First Post - new member - modern sounding mix

[nextNME]

First post from the nOOb here. Just want to say this is a great site! And a wealth of info – so awesome! I've been lurking and reading for a while now, but finally made an account and thought I'd add to the glorious melodic death metal discussion if you'll let me.

This band is awesome by the way! \m/ This is the first I've heard of Cnoc An Tursa.... The ¼ Scotsman in me goes *gurgle

There are many good mixes of "Bannockburn" I've heard so far, but I haven't gotten thru all of the posts in this section so forgive me. I really like Niklas90's first mix the most because maybe I hear my own style in the tone of it?

Well, just so this post doesn't get too long, I'll make a second post to describe what I really did here (and because I love to blab about recording).... Curious to hear all your thoughts, just be gentle

[nextNME]

Second post as promised \m/ I hope that this discussion forum is really for sharing a bit too much, because it's gonna be a long one so buckle up! (most everything I'll talk about is in general, because we're probably all thinking the same things here....)

I'm a manufacturing engineer by day, metal-head by night. Home studio in the basement - nothing too extensive, but a small respectable bit of gear that gets the job done. (shameless plug – ceomastering.com). I've been in the New England (USA) music scene for years, just never had the time to really focus solely on sound engineering. Being in a band was great, and afforded me the pleasure of working with some great engineers, most notable being Jeff Gilmer – producer of Torment by Staind, and FOH / live sound for Saint Asonia. I'm mostly a modern rock guy, so this was my first attempt at melodic death metal... my interpretation anyways...

Onto the song.... Bannockburn.

I have to agree with Mike Senior and what he has to say in the "About This Multitrack" almost verbatim, so I wont repeat that. I actually didn't read that post first, and only after I mixed my version did I see what he had to say, and was agreeing and thinking “he read my mind!”. There are still a few spots in my mix that I need to tweak, but overall I'm pretty happy with it on a variety of speaker systems.

Overall I tried to keep my usual modern-metal "rip your face off" shred-tastic kind of mix, using Logic Pro X and many of it's standard plug-ins, then only a few select Waves, Chris Lord Alge, and Steven Slate plug-ins. Then a quick master using Logic again, but with some Ozone plugins. Estimated 8hrs total on this mix.

I also try to have everything in balance and not one thing overpower the rest. I guess being in a band trying to please everyone “hearing their part” has helped in that way?

I started out my first trial at this song going "by the book" and the mix sounded like poo I wont share that one with you. lol. So then I just went with my gut (errr... ears rather) and tried a few unconventional things... I had to do a lot of mixing using my headphones *gasp* because I connect from work to my home computer using Splashtop Streamer (check it out, it's really handy!).

The drums I only used the sample snare, then everything else is a blend of Steven Slate and the bands acoustic drum kit. Kick, snare, toms and cymbals bussed individually, then parallel compression on the master drum bus, send to a bit of verb. I've gotten into the habit of using a ton of compression and highpass filter on the cymbals bus for metal.

Rhythm guitars and lead guitars were bussed separately. And they only got CLA Guitars with a very mild compression. But I did use Guitar Rig on the DI tracks to bring out a bit more articulation, and the used the mic'ed tracks for the fuzz.

Bass DI was kept as-is with a medium compressor setting. Mic'ed bass was mildly comp'd, then a hi-pass and then a distortion pedal used to make it even more dirty. Those two tracks bussed and comp'd once more.

I used the synth and voice tracks as more of an enhancement rather than a lead. Didn't feel that it needed to be the focus like Children of Bodom or the likes.

I should have spent more time mastering because it's just a bit harsh and smashed, but compared to the reference tracks it was pretty spot on (Soilwork, Gojira).

Anyways, feel free to comment and let me know what you're thinking!

[Blitzzz]

It sounds overcompressed and distorted. And I really, really doubt that Soilwork or Gojira sound harsh and compressed So I did a quick check with L'enfant Sauvage and it was very obvious that your mix lacks low mids (maybe because someone on the internet told you to always cut 400hz from guitars/bass?) and therefore sounds weak and fizzy compared with Gojiras latest album. Same goes for Spectrum of Eternity from Soilwork - both songs have a lot of controlled low end/low mids that is missing in your mix.

A tip: Distorted guitars don't need compression - they are allready compressed by nature (just take a look at the waveform). I really don't know why you compress distorted guitars because they don't have THAT much movement and need to be tamed like e.g. a bass or snare.

[nextNME]

Thanks for your opinion.