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Decypher - Unseen Mix by TiPa
#1
Hey guys,

Here is my attempt. My main challenges :
- Bass : The track was awful to my ears, I tried to make the mids and highs it as invisible as possible but keeping a little grit.
- Drums : Snare bleed in the OH as usual
- Guitars : I must admit I reamped the DI tracks with Audio Assault Grind Machine to find the tone I needed. I kept guit 1 mic tracks nevertheless. I tried several pan configs but I moved on with a basic full L/R. Medium compression, several eqs on the different tracks. I added a final boost on the guitar bus at 250hz to add body, don't know if it's a fresh idea but I like it like that.
- Vocals : I spent time to adjust my reverb & delay sends, trying to find the spot where it give space without being to obvious
The master was light, I didn't leave enough headroom ....

My reference tracks for this mix :
Entombed - Hollowman
Unleashed - To Aasgard We Fly
Master - Latitudinarian (just to try, the guitars are definitely so extrem on this album)

I heards lots of good mixes here, it would be nice to have feedbacks !


.mp3    Unseen_Master.mp3 --  (Download: 10.44 MB)


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#2
Hi TiPa the main thing I'm noticing with your mix is that the bottom of the mix is almost non existent, while everything from an overall standpoint is balanced sounding and clear there's nothing really anchoring down the low end which leaves it having a certain "weakness" to the mix. The bass is weird in this one I will admit and requires a fair bit of work to sound right, making it more of a mid range instrument can work but now we need to push low end into the kick and with most of this stuff being double kick parts, build up becomes way more of an issue.

I found that running with the low end of the bass was a better solution and smashing the life out of the low end of the bass with a multiband compressor and scooping out the 300 Hz area helped a lot, also adding a tube screamer style drive emulation into TSE B.O.D on the single DI track made it easier to work with and able to act as the anchor for the low end and fit with the guitars. I resampled the shells for the track so my processing of the kick was pretty much how I wanted it to be and was essentially working with the bass already, really I just scooped some 400 Hz out of the kick and added a little 70 Hz just to match it to the bass. What kick did you use, it's getting lost in the busier sections of the track.

Since the bass is more of the low mids of your mix, it's also fighting with the guitars and vocals making it sound cloudy, it takes the intensity out of the mix and makes it flat and papery. Turning down the bass in the mix will help with this and focusing on making the bass the anchor for the mix will push it out of the way of the guitars, it should also free some space up in the mix overall and help the more melodic aspects of the guitars pop out more. For a melodeath track, it's pretty barren from a composition standpoint (not really our "fault", I think there's some obvious talent in Decypher but they need to work on making the song progress, some leads during that open bridge section would really break up the monotony there), any melodic thing you can bring out in the guitars helps a tonne with keeping interest in the track

With that being said you've got yourself a good baseline mix that you can mess with, a few tweaks with the bass and kick, and ust a general smoothing out of the top end of the cymbals and the mix should work itself out.

Cheers, and hope this helps,
Doug
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer

Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
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#3
Here's what I managed to do with your mix by messing around with some EQ, multiband compression, and some saturation. I took away some of the cloudiness around 200 Hz and 800 Hz and smoothed out the top end abit.


.mp3    Unseen Remaster_TiPo.mp3 --  (Download: 6.26 MB)


Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer

Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
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#4
Hey Doug,

Thanks a lot ! Yeah, I always have a weakpoint in the bass/low mids, my monitor are very good but 5 inches is maybe a bit small and I may have an issue with my room, I'm in a corner... And my certainly my skill is a problem as well Big Grin
I clearly hear the diffence in you remaster, I will let my hear rest for one day or 2 and balance my bass again. Thanks again !
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#5
I'm listening again your remaster versus my version. I really like what you did, this a nice retrofit.
I will try to work the low end with the headphone, I clearly see your point with the bass now. Tbh I get rid of it, instead of trying to find its place.
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#6
Hey TiPa,

I compared your mix with the entombed sound, and yeah it was pretty close.
Your guitars are maybe more mushy than entombed's, and the snare needs more impact and clarity, as the vocals do too.
I'd back off overheads a bit, too.

Otherwise, some resonant frequencies in the 130-180 area needs more control, that's where guitars and bass are fighting.

Aside from that, it sounded not so bad (and way better than my try).
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