Rate this mix? Metal song.

[FadeToMuffins]

What's up guys? Right now this is just an instrumental, I'm thinking of adding vocals, but I'm not sure if the song needs them or not.

Drums: Midi track run through Steven Slate Drums

Bass: bass guitar -> line 6 gearbox

guitars: Jackson DKMG -> Peavey Revalver

I know that this mixdown tends to pulse a little bit around the toms, and it is mastered a taaad loud. I'm going for that Fredrik Nordstrom old-school In Flames/Arch Enemy production style, hence the huge, wet production. Hopefully I didn't over do it.

Thanks for your comments and feedback guys, I appreciate 'em!

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?id=26233

 

[Haegl]

This is a powerful mix. Definitely got that In Flames feel to it. I find the cymbals to be a little 'flat' though.

 

[TripleM]

I thought the playing was great. Not my cup of musical tea. But real good playing. Super tight doubling. Nice work.

I liked the guitar sound. I didn't love it, but for the genre I thought it worked. A little sizzly in the upper mids for my taste.

I suppose the one weak spot is the drums. they're a little on the robotic side. A little machine gunny.

 

[FadeToMuffins]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, it may be a little hot in the upper mids. I have a slight boost going on at around 1.5k, do you think I should take that off?

As for the drums, is it the programming? Or do I just need to humanize the hits more?

Thanks again for listening.

 

[TripleM]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, it may be a little hot in the upper mids. I have a slight boost going on at around 1.5k, do you think I should take that off?

As for the drums, is it the programming? Or do I just need to humanize the hits more?

Thanks again for listening.

The sizzly part of the guitars, for me, was higher than 1.5K. I'd probably leave it where it is. It was just my personal opinion. I'd wait to hear what others think.

As for the drum question... I think it's a bit of both. The fills and rolls are too MIDI-perfect. To me they need to be humanized with changes made to the programming. Maybe I didn't understand your question.

 

[maximusbs]

Are you supposed to hear distant wind howling and a telephone ringing in the song? Or am I drunk-posting again? Does anyone else hear those phantom overtones in there? The 'wind' is almost like a tape hiss and the 'phone' is the cymbals I think. This is very well performed - I liked it a lot! The guitars sound pretty good. The toms and cymbals lack definition. I think you might want to solo them and see how they sound on their own. A song like this needs clarity in the drums, which need much of the sonic space. Anyway, there's some way-cool shredding in there, it just needs a little cleaner foundation.

 

[HomeNoiseRecord]

great effort on the guitars, awesome playing and nice tone!

 

[FadeToMuffins]

Are you supposed to hear distant wind howling and a telephone ringing in the song? Or am I drunk-posting again? Does anyone else hear those phantom overtones in there? The 'wind' is almost like a tape hiss and the 'phone' is the cymbals I think. This is very well performed - I liked it a lot! The guitars sound pretty good. The toms and cymbals lack definition. I think you might want to solo them and see how they sound on their own. A song like this needs clarity in the drums, which need much of the sonic space. Anyway, there's some way-cool shredding in there, it just needs a little cleaner foundation.

You may be hearing something like that from the Voxengo analogflux tapebus plugin i put on the master mix bus. Its set up to simulate tape compression, so maybe it is creating some overtones there.

I agree with you about the toms, but unfortunately, I've just never been good at mixing toms. Do you have any suggestions? I agree they need more definition, but they are already making the mix pulse as it is.

 

[maximusbs]

Here's what I would do: Solo the drums (kit, then pieces) without anything on them and make sure that the samples are clear. Most good samples don't need eq'ing or even much compression, and should sound good naked. If they don't sound good like that, you may need to get some better samples. Start mixing - I'd add a little verb to the snare and that's it. I would get rid of that analogflux thing, cuz that swooshing is distracting. In short - pull back on the plugins till it sounds clean.

 

[FadeToMuffins]

Here's what I would do: Solo the drums (kit, then pieces) without anything on them and make sure that the samples are clear. Most good samples don't need eq'ing or even much compression, and should sound good naked. If they don't sound good like that, you may need to get some better samples. Start mixing - I'd add a little verb to the snare and that's it. I would get rid of that analogflux thing, cuz that swooshing is distracting. In short - pull back on the plugins till it sounds clean.

Fair enough. i don't really have that many plugins, just analogflox -> compressor -> limiter on my master mix bus. But I will try it without the analogflux to see if it sounds better. What I DO like about it is how it neatly glues the low end of my mix together.

As for the toms, do you think something like waves C4 (frequency-based compressor) on the lower mids would help make them sound cleaner by getting rid of the mud?

 

[maximusbs]

Fair enough. i don't really have that many plugins, just analogflox -> compressor -> limiter on my master mix bus. But I will try it without the analogflux to see if it sounds better. What I DO like about it is how it neatly glues the low end of my mix together.

As for the toms, do you think something like waves C4 (frequency-based compressor) on the lower mids would help make them sound cleaner by getting rid of the mud?

Well, Like I said before, if the samples sound good, why should you have to put anything on them? ...perhaps a little eq... I am curious to see if removing that analogflux gets rid of those phantom noises though or if there's another problem.

 

[jndietz]

What drum program is that? Sounds good as fuck.

 

[jaykeMURD]

The guitars really remind me of Dethklok. Pretty well done, to say the least.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Dude.... Really like the arrangement of this piece. Your drum programming is top-notch. My only beef with the drumming is the kick is barely too clicky and not beefy enough. Guitars are brutal... Toms are waaaaay thick. I can hear the tails on the toms for almost a full second and a half. That's a good thing, possibly taken too far, but maybe not. Doesn't sound bad, for sure.

Hard to keep typing while I'm listening to this... Rocks real hard, real nice. Performance is top-notch all around, dude. Wow...

Ya know... Just had a thought. Adding ethereal female vocals from time to time, a-la Within Temptation / Evanescence...? No idea if that's a direction you'd want to go.. Either that or adding some chants / grunts / screams from time to time. Might come out cheesy, but might add to the coolness..

Yeah, man.. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Very well written, well played, well programmed, and well mixed. Bravo!

 

[StevenJacksonMu]

I think this is a real nice mix, I would love to hear the kick a bit more though...tweak the bass a little higher in the mix too.

YouTube - Up Above My Head

 

[FadeToMuffins]

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback, I appreciate it. I agree the kick may be a bit too clicky. I should have another mix of this up on Thursday, so I'll try to fix this by then.

Good ideas on the vocals. I was thinking of doing some screams, but I might see if I can get my sister to contribute some female vocals in the styles that you mentioned. I had a similar idea myself, but it's good to hear that someone else thinks it would sound nice.

And thanks for the performance compliments. Let's just say that getting 4 complete tracks that were in-sync took a LOOONG time. it was a lot of alternate picking practice for me haha.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

And thanks for the performance compliments. Let's just say that getting 4 complete tracks that were in-sync took a LOOONG time. it was a lot of alternate picking practice for me haha.

I give compliments as sincerely as the criticism. Dude - you got skills. That was a very, very tight performance.

Also, heck yes on the female vocals... I was really hoping you'd agree, because to me, this song lays itself as a perfect bed for some seriously awesome female vocals. I'd buy it if the vocals fit the tune. Great stuff, man.

 

[Greg_L]

Not too bad. Good arrangement and good guitar playing. Sounds fine with no vocals at all. They'd probably just fuck everything up.

The guitars are too loud for me. They sound great and I'm sure you're happy with them, but they're tromping all over everything. More space, less guitar. Is there a bass at all? Can't tell, because the guits are running over this track like Hitler ran over Poland.

The drums are pretty ridiculously robotic and plastic sounding, but it fits the genre.

I agree with maximumbs that there's a vintage telephone ringing sound throughout. I don't know what it is, but it was distracting, yet funny.

 

[FadeToMuffins]

like Hitler ran over Poland.

hahahahaha :-D

There is in fact bass, and I was actually considering lowering it in the mix because I thought it was too LOUD. I think instead what I am going to do is re-record it. I fucked up when I was recording the bass. I was using a Fender Jazz Bass and I accidentally turned the volume on the neck pickup all the way down. So what you are hearing is the bridge pickup going through a light overdrive into my attempt at recreating a vintage ampeg sound. Long story short, it has the frequency response of just another guitar, so I want to re-do it and give it a bit more "oomph" cuz as it is right now, the attack of the bass sounds super loud (to my ears at least) but it has no bottom end. The whole track seems to be lacking some bottom end to my ears actually...

And seriously, for the life of me, I can't find this ringing telephone noise anywhere lol. I've listened quiet. I've listened loud. WTF!?!?!?!

 

[Farno]

Ringing telephone noise... might be pick noise?

Nice job, the only thing I can hear improve is the drums. Either way it's great!