Another song I'm too close too...

Farview

Farview

Well-known member
I'm just wanting to finish and archive listenable versions of some songs from my old band. The problem is, I've been listening to the scratch mixes for going on 10 years and I'm having a hard time hearing them any other way. I could use some help.

Her Demise
 
Vocals up a couple? Also the kick (sample?) is a bit flap happy. Works OK in the doubled part but could be less prominent elsewhere
 
Kick drum is too loud, guitars are too loud, vocal is too soft. Snare sounds woody and low. Can't hear the cymbals much at all. Most of the problems seem to be with the drums.

Post them in the "mix this" forum. I'd try it out.
 
Played with the kick, turned down the guitars 2db. That snare drum just sounds like that. You wouldn't believe how much 2k and 8k I'm adding to it to brighten it up.
Her Demise 2
 
That opening guitar sounds pretty nasty by itself. Once the drums and bass kick in, it's a good heavy sound. The relationship between the bass and guitars is right on. Problem is, it's so overpowering that it doesn't leave space for your vocal. My suggestion would be to lower the guitars during the vocals, then bring them back in for effect.

Edit: Comments above refer to your first version. The second one is a step in the wrong direction, for me. The bass now sounds boomy, and there is still no room for the vocal.
 
Second mix is better. The bass guitar is fuckin thundering dude. Tame that shit. The rhythm guitars are pretty outrageous too. Lots of low mids in them which leads to a thick mix but I think it's all conspiring to kill the drums and vocals.

I really hate the vocals and don't want to hear them, but for the mix's sake I think they should be up more still.

The drums are the weakest link IMO. That snare is not great. It has no meat. It's just a little pop in a storm of thundering bass and rumbly guitars. The drums could use more cohesiveness. They sound like individual samples that don't belong together instead of a complete drum kit.
 
Farview said:
Played with the kick, turned down the guitars 2db. That snare drum just sounds like that. You wouldn't believe how much 2k and 8k I'm adding to it to brighten it up.
Her Demise 2
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There's some 'snorting'/gnarling sound in the low end. Is that the bass? I'd turn that down, too. It gets warbly on some notes. Bass sounds too loud now with the other stuff remixed.
The vocal sounds like it's in the right spot now.

At like the 2:30 mark there's some thunder going on; sounds like kick and bass both going a bit nuts. If that's the intent you're good, but they overpower my ears a bit.

This singer sounds like Grace Slick a bit. I wouldn't picture you being in a hard rock/metal band, Fairview.
 
4tracker said:
This singer sounds like Grace Slick a bit. I wouldn't picture you being in a hard rock/metal band, Fairview.
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Really!!! The only thing I've ever done is hard rock/metal. Most of it was more Sabbath meets Metallica, but I'm the drummer in this one, so I didn't do much of the writing.


From what I'm hearing, I need to start over. I'll get into it tomorrow.
 
Farview said:
Really!!! The only thing I've ever done is hard rock/metal. Most of it was more Sabbath meets Metallica, but I'm the drummer in this one, so I didn't do much of the writing.


From what I'm hearing, I need to start over. I'll get into it tomorrow.
Click to expand...

You just seem chill on this forum and open minded to many styles, which is not how I picture a metal head. Haha.

I'd start over. I think those low end problems sound complex and gotta go through them one by one and figure out what's wrong. I'd start with that bass and kick drum. The bass sounds like an amp...but did it have DI, too? I might use more of that signal to get rid of some of that snorting sound.
 
I had another go at it... I can't do much about the snare, there isn't much of the close mic in the mix. That's mostly overhead. I was using a Premier Heavy Rock Nine and beating the snot out of it. Originally, I was sucking the mids out of the overheads to tame the snare, but I let up a bit.

A bunch of low end rumble was coming from the toms ringing sympathetically. The tracks must have accidentally got un-muted, since I only hit one tom in the entire song...

Her Demise 3
 
Farview said:
I had another go at it... I can't do much about the snare, there isn't much of the close mic in the mix. That's mostly overhead. I was using a Premier Heavy Rock Nine and beating the snot out of it. Originally, I was sucking the mids out of the overheads to tame the snare, but I let up a bit.

A bunch of low end rumble was coming from the toms ringing sympathetically. The tracks must have accidentally got un-muted, since I only hit one tom in the entire song...

Her Demise 3
Click to expand...

That mix sounds way better. The tone on that bass is still very strange to me. Is there a ton of EQ on it? It almost sounds like he's playing a noodle. Is there any DI signal that can be added, or can you just redo the bass via DI on your own now?

The other thing is I wouldn't limit/compress it so much. It lacks some dynamics, imo.

Otherwise it's so much better.
 
The bass is midrangy on purpose. There is no di track. I'm not sure I'm capable of playing the part anymore. (Not that my Gene Simmons Axe bass is the appropriate instrument for the job)



Maybe a bit of distortion to smooth it out a bit.
 
Farview said:
The bass is midrangy on purpose.
Click to expand...

Yeah I wasn't sure if that was meant to sound that way and genre specific.
I'd be curious to hear it with less of that midrange if it's possible to EQ differently, but if that's what you were going for you're good to go.

Did you master it? I feel there is too little dynamics/too much limiting. Maybe the distorted guitars are causing that illusion.
 
I sent the mix through a limiter.

Without the midrange, the bass disappears. I'm not adding it with eq, that is just the sound of the bass. I'm actually adding low end to it with the eq.
 
Huge improvement. Bass sounds clearer. The guitars are lower, while still sounding thick. I can hear your vocalist. Grace Slick vibe for sure. You mix is getting closer. Vocals up just a bit more until the lyrics are clearly heard. The power of a song comes from the singer selling the lyric. Alternatively, you could go lower still on the guitars. Snare sounds good for me, borderline too loud. Good song and performances.
 
Unfortunately, the vocals don't really work. So hanging the song on those vocals hits me as a bad idea. There is also no way to get rid of the strident quality, which prevents turning them up much more. To me, they sound like they are too loud and unsupported.
 
Maybe just a little less bottom end from bass & Kick.
The bass sounds pretty ghastly during the intro but fits well enough when the band is happening.
Any chance of throwing something on it for the intro?
HUGE improvement from #1 to #3.
 
The drums sound better in #3. The snare has some body to it now. The bass guitar seems to be controlled more now, but it's still too out front in the mix. And the guitars now seem too subdued. The vocals, as bad as they are, sit at a good level IMO. I think if you leave everything alone and work on the bass/rhythm guitar relationship, you'll be almost home.
 
The bass on #3 sounds 'floppy' to me on its high notes especially. The dryness of the guitar in the intro makes it sound DIed. All was improved, though, over #1 which had overpowering guitar and bass.
 
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