New Mix for my bands EP

[ksawaia]

Hey guys.

Here's another trial mix with vocals (hardcore vox, not for everyone).

Let me know of any suggestions. As of now, all I can really hear is the guitar on the left needs a bit more presence, but it feels fairly solid.

View attachment strongAtHearts_final_2.mp3

 

[dawg711]

sounding really good. id agree with you on the guitar but an overall great sound imo. what drum samples were you using?

 

[thepursuit]

It sounds really full and round. The right side of my head feels heavier when I'm listening to it though... probably the guitar thing like you mentioned.

Other than that its really impressive you recorded that yourself. What is your set up?

 

[Tobe]

God I hate that style of singing... otherwise it sounds pretty good.

 

[Wireneck]

Everything sounds pretty good. This is definitely a taste thing but the drums sound really sterile. They are programmed right? If they aren't I would seriously consider using more room sound, less triggers/sound replacement.

 

[THEMUSICJUNKY]

sounds good, i think the vocals need a little more highs brought back in...they sound too rounded out for me. Drums sound good, but could be a little roomier. Not too much though...sounds like Metal Foundry (Superior Drummer) to me.

 

[TripleM]

The singer has a lot of vocal power.

You might be able to turn up the bass just a bit.

I thought the more distorted of the guitars was a bit overdriven. To me it got a little fizzy and lacked enough power. It seems like this is the general trend lately in this genre, so that might be what you were going for. But I like a bit more grit and definition to distorted guitars.

 

[ksawaia]

thanks for all the responses guys. really appreciate all of them.

im using my focusrite isa one for everything. drums are programmed using ez drummer but then using drumagog to replace the kick and snare with samples i made of my own kit to add that "me" feeling to it. also the bells and chinas are sampled from my kit. the guitars and bass are all done di.

here is another mix i've been working on of a different song but trying to apply all the "mistakes" mentioned above. its a bit pushed sounding however but i feel its a bit roomier and spacious than the previous one. maybe too much room reverb?

View attachment new_final_4.mp3

 

[atticproject]

What are you using for the guitar distortion and amp sim? sounds good, really like the breakdown in the second track you uploaded the clean guitar parts rock!

 

[ksawaia]

i used podfarm believe it or not with a tube screamer and the mesa dual rect sim. i was using the poulin sims before but they had too much noise compared to the line6 stuff, even though i'm not a huge fan of line6 to begin with. the guitars still need some brightening, sound a bit muddied on second listen.

 

[JasonG]

Sounds very good for this style of music. I have a few guitar students who are working on stuff like this and what strikes me and frankly really bugs me about this type of production are the drums. I just don't dig the totally mechanical performance with no dynamic fluctuation whatsoever. Love the guitar work and I actually tend to like this vocal style but the mechanical drums ruin it for me on tracks like this. Even when there is a live drummer, producers in this genre tend to do a bunch of drum replacement and it ends up sounding like a drum machine in the end. I think there is a sonic standard that has been set in the minds of most modern progressive hard core/rock/metal bands that the drums on their records have to sound like "so and so's record" and its a shame. I know it can't be helped when you are forced to program the drums and the programming is very impressive in and of itself but like I said, most productions of this type end up sounding mechanical even when the tracks are originally played live because of what I would consider to be micro-production. I know its really difficult to get purely live, non quantized/drum-replaced tracks to cut through a big guitar and vocal mix but it sure feels better and is more pleasing to listen to. Its probably pretty hard to find drummers who can pull this stuff off but I believe rock records are about capturing human performances instead of trying to meet a current sonic criteria trend and I haven't yet heard anyone really skilled enough to "dare to make an organic record" in this genre. Mars Volta(although granted quite a different type of band, very diverse stylistically) are capable of pulling off this type of intensity and being totally live.

 

[ksawaia]

i agree 100%. myself as a drummer LOVES playing true and organic recordings. at the same time, with time as a huge issue, my band and i made the decision save the time of setting mics up and such by just programming them out. there are definite sacrifices in the feel, but the overall sound quality from song to song and the ease of setting up a finished drum mix was just too perfect for our situation.

on the other hand, i do program all the parts i play, and make it a point to play EVERYTHING i program, unlike some bands out there today who play and sound totally different live than on record, which is truly upsetting.