The Black Crown: Flames [OoF]

[OctopusOnFire]

The reference for this mix was super loud and aggressive, so I went with that.
I didn't use any additions such as samples (a bit pointless since drums were already sampled) or reamping. What I did was applying some fuzz distortion to the guitar DIs and panning them hard L/R to blend with the amp tracks. Other than that, it's all EQ, comp and distortion. A bit of delay-verb to the vocals, mostly on choruses. 

I applied further eq, compression and distortion in the mix bus and slammed it against a clipper and limiter. 

I had fun with this one, That was the main objective   . Tried to make the best I could, but I didn't play it safe at all. I hope you enjoy listening to it as well. Please let me know how you feel about it, what you like, what you don't, or any other question regarding the mix.

[mikej]

Hi!

How do I feel about it, what do I like and what I don't?

I like this track - my past attempts at mixing this so far all really suck though . I recall it somehow being a complete nightmare.

This mix certainly doesn't suck and I enjoyed the listen. Big spacious drums, big guitars, big spacious vocals. 6.1 LUFS is impressive too. I thought it was loud but not quite that loud! Good stuff. I think loud adds that bit of edge to this kind of material. I feel if you can get it that loud without it completely falling apart then the mix is likely in good shape.

I have the following thoughts. (Note these are not by any means criticisms as such - hard to convey that sometimes I think on here). It's been a while since I have attempted this one and I don't really remember the raw tracks.

Not sure if I feel I want the 2-4k ish of the guitar reigning in just a touch. You do want the edginess and aggression you got. With everything so big I wonder if maybe the drums could be a little less wide and a touch more focused. I don't know if the guitar needs eq'ing a bit more to make room for some of the drums, bass and vocal. Hard to explain. I think the thing is that with everything being big, loud and bombastic (a good thing!) - I also feel it needs a main focus or anchor to match. At the moment I think the anchor is kind of the guitar, but I feel I maybe want a really solid kick (or bass, or vocal). Like the bit around the 3 minute mark I think I would like to hear a really solid centered kick drum (maybe hear a touch more low end on it) and have everything else kind of hanging on/around that? Maybe everything is just a little too spacious, and needs to be a little drier or something? Not sure this is making any sense? It's maybe just a taste thing. I am also not into this genre of music deep enough to be really making calls on taste really. Certainly I could not name any other bands that I think it should sound like. As I said just some thoughts. The last guitar sound cuts off abruptly at the 5:30 mark. (Now THATS a nit pick).

As I said I think this is really good. It has inspired me to perhaps revisit it myself, although I am trying to resist, as I think it will still be a nightmare to get it anywhere close to what I envision and will surely make me look even more foolish than the comments above .

Maybe those were not the feelings about it you were asking for...... but it's what I've got this evening. (I was a bit careless earlier and got exposed to some actual daylight).

Cheers!

[OctopusOnFire]

Hi!

How do I feel about it, what do I like and what I don't?

I like this track - my past attempts at mixing this so far all really suck though .  I recall it somehow being a complete nightmare.

This mix certainly doesn't suck and I enjoyed the listen.  Big spacious drums, big guitars, big spacious vocals.  6.1 LUFS is impressive too.  I thought it was loud but not quite that loud! Good stuff.  I think loud adds that bit of edge to this kind of material.  I feel if you can get it that loud without it completely falling apart then the mix is likely in good shape.

I have the following thoughts.  (Note these are not by any means criticisms as such - hard to convey that sometimes I think on here).  It's been a while since I have attempted this one and I don't really remember the raw tracks. 

Not sure if I feel I want the 2-4k ish of the guitar reigning in just a touch.  You do want the edginess and aggression you got.  With everything so big I wonder if maybe the drums could be a little less wide and a touch more focused. I don't know if the guitar needs eq'ing a bit more to make room for some of the drums, bass and vocal.  Hard to explain.  I think the thing is that with everything being big, loud and bombastic (a good thing!) - I also feel it needs a main focus or anchor to match.  At the moment I think the anchor is kind of the guitar, but I feel I maybe want a really solid kick (or bass, or vocal).  Like the bit around the 3 minute mark I think I would like to hear a really solid centered kick drum (maybe hear a touch more low end on it) and have everything else kind of hanging on/around that?  Maybe everything is just a little too spacious, and needs to be a little drier or something?  Not sure this is making any sense?  It's maybe just a taste thing.  I am also not into this genre of music deep enough to be really making calls on taste really.  Certainly I could not name any other bands that I think it should sound like.  As I said just some thoughts.  The last guitar sound cuts off abruptly at the 5:30 mark.  (Now THATS a nit pick).

As I said I think this is really good.  It has inspired me to perhaps revisit it myself, although I am trying to resist, as I think it will still be a nightmare to get it anywhere close to what I envision and will surely make me look even more foolish than the comments above .

Maybe those were not the feelings about it you were asking for...... but it's what I've got this evening.  (I was a bit careless earlier and got exposed to some actual daylight).

Cheers!

Hi Mikej!

Thanks for the kind comments! Yeah, it is loud, I was kinda daring myself to make it louder, and the mix did seem to take it well. I'm not usually like that, but wth, you only live once  

I agree about the guitars after listening on smaller speakers. I'll see if I can soften up the 3k area without losing character. I wouldn't mind if the voice takes some of that space instead. About the part in the 3 minute mark, I just brought up the room, maybe a little too much, so I'll see what happens if I bring it back a couple dB. 

I totally encourage you to try out this mix! Don't overthink it. It felt surprisingly easy for me, and I think it's because I made an effort to keep things simple and not overcomplicating it. Give yourself a chance and enjoy it.

[theedoran]

Just listened to your mix. It's really solid and pleasant for me, good job!

[OctopusOnFire]

Thanks, theedoran!