Astro Zombies Cover (Punk)... Mix critique!

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keevhren

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Just finished tracking this project with some friends today. They raised $ for their last EP via kickstarter and one of the donation rewards for a certain level was that they would record the donor a misfits cover of choice. We recorded everything in the living room of their drummers house. This mix came together pretty quickly for me which is surprising considering mixing is by far my weak point. Any thoughts or suggestions while listening back? The track is unmastered, just as a heads up.

Much thanks in advance!
 
Holy crap man this is good. It has lots of energy and is as raw as it's supposed to be. Actually I've got no input but a question: What's your setup for the bass? That tone is TASTY.
 
Thanks for the comment dude! For bass we used a MIJ Fender P Bass from the 80's... not sure of the year or pickups. We recorded it into a Marshall JMP MKII Super Lead 100Watt head going into an old Ampeg 8x10. There was a RAT distortion pedal on the front end but it didn't have much gain on it, just a tiny bit of added bite really. I mic'd up the cab with a single Shure Beta 52 going into a seventh circle audio N72 Mic pre.

Here's a quick snap their singer took of the head/bass/bassist when we were getting tones:

1476675_10152020831142910_518840595_n.jpg
 
Pretty good reminds me of new misfits with Michael Graves. Although I prefer old school Danzig misfits, it's not too shabby :D
 
Sounds really f**king good. My only gripe would be I'd like the vocals to be a touch louder. Great performance and capture though.

:thumbs up:
 
Thats damn good! Only comment would be to second Mr Clean, vocals up just a touch. All together sounds real good.:thumbs up:
 
Sounds good,

I'd nudge the vocals up 1-2db.

The kick seems a touch lost.
 
Sounds great...excellent energy. I agree that the vocals could come up just a tad.

Nice!

Dave DeWhitt
 
I liked it a lot. I thought the performances were very good. Loved the energy. Guitars sound great.

Some nits:

Someone mentioned the vocals could come up just a bit. I agree.

The snare sound was a little bit "heavy" for me. I'd like just a little more crack to it.

I think there is a high harmony part that comes in in spots right? I think it should come up.
 
Hey everyone!

Thanks for the feedback thus far! I just did a mix revision with some of the suggestions plus a few tid bits of other things I had heard after listening back a bunch. I nudged the vocals up a dB or two, pulled bass back a smidge and also notched out a frequency or two where it was fighting with the kick pretty hard so I think it sits better, and the kick is a bit more audible now. Here's the new mix:

 
Much better, This is nit picky but: , I thought the vocals are still a bit lost when the singing is fast, I'd bring those parts up even more. Overall I really like the track, very catchy tune. Good band. The vocals are great during the long notes, but I'd find a way to bring em out even more during the verse, since it is a pop tune lead by the vocals.

Great job:thumbs up:
 
I've been avoiding this thread because I hate it when people butcher classic punk songs, and this is indisputably one of the classic-est, but yall did pretty good with this one. Guitars and bass sound great. Here's my nitpicks....

1) The vocals. Maybe I've just heard this song way too many times, at least 10 billion since 1985, but the singer's voice is way too wimpy and Fall Out Boy for a song like this IMO. I know a voice is what it is and he can't be Danzig obviously, but a little more energy, aggression, grit, would be better to me. And where's the backups? One of the Misfits' most awesome features is the gigantic gang backing vocals. Where are the WHOAS? EXIERMINATE! This track is really lacking there.

2) The drums. Overall I like the snare the way it is. The kick is pretty weak to me though. Too much click, not enough ooomph. The crashes are a little weak.

But overall the arrangement is very faithful to the original and yall did a pretty good job.
 


Just got back from visiting family in the UK so had a chance to tackle some changes on my monitors as opposed to just headphones. I beefed up the kick a bit, as well as the OH's but then brought the OH's down in volume to compensate for the added beef on them and I think the kit sounds stronger or more present/powerful in the mix now. I also brought both guitars and the bass down by a hair, i think I did 1.5dB each which opened up space for the drums as well. Rode a few of the vocal lines to get them to pop out a bit better and also brought up the backup vocal harmony a tiny bit. After listening through the OG Misfits version, I think we're going to go back and add in the "TERMINATE" doubles and then harmonize/double the WOAAAAAAH at the start of the song but we can't get together till after X-mas so that will have to wait for now. Thoughts on the new mix?
 
Dude... This is awesome, I'd agree with the added vocals which would really open it up a little more and I'd still bring up the backing vocals. Other than that I think this is great I'd really like to know more about the way you mixed the all this, I screenshot of your mixer from the DAW would be great, just as an interest thing :)
 
One of the most covered punk rock songs in ever. Awesome job. I think it is great just the way it is. I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing. I also second the bass tone high fives!
 
I'd redo the vocals. Yeah, yeah...who the fuck am I? But when I redid the vocals, I'd fucking nail the rhythm. Fucking nail it. I mean, my name's not Joey, but you asked for feedback. Honest, I'd redo the vocal so that it was absolutely hitting the beat. If the vocal was right on that beat, it would change the vocal and not in a bad way.
 
I like this and the mix as it is, but agree with the nits about the vocal.

The singer is very good, and the lyrics are clear and easy to hear, but the mix treatment or something makes them a little detached and not in my face enough. I would play/experiment with compression and perhaps a tape distortion type plugin (or EQ or whatever) to get the vocals front and centre... and then bring up the rest around that.

Edit: I realised my listening levels were a bit low, and it sounds better louder (what doesn't) :-)
 
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