Discussion Zone

First post from the nOOb here. Just want to say this is a great site! And a wealth of info – so awesome! I've been lurking and reading for a while now, but finally made an account and thought I'd add to the glorious melodic death metal discussion if you'll let me.

This band is awesome by the way! \m/ This is the first I've heard of Cnoc An Tursa.... The ¼ Scotsman in me goes *gurgle

There are many good mixes of "Bannockburn" I've heard so far, but I haven't gotten thru all of the posts in this section so forgive me. I really like Niklas90's first mix the most because maybe I hear my own style in the tone of it?

Well, just so this post doesn't get too long, I'll make a second post to describe what I really did here (and because I love to blab about recording).... Curious to hear all your thoughts, just be gentle

Second post as promised \m/ I hope that this discussion forum is really for sharing a bit too much, because it's gonna be a long one so buckle up! (most everything I'll talk about is in general, because we're probably all thinking the same things here....)

I'm a manufacturing engineer by day, metal-head by night. Home studio in the basement - nothing too extensive, but a small respectable bit of gear that gets the job done. (shameless plug – ceomastering.com). I've been in the New England (USA) music scene for years, just never had the time to really focus solely on sound engineering. Being in a band was great, and afforded me the pleasure of working with some great engineers, most notable being Jeff Gilmer – producer of Torment by Staind, and FOH / live sound for Saint Asonia. I'm mostly a modern rock guy, so this was my first attempt at melodic death metal... my interpretation anyways...

Onto the song.... Bannockburn.

I have to agree with Mike Senior and what he has to say in the "About This Multitrack" almost verbatim, so I wont repeat that. I actually didn't read that post first, and only after I mixed my version did I see what he had to say, and was agreeing and thinking “he read my mind!”. There are still a few spots in my mix that I need to tweak, but overall I'm pretty happy with it on a variety of speaker systems.

Overall I tried to keep my usual modern-metal "rip your face off" shred-tastic kind of mix, using Logic Pro X and many of it's standard plug-ins, then only a few select Waves, Chris Lord Alge, and Steven Slate plug-ins. Then a quick master using Logic again, but with some Ozone plugins. Estimated 8hrs total on this mix.

I also try to have everything in balance and not one thing overpower the rest. I guess being in a band trying to please everyone “hearing their part” has helped in that way?

I started out my first trial at this song going "by the book" and the mix sounded like poo I wont share that one with you. lol. So then I just went with my gut (errr... ears rather) and tried a few unconventional things... I had to do a lot of mixing using my headphones *gasp* because I connect from work to my home computer using Splashtop Streamer (check it out, it's really handy!).

The drums I only used the sample snare, then everything else is a blend of Steven Slate and the bands acoustic drum kit. Kick, snare, toms and cymbals bussed individually, then parallel compression on the master drum bus, send to a bit of verb. I've gotten into the habit of using a ton of compression and highpass filter on the cymbals bus for metal.

Rhythm guitars and lead guitars were bussed separately. And they only got CLA Guitars with a very mild compression. But I did use Guitar Rig on the DI tracks to bring out a bit more articulation, and the used the mic'ed tracks for the fuzz.

Bass DI was kept as-is with a medium compressor setting. Mic'ed bass was mildly comp'd, then a hi-pass and then a distortion pedal used to make it even more dirty. Those two tracks bussed and comp'd once more.

I used the synth and voice tracks as more of an enhancement rather than a lead. Didn't feel that it needed to be the focus like Children of Bodom or the likes.

I should have spent more time mastering because it's just a bit harsh and smashed, but compared to the reference tracks it was pretty spot on (Soilwork, Gojira).

Anyways, feel free to comment and let me know what you're thinking!

It sounds overcompressed and distorted. And I really, really doubt that Soilwork or Gojira sound harsh and compressed So I did a quick check with L'enfant Sauvage and it was very obvious that your mix lacks low mids (maybe because someone on the internet told you to always cut 400hz from guitars/bass?) and therefore sounds weak and fizzy compared with Gojiras latest album. Same goes for Spectrum of Eternity from Soilwork - both songs have a lot of controlled low end/low mids that is missing in your mix.

A tip: Distorted guitars don't need compression - they are allready compressed by nature (just take a look at the waveform). I really don't know why you compress distorted guitars because they don't have THAT much movement and need to be tamed like e.g. a bass or snare.

Thanks for your opinion.