Adam ribbons beaming trebles as they do? are your ears ok (not being sarcastic...just concerned)? there's a cymbal on the RHS which is particularly troublesome. i won't go on about another drum kit in the forum that's left handed...or perhaps i might, haha. at this rate, people will mix drums from the audience's perspective one day.....and call it "creativity", hey Pauli

nice clear vocal, especially for this genre.

sounds like you had some fun with the additional elements! cool; i like your guitar work. are you in the gig scene?

regards..
CU on the circuit.

[pauli]

at this rate, people will mix drums from the audience's perspective one day.....and call it "creativity", hey Pauli

LOL