-Drums were...okay...but I wanted it to be huge. In a metal song, the bigger, the better. So I added some samples of my own to bring those drums to life.
-Bass was automated for the solo, and I cut the amp sim that I had to bring out those pops and slides. What a cool solo.
-Guitars were straightforward. Nothing a bit of EQ, a clipper and some limiting won't fix.
-Vocals were also straightforward. I wanted to add some definition to the unclean vocals.
-Mastering was a bit of EQ, 2 limiters, a compressor and some saturation to make the song really pop.
04-05-2021, 01:30 PM (This post was last modified: 05-05-2021, 11:59 AM by Blitzzz.)
Hey Brandon, thank you for your mix. I like the overall balance and the tonality, but there are several decisions that didn't really let me enjoy this mix. And sorry if this comment sounds harsh, I do not want to criticize you personally. I just noticed right away that drum hits are missing and somehow all the nuances on the snare have completely disappeared. Dirk had asked me before the recordings to preserve his performance as much as possible, and therefore I pay special attention to it.
So with this in mind, the biggest problem was the decision to use samples, or to be more precise, how you are using them. Most professional metal mixers go a long way to make sure the drums still sound natural and that ghost notes and other small details are still there when they add samples to the mix. They also make sure to keep most of the dynamics and the intensity of the original performance. If you watch a video of Joey Sturgis replacing each drum hit manually and with different velocity layers, then you know that this attention to detail is necessary not to destroy a drum performance like Dirks on this song.
My guess is that you used Trigger to replace the original drums, but you didn't double-check the real performance with the resampled one. If you do this, you will notice that almost all of the ghost notes are gone in your mix and that some snare and kick hits are also not present, probably because they weren't loud enough to get over the internal threshold of Trigger (or whatever Plugin you are using).
Thanks for the feedback. As far as the samples go, I replaced just the samples that was provided and EQ/compressed/limited/clipped the rest. I totally agree that the samples didn't highlight the ghost notes, and I think I should have done a much better job at having that more pronounced in the mix. Then again, I traded off a performance with a sound and chose poorly. Noting to myself here: bigger drums doesn't always equate to better.
As for your criticsm, it is duly noted. I've had way worse criticisms in the past, but I take that as a learning experience.
I'll go back later on and re-do the drums to really make them pop and shine...in a metal way...and fix some stuff that, in my opinion, I could have done better.
Thanks again for the suggestions and for listening!
06-05-2021, 01:04 PM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2021, 01:05 PM by Blitzzz.)
I was a bit afraid of your answer because I didn't know if you would be upset. It's never easy to be criticized, especially if you put your own free time into something without getting anything for it. As for the drums: Might be a good idea to listen to them without the rest and take notes of all the small details that might be worth a shot in the spotlight. As far as I can remember, I did several automation passes for the drums, just to bring special cymbal hits, tom rolls or ghost notes into the forefront of the mix for a brief moment. Doing fader rides on this track felt extremely rewarding, because you have the rare opportunity to highlight some of the crazy stuff Dirk is playing. This will give the listener something new to discover every time he listens to the song. Just don't overdo it, or you will end up with a "Listen how good I can play my instrument"-type of song.
You did bring up some great points, and some really good suggestions, and I take them to heart. So thank you for that as well.
Here's version 2. I brought out the ghost notes and the snare hits on the blast beats a bit more, turned up the ride on a really cool fill, and did some fine tuning everywhere else. I also had to change the EQ curve on the mastering chain due to these changes, but it was a small change. Hope this is way better than my first attempt.
The whole mix seems to get bogged down in the low end, and the snare especially sounds kind of papery. The guitars could definitely do to have more aggressive midrange, though I like how clean the high end is. I just feel like the guitars could be more aggressive there!
The bass solo EXISTS though and that's amazing! I like it.
Overall, pretty well balanced mix, the snare is just kinda splatty and the upper midrange kinda got scooped. At least the low mids aren't too scooped
Thanks for the feedback. The low end and the upper mid range was probably my mistake during mastering. I'll fix that in version 3. As far as the snare, I tried re-triggering it and it ended in disaster, so I kept the samples provided and did simple EQ and compression. Think of the Pearl Alien Freak snare sound (I freaking LOVE that snare!) but with a bit more snare buzz to add to the ghost notes. At this point, I'm not really sure what to do to the snare to make it sound 1. like an actual snare and 2. make it not suck...like my last mix. XD If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
