My First Metal Upload

[Vinnie]

Hi

Thought I'd submit my mix of " Promises And Lies" and then take a break to enjoy the long weekend up here in Canada. To be honest, I'm not sure if I nailed this song or if it needs more work and polish. This is my first Metal mix I've ever done. Used parallel compression to give the drums more power and purposely set the lead vocals back.

I love this website, since I started posting it been a great learning tool in helping me become a better mixer. Thank goodness for "Mixing Secrets For Small Studio" I've read it three times now and still reference it regularly. There's so much to learn, remember and apply when mixing and I have come to realize a very important lesson, one decision impacts the next.

Any feedback on this one would be much appreciated.

Vinnie

[Mike Senior]

I like the overall feeling of this mix, a relaxed meatiness that really suits this kind of classic metal production. Love the Yngwie-esque chorus/reverb throw at 2:40 -- many a teenage flashback there! In general your balancing and effects work shows an intuitive grasp of this kind of style, so a lot of what you've done sounds very natural to me, and the snare in particular really sustains nicely. Good job!

As far as nit-picking goes, I reckon you could probably give the basic rhythm guitars more space in the mix, as they seem rather reticent and veiled at the moment -- especially if you switch to mono. This is particularly evident in the final choruses from 4:03 to the end, where the guitars are practically inaudible in mono, which rather undermines the overall mix dynamics.

Other than that, my main concern is probably the vocal tone, which feels a bit smothered from time to time. While in principle I'm happy to accept that you've made a creative decision to deliberately keep the vocals from coming too far forward, it sounds like you can't quite decide how forward you want them to be throughout the arrangement. So, for example, the section 1:27-1:50 has the vocals rather recessed, while the following section suddenly brings them a lot more upfront. It's not a huge thing to fix, though, as it's mostly just a question of automation. It could be your compression settings that are pumping the vocal levels, but I like the overall sound in that respect so I'd be loathe to tinker too much with what you've got already.

Finally, I wonder whether you might have over-egged the low octaves of the kick drum just a touch. Although it's pretty well controlled as low-end goes, it nonetheless feels like it bogs down the overall mix tonality rather too much for me. Hope some if that helps!

PS. Thanks for the kind words about the book!

[4991]

hi! i like your intro sir, i like it about how you mix it like it was in the 80-90s.
i'm curious about how you did the something like "broken records" (well if u know what i mean ;p) at the last part of the guitar for the intro.
how did u do that?

thanx!

[Vinnie]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks once again Mike for your feedback, much appreciated. On a second closer listen, it was obvious the mix could use more tweaking.

Addressed the vocal issue in 2 ways, brought the lead vox up a little more to front (less delay) and added some compression to control level inconsistency.

Low end shelve on the kick to remove a bit of mud, and added a little more click in the upper mid's, cut through better now especially during the 16th note flurries and translate better on smaller spkr sys.

Not sure if the electric guitars improved much, tried to fix the mono/stereo issue but not sure is it did much, so i left them panned wide and decided to live with it.

I have re-submitted my edited version, here it is for anyone interested in listening to my edited version for comparison.

Vinnie

[Vinnie]

Hi 4991,

80-90 had a big influence on how me, sometime when I mix those things I heard back them, crop in without me even knowing it. As far as the guitar broken record intro, that wasn't my doing's it came like that with the multitrack, I liked it so I kept it.

Vinnie

[Smash]

just listened to your 2nd upload.

to me, the kick is over powering, starts sounding fake when it speeds up. and the snare is lacking in power, but that might just be in relation to the kick.

i like what you did with the leads, and the rhythm guitars, between the kicks sound good and chunky. the vocals i think are too wet, and covered by the tail of the solos.

overall a decent mix for your first foray into metal.

i've put up my own mix if you want to have a listen to where my ears took me.