Hollow Ground - Left Blind: Really good hardcore with metal guitars

[Blitzzz]

It was one of my first mixes on this forum. Everything I did was based on guides and stuff that others told me that I had to do like reverb on the vocals and those kind of things. I would mix this song totally different nowadays but I would always, always, always go for power and emotion instead of making a mix clean and transparent to a point where you completely suck the life out of it. drums too low? yes, some people on this forum would turn them up. I woulnd't because they are not the main source of power of this song (for me, it's the guitars). Guitar sound wrong? as long as it's heay as shit I don't care if someone thinks a recto is not the right tone. The more stuff I learn, the more mixes I hear, the more I learn that it's not about the right tone or stuff, it's only about power, movement and emotion.

[dcp10200]

Fair enough, for me I find that the driving force in most modern metal is the double kicks, bass guitar and rhythm guitar. The guitar tone you attained is really good, for my taste it's a little scooped, but it works for the track which is the important part after all! The power is in the mix but I find that the tom drone is really distracting and takes away from the overall tight and polished sound of the rest of the track. It's like a chef doing all he can to make a gourmet meal but then serving it from a styrofoam cup if that makes sence. Great job otherwise.

[Blitzzz]

Yeah the toms... I would probably use a C4 to tame the build up around 100-200hz. and then clip the living shit out of them =)

[Konek]

Hi Blitzzz! Really punchy mix, i liked Great work with the kick.
I'd have made the voice more dry, but it's only matter of my taste.

[jeffssoloband]

This song is for the moshpit, and only for the moshpit. Amen.

Hey, if you're still listening to to this thread... I can't tell from your pics... what did you do to the bass guitar for that sound? You've got it nailed, and I cannot figure it out.

[Blitzzz]

No problem, I've opened the old project for you. To my surprise, there wasn't much stuff on the channels. I doubled the bass track and put VCC and an SSL channelstrip on my "BassAmp"-track (you can see the settings in the pictures). On my "Bass distortion" track I use VCC and EZmix with a preset from Andy Sneaps EZmix-Addon called "90s Rock Bass". That preset is one of my go to bass sounds when I record my own Fender jazz bass and it just works nine out of ten times. Both tracks go into a Bass bus with an LA-2A compressing 1-2 db and Waves Bass rider doing some of the automation work for me. That's it.

Nowadays I would probably write my volume automation manually and use different plugins but in the end its just a little bit of eq & compression. Okay, and setting up a second track with a distorted bass tone and use that to beef up the original bass track.

[andres_g]

I liked the mix, really in your face feeling, at first i think it was too punchy but after a while i get the taste of it, it was really cool hearing others people mixes, nice guitar sounds, i've posted a mix of this song if you want to listen to it, and tell me what you think.

cheers Blitzzz

[javierpg84]

I tried to keep it in the same ballpark as their other song "ill fate" but the drums were awful compared with their first song.

Besides all the mixing, fixing and automation'ing I´ve also added a real intro to this song because the tom roll was way too short =)

My goal was to mix this song in your face, aggressive and punchy. This song is not for whimps and posers or for the hifidelitist. This song is for the moshpit, and only for the moshpit. Amen.

Holy smokes!!! This mix is soooo heavy!!! Great job Blitzzz!!! Your mix is Meshuggah certified

[Blitzzz]

Meshugggah certified? =)