Hollow Ground Ill fait mix+mastered.

[nnxfray]

Hey guys, that's one of my first mixing projects, i'd like to hear wether you like it or not
Would be lovely to receive some comments towards mix

[MMT93]

Hi Fray,

Something I like about your mix right off of the bat is the long-term level of the vocals and the guitars. I feel like they sit very well in the track and have their own space comfortably carved out in the stereo image.

One thing I would be careful of is the low-end of the kick drum, the bass and also the guitars. Even though a distorted guitar's most audible/prominent frequency band is usually the mid/upper-mid due to the amount of frequency detail fizzing around in this region, the low end of a distorted guitar can start to become a problem for other instruments in the mix. When solo'd, the guitar may sound just fine, but in the mix, it can really bog up the space required for the kick drums fundamental frequency and the root fundamentals of the bass guitar. When frequencies from multiple sources clag together like this, it's known as "masking".

In my experience, taking a rather hefty scoop out of the low end - up to even as high as about 170-200Hz with a high-pass filter - of the distorted guitars can do wonders for freeing up that region for other instruments to sit nicely.

"In some cases, the only way to fit a subsidiary instrument into a crowded mix is if its frequency balance is mangled to the point of absurdity. That's why trying to make every individual instrument sound fantastic is a fool's errand." (p.172, Mixing Secrets, Mike Senior)

What Mike is saying here is, basically, don't be afraid to make the guitar sound nothing at all like the original guitar did when solo'd. Be a bit daring with your EQ and other such treatments. If you have to make a radical cut or boost to an instrument, do so, provided it helps it to sit well in the mix.

Here's a really common technique that engineers use to combat masking:

Solo the guitars with the bass. Place a High pass filter (HPF) on the guitars and slowly sweep up and up through the frequency bands until you can hear an audible difference in the low end of the guitars. When you start to hear this difference - or reduction - back off the HPF ever so slightly and leave it. So say if you start to hear a change at around 160Hz, back it off to about 150Hz to put a slight amount of that band back in.

Next, solo the kick drum against the bass. Fiddle with a HPF using the above method on both instruments. I often find that taking some of the sub and lower fundamentals out of a rather rumbly bass guitar will help it to sit with a kick drum quite nicely. If needs be, add a slight +1or2dB boost to the fundamental region of the kick with a fairly wide "Q" point, getting that thud to pop out nicely over the top of the bass without making singular frequencies ring or squeal too audibly in the mix.

After playing with this HPF trick, un-solo the three instruments and see how much better they sit together in the mix. I can almost guarantee that you'll get some nice results. A little extra tip; find the "click" in that kick drum by sweeping through its upper-mid range region and add a significant boost to this region, again with a wide Q range. That will do wonders in getting that kick to pop out above the bass and guitars also.

I'll leave this comment as is for now as I've banged on a fair amount here. I really hope that some of this helps you and isn't old knowledge. Again, I think that your general guitar and vocal balance is great, so well done with that and please don't think I'm picking flaws in this mix!

Looking forward to hearing more of your work do message me if you'd like any further help or feedback.