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Burning Bridges - HB Mix
#1
Not being a heavy metal aficionado (more alt/punk/blues rock) i think I've taken this as far as i can without some outside input.

I used Metallica's Death Magnetic as a reference, especially the track "That was just your Life". Probably not the right sub genre, but its all I had.

I used it to double check my overall tonality and frequency spectrum. It certainly helped me make sense of the drums....i aint used to anything so FAST....crazy kick drum...the drummer must be some sort of iron man!

Lots of decisions could have gone either way, namely snare and kick levels plus BGV levels (whooas at end of 1st guitar solo).

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New Version - Mix_02 to address feedback......uploaded down below

Complete blow torch, rebuild and re-balance using new reference tracks (Killswitch Engage)......Don't bother listening to Mix_01...Go straight to Mix_02 on page 2

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New Version - Mix_03. Slight mods to bottom end EQ



.mp3    Burning Bridges_HB_Mix_01.mp3 --  (Download: 8.78 MB)


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#2
Hi!

In general you got a nice balance but I think is a bit muddy.
Probably you EQ a lot the GTR on that range department or on bass...
There is like a lack of stereo image also.
Nice drum sound, like the snare, kick could be more punchy for this king of genre IMO Smile

All best

Jacques Moretti
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#3
Cheers mate,

you definitely have the skills to mix this song but a ref track from Metallicas "squashed to death" album was a real bad choice. Burning Bridges wasn't supposed to sound like a metal song without mids Smile

As a result your mix sounds very harsh and thin (on my AKG's 271 in the studio) - just like Metallicas Death Magnetic. The guitars completely lost their warm character, the snare is too compressed, the kick is buried in the mix - i can't even hear it in the vers. This is bad because the kick really drives the groove together with the rhythm guitars, especially in the chorus.

If you want to hear how this song was supposed to sound check this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPW9AbRMwFU
For kick/bass/snare/guitar levels in fast parts check the fast parts of this song: http://youtu.be/Vn3WKmyprEo?t=15s
Those two songs are much better ref tracks then anything from Metallicas "Death Magnetic". The recorded guitar tracks are very, very close to the guitar sound from My Curse from Killswitch Engage ... to a point where you can't hear a difference. I have made a comparison on soundcloud so you can check it for yourself. The riff in the following example runs 4 times and is changing between original Killswitch guitar sound (1st & 3rd run) and the sound that was used for Burning Bridges (2nd & 4th): https://soundcloud.com/darkridemetal/mycurse-kemper1

I have allready written this in another thread: If you want to mix this song you don't have to tweak much. You don't need a lot of EQ - in fact you can mix this song with hi/lowcut filters and fader rides and it will sound great. You can leave most of the tracks uncompressed and with little to no eq at all and the song will come together nicely if you move those faders. that's what mixing is about =)

Add A LITTLE BIT of reverb or delay on the vocals and spice up the solos and it's done. Just make sure that every chorus hits hard (again, fader rides will do the trick) and don't use too much compression on the 2-buss. 2-3 db will do the trick. Don't squash it to death with an Ozone preset or FG-X.

Hope that helps.


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#4
(10-08-2014, 12:09 PM)Jacques Wrote: Hi!

In general you got a nice balance but I think is a bit muddy.
Probably you EQ a lot the GTR on that range department or on bass...
There is like a lack of stereo image also.
Nice drum sound, like the snare, kick could be more punchy for this king of genre IMO Smile

All best

Jacques Moretti

Hi Jacques...thanks for your comments and feedback. I wasn't sure about kick level myself either originally...but got some good ideas from Blitzzz so I'll give it another whirl.

regarding stereo image....and apparent lack thereof....I'm intrigued how you figured that...by ear or by meter? The mix is pulling 0.3-0.4 on the phase meter for most of the song..which is pretty damn good (1.0 = mono)...and its as wide if not wider than the mixes i listened to...i downloaded them and checked them all in my DAW.

cheers
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#5
(10-08-2014, 01:35 PM)Blitzzz Wrote: Cheers mate,

you definitely have the skills to mix this song but a ref track from Metallicas "squashed to death" album was a real bad choice. Burning Bridges wasn't supposed to sound like a metal song without mids Smile

As a result your mix sounds very harsh and thin (on my AKG's 271 in the studio) - just like Metallicas Death Magnetic. The guitars completely lost their warm character, the snare is too compressed, the kick is buried in the mix - i can't even hear it in the vers. This is bad because the kick really drives the groove together with the rhythm guitars, especially in the chorus.

If you want to hear how this song was supposed to sound check this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPW9AbRMwFU
For kick/bass/snare/guitar levels in fast parts check the fast parts of this song: http://youtu.be/Vn3WKmyprEo?t=15s
Those two songs are much better ref tracks then anything from Metallicas "Death Magnetic".

Hope that helps.

Hey Blitzzz, thanks for your comments and feedback. Those reference tracks you've listed are great ... thanks for that - sorry if i made your song sound like Metallica (lol)..

The funny thing is that my initial rough mix had a much more prominent kick but i changed it once I started working to my references.

Back to the drawing board
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#6
Maybe this post here will help you too Smile

http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...p?tid=5610 (you have to scroll down)
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#7
(10-08-2014, 05:24 PM)HbGuitar Wrote:
(10-08-2014, 12:09 PM)Jacques Wrote: Hi!

In general you got a nice balance but I think is a bit muddy.
Probably you EQ a lot the GTR on that range department or on bass...
There is like a lack of stereo image also.
Nice drum sound, like the snare, kick could be more punchy for this king of genre IMO Smile

All best

Jacques Moretti

Hi Jacques...thanks for your comments and feedback. I wasn't sure about kick level myself either originally...but got some good ideas from Blitzzz so I'll give it another whirl.

regarding stereo image....and apparent lack thereof....I'm intrigued how you figured that...by ear or by meter? The mix is pulling 0.3-0.4 on the phase meter for most of the song..which is pretty damn good (1.0 = mono)...and its as wide if not wider than the mixes i listened to...i downloaded them and checked them all in my DAW.

cheers

By ear but maybe it was just and impression that it could be wider, I don't really know why I said but I've got that feel...probably wrong feel Wink

All best

Jacques
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#8
(10-08-2014, 05:38 PM)HbGuitar Wrote:
(10-08-2014, 01:35 PM)Blitzzz Wrote: Cheers mate,

you definitely have the skills to mix this song but a ref track from Metallicas "squashed to death" album was a real bad choice. Burning Bridges wasn't supposed to sound like a metal song without mids Smile

As a result your mix sounds very harsh and thin (on my AKG's 271 in the studio) - just like Metallicas Death Magnetic. The guitars completely lost their warm character, the snare is too compressed, the kick is buried in the mix - i can't even hear it in the vers. This is bad because the kick really drives the groove together with the rhythm guitars, especially in the chorus.

If you want to hear how this song was supposed to sound check this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPW9AbRMwFU
For kick/bass/snare/guitar levels in fast parts check the fast parts of this song: http://youtu.be/Vn3WKmyprEo?t=15s
Those two songs are much better ref tracks then anything from Metallicas "Death Magnetic".

Hope that helps.

Hey Blitzzz, thanks for your comments and feedback. Those reference tracks you've listed are great ... thanks for that - sorry if i made your song sound like Metallica (lol)..

The funny thing is that my initial rough mix had a much more prominent kick but i changed it once I started working to my references.

Back to the drawing board

You can make this song sound like anyhting you want Smile It's your time and your mix, not mine =) I´m just here to give some feedback because it's the only song on this board where I know exactly how it should sound, hahaha Smile But again, you can do whatever you want. Mixing is an art, there is no right or wrong. Btw. takka 360 did a real good mix - you might want to check it out and ask him how he did it.

http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...662&page=2 (scroll down to the last post)
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#9
(11-08-2014, 01:13 AM)Blitzzz Wrote: You can make this song sound like anyhting you want Smile It's your time and your mix, not mine =) I´m just here to give some feedback because it's the only song on this board where I know exactly how it should sound, hahaha Smile But again, you can do whatever you want. Mixing is an art, there is no right or wrong. Btw. takka 360 did a real good mix - you might want to check it out and ask him how he did it.

http://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/showt...662&page=2 (scroll down to the last post)

Hey Blitzzz - No worries....Its all good. I've never mixed a metal song before so its a real challenge.....but I'm all about getting it right...or at least where I'm happy and the result is a decent version of a genre, albeit my own take on it. After all, each mixer has their own taste and that's why artists choose particular mixing and mastering engineers.

Its not often we get feedback from the artist, so its gold as far as I'm concerned.......you know what it should sound like....and I'll do my best with my particular skill sets to figure it out.....I'm having a blast with it.

Ive checked out takkas mix plus a couple others and have those as references too. New mix due shortly.

Cheers mate


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#10
(10-08-2014, 11:57 PM)Jacques Wrote: By ear but maybe it was just and impression that it could be wider, I don't really know why I said but I've got that feel...probably wrong feel Wink

All best

Jacques

No worries Jacques....impressions are important and one should trust them...you probably quite correctly deduced that the mix wasn't quite right......I've taken a blow torch to it nowWink
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