02-04-2017, 04:24 AM (This post was last modified: 07-04-2017, 12:52 PM by dcp10200.)
Love the riffs on this one, reminds me of a more modern take on Holy Diver (if Killswitch and Breaking Benjamin teamed up)! Here's my first draft on this mix done between running some errands and a dinner gig (I play in a concert band and every so often we provide dinner music for different groups in the community), I'm going to do a proper run through tomorrow and refine what I've got going on when my ears are fresh. The leads definitely need some ironing out level wise and a touch of eq on the mono bits during the solo, same with the backups. Feel free leave some comments and suggestions.
Cheers,
Doug
Update: I took Blitzzz's advice and backed off some low end in the mix, I had been using a Pul Tec EQ1Pa emultaion on my master buss which enhanced the low end too much (along with my low end boost on the kick and bass) so I removed that and made some adustments in the mix overall. The bass is automated in the chuggy sections to that it doesn't interfere too much, the kick runs now have a 70 Hz highpass on them and a touch more lows, the normal kick has less low end added to it to make it fit better, the toms are now eq'd and compressed to help them fit better and are panned wider, the master buss also has less compression and an SSL Master buss emulation on it rather than my usual Neve emulation.
Update 2: Here is my second mix without limiter and other processing as per Maxine's recommendation. It's still 16 bit MP3 but atleast there's no limiting.
Update 3: This time I used the KSE Cover of Holy Diver as a reference mix, this mix is a ground up mix and like last time I've included the unmastered mix as well as a Faux Master (The mix boosted 6 dB by the Drumforge LaBrosse It! Plugin on the masterbuss into Waves L1 as my dither and to prevent any overs).
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
What's up here lately with people rating a mix but not leaving any comments?
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
03-04-2017, 12:17 PM (This post was last modified: 03-04-2017, 12:19 PM by wesleyamltd.)
Feel free leave some comments and suggestions.
Cheers,
Doug
[/quote]
KSE does do a Holy Diver cover.
This sounds good to me.
I have aesthetic commits only.
I can see how we focus on different things based on our mixes.
I like the bass energy of your kick but not the character of it.
The RHYGTRS seem to be the focus of your mix, I viewed them as a supporting role and made the synth the main instrument besides the vocals.
I think the backing synths during the chorus really help to create a huge soundscape and when they're attenuated in the mix that part has less impact.
Your Toms sound close together and the fill becomes unintelligible.
03-04-2017, 05:03 PM (This post was last modified: 04-04-2017, 09:11 AM by Blitzzz.)
The mix has too much low-end oomph compared with the master (which was mastered by Ermin Hamidovic) and other commercial songs. Leads are too loud, and the kick has not enough oomph in the fast double bass parts and too much in the slower ones. the easy fix for a doublebass parts: use a low shelf at 150-200 Hz with a -3db cut and activate it every time the drummer plays a doublebass part. That should work for the slower doublebass parts and also for the faster ones because both of them raise the voulme of the kick by 3-4 db compared with a single kick hit.
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
(03-04-2017, 05:03 PM)Blitzzz Wrote: The mix has too much low-end oomph compared with the master (which was mastered by Ermin Hamidovic) and other commercial songs. Leads are too loud, and the kick has not enough oomph in the fast double bass parts and too much in the slower ones. the build up should be roughly the same with both double bass tempos (about 3-4 dB). just use a low shelf at 150-200 Hz with a 3db cut and activate it every time our drummer plays double bass.
Thanks Blitzzz, I had a listen out in my car and noticed the mix was pretty low end heavy, I took your advice with this new revision and turned the leads down and automated down the rhythm guitars a bit.
Cheers,
Doug
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
(03-04-2017, 12:17 PM)wesleyamltd Wrote: Feel free leave some comments and suggestions.
Cheers,
Doug
KSE does do a Holy Diver cover.
This sounds good to me.
I have aesthetic commits only.
I can see how we focus on different things based on our mixes.
I like the bass energy of your kick but not the character of it.
The RHYGTRS seem to be the focus of your mix, I viewed them as a supporting role and made the synth the main instrument besides the vocals.
I think the backing synths during the chorus really help to create a huge soundscape and when they're attenuated in the mix that part has less impact.
Your Toms sound close together and the fill becomes unintelligible.
Dude I got to know, what is a "faux master"?
BTW thanks for your feedback on my mix. Cheers.
[/quote]
Thanks Wes, if your wondering what a Faux Master is, it's basically me throwing a limiter and minor multiband compression and eq on the mixdown so that it's loud enough to be played on different systems. I don't really want to call it an actual master because it really isn't. Contrary to popular belief, slapping a limiter on the mixbuss and crushing the track isn't mastering ;P. Hope that clears that up.
For me the synths aren't the focus because of the sounds used, they're basically string and horn pads, they're meant to be the "air" around the track to add that extra bit of atmosphere and drama to the mix while the rhythm section drives the track. For my new revision I did push up the arpeggiated synth during the verses to change it up a bit.
I already know about the Killswitch cover of Holy Diver, one of the few bands that does Dio justice and keeps that tradional sound but updates it with lower tuning, heavier vocals, and a more polished sounding production. I think the Breaking Benjamin thing is more to do with the kinds of synths used here. Anyhow I'm starting to ramble!
Cheers,
Doug
Mixing is way more art and soul than science. We don’t really know what we’re doing. We do it because we love music! It’s the love of music first. Eddie Kramer
Gear list: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, Mbox Mini w/Pro Tools Express, Reaper, Various plugins, AKG K240 MKii, Audio Technica ATH M50x, Yorkville YSM 6
Just so you know most of your feedback was correct. I listened to my mix in my car and had lots of low mid build up and not enough lows and the synths were somewhat high. I have to address my room and see what I'm missing. I thinking about boosting the mids on the back of my HS5 by 2 db. so that I won't feel the need to crush that area. IDK, its a long steady work in progress. Anyways I thought you should know.
