Good gawd that song is fucking awful.
You definitely captured the ultra-squashed feel and production of this kind of music. Everything sounds like it's sitting in the mix okay. Guitars sound pretty good. On my end, the mix seems to be a little thin in the low end. You could maybe bring the lows up just a hair across the whole mix.
Thanks! I agree, my main problem nowadays is the bottom-end (which is probably related to my way-less-than-stellar mixing environment, combined with a crappy kick mic haha)
I think this sounds phenomenal dude. Guitars are great (like usual, I like your style with the guitars). I love the kick tone, the toms, overheads, etc. I would like to hear the snare of a little bit. Everything sits well though, great job man. =] Could I possibly get your chain for the kick?
This band kind of sounds like an Underoath (They're Only Chasing Safety era). But man, you did a killer job on the mix, good job. This is the best i've heard from you yet. =]
I can dig it.
Peace!
Again, thank you! I've come to the conclusion that I need a different go-to snare mic. Or a different pre-amp for said snare. Basically, something needs to change, 'cause I'm not picking up much crack to it on the top-end (I've got a bottom-snare mic that I could kick up a bit I suppose).
As for my chain on the kick, I've got a mediocre Kickball mic, into the built-in pre's on my MOTU 896, and that's about it. I use the BLOCKFISH compressor on a lot of stuff, including the kick. It's got a great gritty feel to it. GREAT for screaming vox! I EQ'd a bunch of the low-mids out, as well as some of the nastier papery tones up higher. I waited to boost the high-end until after the compressor with a 2nd EQ, as well as a nice little punch at ~65hz.
Although it might just be that I'm using my built-in laptop speakers, the vocals (screaming) sound too loud.
Other than that, it sounds fantastic.
I agree: I bet you can't guess which member was present when I was mixing
Hah...this one played on my connection. Amazing...lol
Anyway, I think the kick/snare lack definition. Weather or not the volume should go up or not is a matter of preference, but they still need to be more defined. I would suggest a small EQ bump in the beater range of the kick (somwhere between 2-4k) and a change in compressor settings. Maybe a slower attack and very slightly higher ratio.
Cymbals sound pretty good in my opinion but the rest of the drums need to catch up.
Another personal preference of mine would be a slight hi boost in the vocals...around 10k but no more than 2 db (maybe 1.5...and yes I can hear .5db differences but that's just me).
Good tracking job...
I concur: the guitars were a bit difficult to tame (8 tracks of rhythm guitars, plus two lead guitars and a couple more spicy tracks get a bit overwhelming the first time around!) and so they kind of walk all over some stuff. After listening in a better environment, I think the cymbals are a little harsh, but only a little, and it's primarily due to a lack of high-end on the vocals I think. It'd fill out the mix (like you said
)
What is your chain? Also, what all mics are you using? Also, a list of those free plugins would be AWESOME. Thanks dude! That's my goal too, and I'm buried in books and computer work.
*edit*
BTW your mix is like 1,000,000x better than mine. I'm very jealous, but in a positive way. I hope I can make a mix sound like that. I'm not a fan of that music, but I can appreciate it from an engineering level. If you have any tips or info regarding this mix, please PM me.
Thanks for the compliments
The main plugins I used were the BLOCKFISH compressor (
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=5), the Kjaerhus Classic Series EQ and Compressor (
http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php), Magnus' "Ambience" reverb (
http://magnus.smartelectronix.com/), and the TLS Pocket Limiter (
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1727.html Pocket Limiter). The built-in Parametric EQ in Sonar is pretty decent: I haven't really messed around with finding a better one, but I'm sure there are many out there.
As for mic's, I've got a pretty damn modest collection, most of which I had from various bands I was in (thus, all of the medium-grade vocal mics):
- 1 x Shure SM57 (top-snare)
- 1 x
Shure SM58 (floor-tom)
- 1 x Sennheiser e609 (high-tom)
- 2 x Oktava MC012's (overheads)
- 1 x Shure KSM27 (bottom-snare)
- 1 x Blue Kickball (kick)
Aaaaaaand that's about it! I don't have any outboard gear whatsoever, 'cause I can't afford it. I just switched to using Pro Tools as well, and so far it's OK. I think Sonar is a better program, but I'm not about to go to every major and minor studio in the world and try to sell them Sonar: it's easier for me to just learn to make Pro Tools work for me! First-off, I think I'll get that VST wrapper so I can use my sweet free plugins...