Storm Of Particles: 'Of Ice And Hopeless Fate' - Ak3r's Mix

[Ak3r]

So it's been a while since the last time that i mixed and posted something here, but finally i've found the time and the right song !!! So here's my take on mixing this track...As usual, any comment and suggestion is more than welcomed !!!

[DuraMorte]

This mix is good!
The vocals seem a little forward to me; it could just be me though.
You also fell into the "bass part during the solo is wrong" trap, as well. I had to edit it a lot to get the correct notes, if you care to listen to my version.
Did you use the original drums and guitars, or did you replace?
Overall, extremely well done!

[Ak3r]

This mix is good!
The vocals seem a little forward to me; it could just be me though.
You also fell into the "bass part during the solo is wrong" trap, as well. I had to edit it a lot to get the correct notes, if you care to listen to my version.
Did you use the original drums and guitars, or did you replace?
Overall, extremely well done!

Hey DuraMorte, thanks for your comment. Yeah i know the voice could be a little up front, but i dont like those that are buried in between guitars and all, with a huge reverb that makes them seem like they are at the bottom of a cavern XD , probably im having a bit more "pop" approach on this and giving the voice a little more importance than usually for this genre, but that's how i like it.

I notticed there was some harmony mess during the solo, that bass part, but i just didnt wanted to fix what should have been fixed while recording, just focused on purely "mixing"...I listened to ur mix and u did a good work with that not many have taken the time to do it.

About the replacements, If what u r asking is that i used the MIDI track for the drums, NO, i havent used it...in fact didnt notticed that was one until u mentioned it ^,^¡...I used DrumXchanger with the stock sounds for toms and a little library that I made for the snare...If u know how this plugin works, well in essence u can mix ur original sound with the sample...It gives a more natural feeling if u do it right, which is not always easy hehehe. For the kick drum i used the track, no MIDI, no DrumXchanger.

For the guitars i reamped both rythmn ones and the solo one, as the amped stereo tracks didnt work in the mix for me...Maybe its some phase issue but they doesnt cut thru the mix and u cannot understand them, they didnt work as i wanted them to. So reamped them with Ezmix sounds and then worked on em to get to the point where i liked it. For the lead parts of the guitar i used the track provided as it was mono and it worked and stood out on it's own, not like the stereo recorded ones.

So i guess that's all for now

Cheers

[thedon]

I think you have done a better job with the overall balance than I ended up with compared to some reference I can hear a touch too much reverb especially in the side channels and also on my mix .
Good job with the bottom and toms cut through nicely ,The lead and solo sounds a touch soft in context of the mix !
Can hear some low end build up ,maybe tame some ringing on the snare around 180-230 area and some frequencies with the keys and or the guitars around 350-450 area ?
The guitars and kick beater are a little upfront around the 3-5k area
The bottom end maybe a touch heavy below 50 hz ?
Here is quick version of you mix with some eq adjustments on my monitors but probably wrong as need to learn this genre of music !

Cheers

[Ak3r]

Hey Thedon, thanks for taking the time to have a listen. For this song i havent done any m-s processing as i usually do once i finish mixing the track, just a bit of multiband compression/expand and a bit limiting to avoid any possible peaks. The time of the reverbs that i've used for this track are around 4 seconds, seemed like it made everything fit into place, both kick and snare, a bit on guitars and of course the voice, so it's not completly dry, and makes all the instruments feel more "real". A problem that i've notticed in many mixes of this song is that it's too dry and that makes the song feel like if u r listening to a song recorded on the rehearsal room, it lacks some "quality", like that extra velvet-y something that makes everything feel smoother...I dont think that's too much in the context of the whole song with all the tracks playing, maybe doing some m-s processing might feel like that...I'll give it a try and see how it feels.

As for the rest, the low end on the snare as well as for the guitars, I needed to give some body to the snare, it sounds tiny in the original track and this is death metal, not black metal so u can always use some deeper snare, that's why u might hearing that, althought it's a bit lower, around 140hz, but it might a bit too much. The same thing applies to both guitars, u need some beef down there, it's not black metal, didnt wanted the song to sound tiny and thin, that's why...maybe with some mb compressing that can be tamed a lil bit. Around that 3-5khz area...well usually i like my mixes bright, i've found that compared to many (if not all...) the other mixes wich sounds completly opaque and dark to me, u need to use some air, and brigthness...And listening to refernce tracks from bands you can feel that...Most of the tracks that ppl mixes around here are too dark and have execisive low end with huge kick drums that masks and muds everything else...If you listen to "profesional" mixes as a reference u'll nottice that it's not like that at all, we all like the mix to sound extra huge and spectacular, but that's too much ^,^¡...
Speaking of that...Yeah i boosted a bit the low end, 50-60hz, it's always nice to feel that pump that comes with the kick drum, i like to feel that, that u r using the whole spectrum, but again...might be a bit too much but as i mixed this really quickly (barely 1 day) on my HD-25 headphones and just had a couple of listens on my genelecs but i dont have a proper studio room with/or a dedicated sub, that zone is always a bit of a bet and can easily be too much...Althought, compared to many mixes around here, my low end is starving and almost non existent hahaha XD
Finally, the lead and solo. Yes, both are a bit down, it's on porpouse. The lead goes many times at the same time as the vocals, so it just have to be a bit back, fit between the other guitars, give some filling and feeling but not be the main thing, at least that was my intention here, that's how i understood its function on the song. As for the solo...well, it isnt a perfect take at all...So i tried to mask it a lil bit with some reverb and delay and not beeing too upfront in the mix...If there was a perfect take, be sure that it'd have been louder and in a 1st plane hehe ^,^¡

So in ur track, yeah the guitars and snare fit with what u said, althought i miss the low end...Makes the song feel a little bit smaller...But all those fixes are definetly something that could be argued as a final mastering, with different ears and a different taste, so it's ok. Ur version is also louder and feels a bit more squished, seems to me that sometimes' a bit fatigueing and chokes the song a bit, althought it's metal and u can always get away with pretty extreme limiting parameters...But i like to keep it a bit more dinamic...Plus the floor noise is amplified, if u listen at the very begining. Thanks for taking the time to re-eq it ^,^, it's always great to hear what others think!!

Once again, thanks a lot for ur comment.

Cheers

[thedon]

Hey Thedon, thanks for taking the time to have a listen. For this song i havent done any m-s processing as i usually do once i finish mixing the track, just a bit of multiband compression/expand and a bit limiting to avoid any possible peaks. The time of the reverbs that i've used for this track are around 4 seconds, seemed like it made everything fit into place, both kick and snare, a bit on guitars and of course the voice, so it's not completly dry, and makes all the instruments feel more "real". A problem that i've notticed in many mixes of this song is that it's too dry and that makes the song feel like if u r listening to a song recorded on the rehearsal room, it lacks some "quality", like that extra velvet-y something that makes everything feel smoother...I dont think that's too much in the context of the whole song with all the tracks playing, maybe doing some m-s processing might feel like that...I'll give it a try and see how it feels.

As for the rest, the low end on the snare as well as for the guitars, I needed to give some body to the snare, it sounds tiny in the original track and this is death metal, not black metal so u can always use some deeper snare, that's why u might hearing that, althought it's a bit lower, around 140hz, but it might a bit too much. The same thing applies to both guitars, u need some beef down there, it's not black metal, didnt wanted the song to sound tiny and thin, that's why...maybe with some mb compressing that can be tamed a lil bit. Around that 3-5khz area...well usually i like my mixes bright, i've found that compared to many (if not all...) the other mixes wich sounds completly opaque and dark to me, u need to use some air, and brigthness...And listening to refernce tracks from bands you can feel that...Most of the tracks that ppl mixes around here are too dark and have execisive low end with huge kick drums that masks and muds everything else...If you listen to "profesional" mixes as a reference u'll nottice that it's not like that at all, we all like the mix to sound extra huge and spectacular, but that's too much ^,^¡...
Speaking of that...Yeah i boosted a bit the low end, 50-60hz, it's always nice to feel that pump that comes with the kick drum, i like to feel that, that u r using the whole spectrum, but again...might be a bit too much but as i mixed this really quickly (barely 1 day) on my HD-25 headphones and just had a couple of listens on my genelecs but i dont have a proper studio room with/or a dedicated sub, that zone is always a bit of a bet and can easily be too much...Althought, compared to many mixes around here, my low end is starving and almost non existent hahaha XD
Finally, the lead and solo. Yes, both are a bit down, it's on porpouse. The lead goes many times at the same time as the vocals, so it just have to be a bit back, fit between the other guitars, give some filling and feeling but not be the main thing, at least that was my intention here, that's how i understood its function on the song. As for the solo...well, it isnt a perfect take at all...So i tried to mask it a lil bit with some reverb and delay and not beeing too upfront in the mix...If there was a perfect take, be sure that it'd have been louder and in a 1st plane hehe ^,^¡

So in ur track, yeah the guitars and snare fit with what u said, althought i miss the low end...Makes the song feel a little bit smaller...But all those fixes are definetly something that could be argued as a final mastering, with different ears and a different taste, so it's ok. Ur version is also louder and feels a bit more squished, seems to me that sometimes' a bit fatigueing and chokes the song a bit, althought it's metal and u can always get away with pretty extreme limiting parameters...But i like to keep it a bit more dinamic...Plus the floor noise is amplified, if u listen at the very begining. Thanks for taking the time to re-eq it ^,^, it's always great to hear what others think!!

Once again, thanks a lot for ur comment.

Cheers

Your welcome

Cheers