Dark Ride: 'Deny Control' BRUTAL!

[supep]

Hi!
This is my try, for the moment. I'm sure that is not finished on some things but I like to post to get some feedback.
Another time a really good song from this awesome band. Thanks for the tracks!!
Cheers!!

[aftercutrecords]

I like a lot of the choices you've made, and you feel like you're getting there. The screams are a little bit loud, but that's a taste thing. Overall, it's a little bit muddy and I just feel like there's some conflict from 100hz to 200hz where things could use their own special focus. For example, if you want the bass to really sit well around 100 to 200hz, then cuz those frequencies from the guitars and the kick and anything else like that. Same with vocals. Carve out some space for the vocals in the mix.
Some things to check out:
-100hz to 200hz. There's a LOT of drum, bass, and guitar here. All of that together creates the illusion of "cloudiness" or muddiness.
-2khz TO 4khz. The guitars and the snare and the kick and vocals all have content here. It's okay to cut some of that in one of those so that the others can breathe more.
-AIR. Everything over 6khz is rolled off pretty hard. You could do to literally just throw a high shelf on that and bring it up more, so long as there's no conflicts. The air is really missing. Cleaning up the upper mid 2khz to 4khz area might actually make more sense AFTER you have the air put in, because then everything will come forward way more and you'll be able to better hear the upper mid-range conflicts. Sounds weird, but in my experience it's true!


Those are my suggestions to you. It's not bad, it has a pretty good balance. There's just conflicts that keep it from feeling polished!

P.S. For reference, I'm listening on Presonus Eris E5's! So I'm probably hearing exactly what you're hearing, but in a different environment

[supep]

I like a lot of the choices you've made, and you feel like you're getting there. The screams are a little bit loud, but that's a taste thing. Overall, it's a little bit muddy and I just feel like there's some conflict from 100hz to 200hz where things could use their own special focus. For example, if you want the bass to really sit well around 100 to 200hz, then cuz those frequencies from the guitars and the kick and anything else like that. Same with vocals. Carve out some space for the vocals in the mix.
Some things to check out:
-100hz to 200hz. There's a LOT of drum, bass, and guitar here. All of that together creates the illusion of "cloudiness" or muddiness.
-2khz TO 4khz. The guitars and the snare and the kick and vocals all have content here. It's okay to cut some of that in one of those so that the others can breathe more.
-AIR. Everything over 6khz is rolled off pretty hard. You could do to literally just throw a high shelf on that and bring it up more, so long as there's no conflicts. The air is really missing. Cleaning up the upper mid 2khz to 4khz area might actually make more sense AFTER you have the air put in, because then everything will come forward way more and you'll be able to better hear the upper mid-range conflicts. Sounds weird, but in my experience it's true!


Those are my suggestions to you. It's not bad, it has a pretty good balance. There's just conflicts that keep it from feeling polished!

P.S. For reference, I'm listening on Presonus Eris E5's! So I'm probably hearing exactly what you're hearing, but in a different environment

Hey!!Thanks for your feedback. For me your comments are really values. I'm agree with all points that you comented, so I decide to make a rapid V2 mix trying to solve the problems.
-Snare, I remove a big quantity of 200Hz and I made a LPF on 12KHz, just to remove the upper air that for me is not normal on this kind of music.
-I automate the kick on the doubles notes trying to keep the low end on the same value.
-I set the cymbals and OH up about 2 o 3 db's to get the air of the song.
-I tried to fix the problems around 3 Khz on guitars, voices and bass (yes bass had a lot here hahahaha)
So I hope that this new try is a bit better that V1, but now are 7:00 in Spain and you know that in this hours you can take bad decissions 
Cheers!

[MATW]

I couldn`t listen to your mix on my usual setup because I´m on the road atm. But on the other side, a mix has to sound good on any system, so there`s that. Compared with V2, V1 sounds better on my setup. I like the energy, the guitars sound nice and full, drums are okay. The snare reverb doesn`t sound "right", it`s a bit too "artificial", but I love the fact that I can hear some of the ghost notes. My biggest problem with your mix isn`t the balance or too much 200hz, but the fact that some of the nice little details like the dive bomb on the guitar, the vocal solo or the feedback before the Breakdown are not really in the spot that they need to be. Same goes for the main solo (it feels a bit lackluster and not as big and powerful as It should be) and most of the tom rolls. Those little musical gems help keeping a song fresh and interesting, and they deserve more attention from a mixer.

Do an automation pass and fix that stuff, and you will have a good and solid mix. I think that it`s more important to get the balance right and squeeze every bit of emotion out of a mix (via automation), but most of the people only look at the sonical issues and end up with a flat, lifeless mix. As an example, the breakdown isn`t especially hitting me like a truck in your mix. I`m not feeling it, it doesn`t have an impact, it doesn`t move me. You can compare your mix with Bedlams mix where this is handled better: https://discussion.cambridge-mt.com/show...?tid=38889

You can create the same feeling by making the part before it smaller, panning the rhythm guitar more to the center and maybe even turn down the volume by 1-3 db (whatever feels right is right). The goal is to create tension. Add the feedback to bring in even more tension, and when the breakdown finally hits, both rhythm guitars are panned hard left and right again, making the breakdown sound big and wide. You can also raise the volume of the breakdown by 0,5 or even 1b so the limiter has to work harder to tame the song, making this part feel more "limited". Adjusting the volume of the verse, brigde and chorus throughout a song ("normal" verse, louder chorus, slightly louder 2nd verse, even louder 2nd chorus) is another old trick to add more excitement to a mix.