Ongoing mix for Spotify (instrumental high gain guitar) - What would YOU do?

Mr. Cachi

Member
Hi guys, I´m preparing for uploading my first song on Spotify, and I´m in the process of mixing it (i´m super amateur, all free vsts, except the drums). Here I leave a part of the song, based on that, what would you improve? thanks in advance for the constructive criticism
 

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  • flying high POST FREEZE.mp3
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I think it needs more low end in the guitar(s) - more punch. At first, I thought you were doing a take-off on Helter Skelter :)
 
Hey spantini, thanks for the reply. I have a fairly aggresive multiband compression going on to tame the palm muting, I´ll ease it a bit to see if it sounds better.
 
I gave it a listen upstairs on the Vandersteens, and the bass really didn't exist. They're usually pretty good about giving me a good idea of tonal balance. It was pretty much all guitar and the drums seemed thin, mostly snare but even that seemed overwhelmed by the guitars.

What are you monitoring on? I have to be careful because I still get a bit of bloated bass with where my JBLs are, but when I put it on other my systems, it sounds ok.
 
Hey TalismanRich, thanks for the reply, I´ll try adjusting the guitars to see if it helps. I´m mostly using Behringer HPX2000 headphones for monitoring, but I try to cross check with my Thonet & Bander speakers and my phone hehe
 
I hear y´all, I´ve turned up the bass a bit (but not too much, it gets overpowering quite fast), eased up on the low end comp on the guitars, and added a touch of eq, in the 100 hz range on the master. Also, there´s a limiter on the master to see more or less how it will sound. Let me know if it´s better or worse haha
 

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  • flying high POST FREEZE.mp3
    1.3 MB · Views: 19
Overall, this is louder. This one starts out with the guitars sounding less thin but when the bass and drums come in they appear to revert back to thin again. I hear more bottom end at the start with the guitars but the bass is still lacking there - if the bass is overwhelming to you, I can't imagine what you're hearing. My headphones are bass heavy but I'm only getting a diluted bass in your mix.

I take it from your OP that the bass is a VST..?
 
Maybe to start with a remix, drop out the guitars completely and try to get a good balance between the bass and drums. That's your foundation for any song. Once that stands on its own, bring in the guitars.

If you're hearing a massive amount of bass, then it might be one of two things, A) your headphones are all bass, or B) if you are on a Windows system, are there any "enhancements" in the audio setup. Windows it bad about trying to tweek the sound to make crappy little laptop and computer speakers sound spacious and full. If you put it on a full range system, it all sounds overblown. Make sure any enhancements are off.

If you don't have another way to monitor, maybe burn a CDRW of the song and stick it in a car stereo. It might give you a different perspective.
 
I listened to the second mix only. Nice playing!

My first thought was, "Where the hell are the drums?" They sound pretty tiny compared to the guitars right now, IMO. They sound too quiet and all scooped out --- like it's all transient and no tone---no "beef." I couldn't really make out the bass drum at all. Get them punchier, and I think things will start coming together.
 
The guitars sound good but the drums, and in particular the snare, sound small and boxy. It gives the impression of the guitars playing over a backing track rather than a band playing in the same room
 
Hey famous beagle, thanks for the reply. Not sure what else to do with the drums, they´re already pretty compressed, have a parallel comp going on...guess i´ll try adding some distortion to see if it helps.
 
Hey famous beagle, thanks for the reply. Not sure what else to do with the drums, they´re already pretty compressed, have a parallel comp going on...guess i´ll try adding some distortion to see if it helps.

I think the compression may be the issue. What compressor are you using and what are the settings? They sound overly compressed to me and overly EQed.
 
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