Lots of elements to balance

Schwarzenyaeger

Formerly "Dog-In-Door"
This is a song that I've been working on for a week or two.
It's got a few elements that I haven't mixed with much yet such as slap bass and chords on bass and acoustic guitars.

How's it doing?

version 4:
 
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The bass is like ghost bass in spots. Way back and hazy. Then it comes forward and slaps you in the face. Is that intentional? There are some harsh pick sound on some of the bass notes as well. Love the part where the acoustic stuff is going on. Just blends from one guitar into the other. That was :cool:. When do the vocals start? I like me some Felix vocals...must be coming on a subsequent mix. Some of the cymbals come way to far forward. Nice kick tone, but again it really shows when the bass goes ethereal.
 
No vocals, sorry. If you've heard vocals on any of my tracks, they haven't been mine.

There is a lot of automation on the bass. There are definitely some parts where it's meant to be more prominent than others. The transitions could be smoother then.
Could you tell me which spots in specific you mean?
 
The whole first minute, every time the bass goes into the 16th D bit, it goes WAY back in the mix. Then you hear clicks where there should be bass notes. A lot of the slaps sound REALLY nice.
Way back again at 1:45 just before the acoustic starts. I know these monsters (my monitors) aren't lying to me about bass levels anymore, so it's just me being crazy or there's something uncanny going on...
 
guitar @ 1:08 same one earlier comes in too loud. I know you want it out front, but it I think your results would be better that it sits, just barely on top. Like how the kick is sounding. @ 2:03 again IMO guitar is too loud. After 3:0 -3:45 seems like the mix looses it focus. I couldn't say with anything specific, just is not as tight.

Interesting tune for sure. Performance sounded good.
 
Okay, it was someone you recorded doing Along the Watchtower. Got it.

Man, I wish I had that guy's voice. His guitar playing was a bit suspect but his voice was so on point for those recordings. I'd be laying down vocals all day with a voice like that.
 
The guitars and the bass are doing what I would expect them to do for this kind of track. They have appropriate sounds, slick playing and I admire the compositional aspects of the music. I don't like the drums, however. The kick is not right, to my ear - there is a very good low end, that has a musical sound to it, as if it is generated with a 60 Hz sample blended in with it, but there's no defined punch to the upper frequencies. It sounds like half a decent kick sound, to me. I don't like the snare reverb. It's too long, too like a fake drum put through the spring reverb of a guitar amp, rather than a real drum being hit in a room. I want to hear a vocal. I like some instrumental music, but mostly I want a vocal to direct the music, to take the song somewhere.

This is better than most stuff posted in here, Schwarz, and it's your own stuff, so kudos for that. :)
 
The guitars and the bass are doing what I would expect them to do for this kind of track. They have appropriate sounds, slick playing and I admire the compositional aspects of the music. I don't like the drums, however. The kick is not right, to my ear - there is a very good low end, that has a musical sound to it, as if it is generated with a 60 Hz sample blended in with it, but there's no defined punch to the upper frequencies. It sounds like half a decent kick sound, to me. I don't like the snare reverb. It's too long, too like a fake drum put through the spring reverb of a guitar amp, rather than a real drum being hit in a room. I want to hear a vocal. I like some instrumental music, but mostly I want a vocal to direct the music, to take the song somewhere.

This is better than most stuff posted in here, Schwarz, and it's your own stuff, so kudos for that. :)

Thanks for listening.
The thing about vocals is finding a vocalist who can write lyrics that I can agree with and I like.

Like how the kick is sounding. @ 2:03 again IMO guitar is too loud. After 3:0 -3:45 seems like the mix looses it focus. I couldn't say with anything specific, just is not as tight.

I'm going to argue here that it's not the mix but the timing. The piece switches between 7/8, 3/4 and 4/4 numerous times during that section. I'd expect it to sound off the first time listening.
 
I guess I just thought the drum kit sounded kind of muffled and boxy compared to the guitars and bass which sounded good. I liked the upper register sounds that were coming through on the bass guitar a lot.

Good performances. Lots of change ups throughout.

The acoustic guitar seemed kind of stranded way off to the right at one point towards the end. The actual ending itself was really cool.
 
The machine gun drum hits behind the acoustic segment could come down. (That part is my favorite part of the tune where you weave stuff in and out dramatically - very cool.) I want to hear more of the bass - it's doing really interesting stuff, but I think it's getting masked a bit.

At 2.49 there's a synth sound that comes in on the right. Maybe a bit less space of it so that it's more present? Also, the electric guitar strumming over on the left during that bit - could you mult that bit and EQ it a bit more brightly just to see if it comes through better during that segment?

Just ideas. I like the song. You're orchestral in your approach.
 
Thanks for listening, both of you.

@dobro: that's actually my bass guitar. I already boosted around 1k to highlight the brightness of a Jazz bass.
I agree very much about the drum hits around the acoustic guitar. I had them lower originally but it wasn't translating well onto good speakers so I brought it back up. It could go down again then, hm...

By space, you mean reverb?
 
The drums don't sound very good. Not sure I can explain it right, but they don't really sound as crisp and clean as they should should. The guitars and bass sound right up there, then you have this really roomy drum kit that seems to take up way too many frequencies. Especially the snare it just seems to be taking up too much. The kick is lacking in power. It sounds like it's far away.
 
I thought this was pretty good.

Guitars sounded cool. Really tight double tracking.

Bass was a little over-twangy in spots.

Kick is kind of floppy sounding. Needs some low mid removal to my ear.
 
New mix: I like it better, partly because you've changed things up in a good way, and partly because I'm hearing it again. Orchestral metal. Really creative, really listenable. Not changeups for changeups sake, but interesting musical changes. I think the way the drums play a more relaxed pattern (compared to some metal) really works well against the fast guitar work, plus it lets you hear that interesting bass work. Interesting to me that the chords on the left are bass. Nice.

It's sonically pleasant, too. Good stuff. Keeper.
 
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