I read the damned sticky afterwards, so in this case probably not what they would want ... oops.
Dug the tune quite a bit, reminds me of a more extreme version of Masterplan and something more.
Had fun and added a guitar fake intro, There were some slightly tricky parts due to volumes and tones but all and all I am pleased with the end result.
I am slightly confused by why I can not get a OH sound I dig, they sound very thin and tinny.
Mix was done on a laptop and cheapo Alesis monitors and a ton of VST usage.
Greetings from the new guy in the community here.
Sounds great!
For my taste: there's a bit hum in kick and it cuts through the whole mix, it's also a bit too loud especially in fast kick parts. Maybe some boost in 4k area to add snap and take out few dB's in some parts?
Idea in the intro is great! there's something weird happening in right side at the end of the intro. Maybe some tweaking to intro so the change to "big sound" would be smoother, hope you understand
Your bass sounds great, it cuts through perfectly without creating any excessive hum to the entirety.
Overall I think this is balanced and great "in your face" type of mix. All instruments glue together and sounds great.
(27-01-2015, 09:53 AM)Arskalam Wrote: [ -> ]Sounds great!
For my taste: there's a bit hum in kick and it cuts through the whole mix, it's also a bit too loud especially in fast kick parts. Maybe some boost in 4k area to add snap and take out few dB's in some parts?
Idea in the intro is great! there's something weird happening in right side at the end of the intro. Maybe some tweaking to intro so the change to "big sound" would be smoother, hope you understand
Your bass sounds great, it cuts through perfectly without creating any excessive hum to the entirety.
Overall I think this is balanced and great "in your face" type of mix. All instruments glue together and sounds great.
Thanks a ton for the input, I will scrutinize and make the recommend alterations later today. I do not have any good over-ear headphones as a comparison anymore (thanks to a beagle).
I kept loosing the kick in certain areas, Specifically in the big single hit areas and the double bass areas. I could roll the guitars back but that kinda defeats being a metal song. I will look at that 4k boost and volume drop... seems like a good alternative. I do not hear the "hum" but we will check that out later.
I do see a dilemma with distorted vocal double bass section, the bass is very busy in a "noisy" section of the song. It is hard to figure out what priority to give.
kick has to much "ooomph". every time the double kick rolls in it sounds like a helicopter and totally dominates the mix. also, the mix sounds distorted, especially in the bridge before the 2nd chorus. For me it's way too much "vst usage" where it isn't needed. I always wonder why so many people try to push this song into a totally different "soundframe". Just get the volume levels right (which is hard enough imho because you have to automate the hell out of every track to get it right), make solid pan decisions and focus on the song, not on how much eq the guitars or kick or snare can take until they totally loose their character. Do you think the last chorus really hits as hard as it should be? what do you think will the solo guitarist tell you if he hears that the second part of the solo is buried underneath a "wooohooo"-part that was only there to support the solo? Is there any level automation at all or is every track at the same level throughout the whole song? and why didn't you highlight some of the small details (snare fills, guitar licks) to make the song more interesting? A good example is the small snare fill at 0:55 or the short rhythm guitar intro before the 2nd chorus at 1:48.
Blitzzz,
Great song first off. I actually quite enjoy it.
Being frank with you, the wall of guitar is the epitome of metal music and definitely how the tracks came. I tried to work with that and around that primarily. The woof of a loud bass in the mix kills things for me.
I utterly agree with the double being a bit... shall we say LOUD. I tweaked the mix I was doing and will either restart or move on. You definitely know your stuff and are helpful in critique.
and in honest reply to your questions
Do you think the last chorus really hits as hard as it should be?
To me choruses are the catchy parts and typically hit the same per song, its a variation of writing that I honestly never considered.
What do you think will the solo guitarist tell you if he hears that the second part of the solo is buried underneath a "wooohooo"-part that was only there to support the solo?
I would wonder why it seemed the same as the back tracks from the chorus and was assuming it was implying the chorus part with added melody. Then change it to make them happy
Finally,
there was no automation, I am new to cubase and usually split tracks and change volumes on the cuts. I really need to learn that and thank you for bring that to my attention.
Last but not least, there are some absolutely dreadful versions of this song all over Soundcloud. Which is why I posted this early in the game. Otherwise, I would be remixing it for about 6 months until it sounded like the first damned mix again without realizing it
I´m just some guy from a town which you probably never heard before who reads a lot about mixing
That beeing said I really recommend Ermins Systematic Mixing Guide if you want to mix more metal/rock stuff.
http://www.systematicproductions.com/mixing-guide.htm
what's important though: if somebody tells you that cutting the mids from the guitars is a good idea you should always take those advices with a grain of salt. It all depends on how YOUR guitar tracks sound. same goes for every other instrument, plugin or effect.
And i bet you haven't used a reference track in your mix? Just load some pro mixes of similar bands/songs right into your project and compare your low end with the pro mixes. this alone can teach you a lot about how the low end should sound.
my advice would be to start from scratch and only use panning and automation - nothing else. no eq, no compressor, no reverb, no delay. the tracks are allready in a good shape and you only need to low-/hipass stuff to get the mix in the right ballpark. automation is the key to get a good mix - e.g. you don't need to eq the rhythm & melody guitars to make them work together - just turn down the volume of the rhythm guitars when the melody comes in.
here is a nice interview with andy wallace that you might wanna give a read:
http://therecordingrevolution.com/2014/0...y-wallace/
Thanks! great links to check out. Appreciated.
You nailed a few great ideas for me, thank you for taking the time. TO save my sanity I am going to take a break from the song and re-approach in the near future.