A song from a session I did today...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nik D
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Nik D

Another brick in the wall
I've recorded this band before and they're always hard to mix, even more so now that they've found a singer. I always find it tricky to mix heavy metal and get everything balanced and right. I hate hate hate this drums the drummer has. He has this godawaful shitty snare with a kevlar head. HORRIBLE! I wish I could afford drumagog to replace it. Klicky kick too. Mix observations are very welcome, I also am having a tricky time getting the vox to sit well too... http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1627&alid=-1 Vital Song 4
 
Well, first portion of the song... the vocals just need some more level there...

The drums sound hollow, and yes the snare is crap (not your fault). You may need to raise the 10k on the snare eq and add extra reverb to get a Helmet-esque pop from it.

The kick drums aren't even reaching my sub woofer, which means you need to raise the 150hz and lower frequencies on that track by at least 6db.

The guitars and bass are kinda mashed together in the mid frequencies. Raise the treble on the guitar tracks and raise the bass on the bass tracks a bit. This may force you to raise the vocals volume a bit. Other suggestion, for the vocals, compress them and add a slight stereo delay or other reverb to them to get a slightly more "pro" effect.

Eseentially, what I suggest (and what I think a lot of us forget when engineering/mixing) is to take the song a track at a time, get each instrument mixed and effected correctly individually, then bring them together, adjust volumes and pans, then work on adding extra effects and fine tune the EQ from there... that's the most logical approach to mixing I've come up with in my few years now of doing this.
 
Sounds somewhat "demo-ish". Vocals aren't too bad but the drums could use a lot of work. Mind telling us how you miced them?
 
im not listening on my monitors so take my

comments for what you will. The mix sounds pretty small on my speakers. Its not near powerful enough for this style. I think the drums are lacking the most on the production side. The vocals could use some reverb or delay as stated before.
Your definantly right about that snare. Is it a piccolo or just a smaller snare tuned really high? Its sounds really out of context for this type of rock but whatever works i guess.
Sounds like the band really liked their Tool. The guitar solo was pretty cool but seemed a little out of place. Oh well i know your just doing the recording. Sounds like a descent start.
 
Thanks for the responses, they are most helpful. The drums are: Rode NT5s for overheads, 57 on snare, CAD drum mics on toms and kick. The snare is a 14x6.5 from what I can tell. I'm going to take this one apart and start from scratch, and hopefully fix all my problems after I get home from work.
 
I have to disagree on the Vox, I think they are horendus (sp?) I am thinking double track for the 'angry parts' Something..anything. The hair on my back stood up!
 
yah im not a big fan of the vocals music sounds like it would be cool! i cant say much bc my band needs a singer! fix the snare man sounds like your ihttin an empty soup can hehe if u wanna see the demo tracks we cut last friday at like 2 in the morn go to
http://www.blackoutband.com

great music keep it up and keep us updated on your progress!
 
Mix two is up, same link as above. I re mixed the entire song, all faders down from scratch. This time I built it more around the drums, the kick especially as it's fairly wimpy and hard to hear. I added more low end to the bass and cut a little mids from the guitars to help them sit better. I also lowered the vox a bit, they really are icky at parts. I added a bit of gated reverb to the snare to try and thicken it up a little. I think it helps a bit. Compared to the first version I definatly like this one more.
 
better.

I would still tone the snare down a bit, double track with a slight delay the 'power' vocals, and bring up the guitar a touch...I think the vocals are kind of sitting out of the mix a bit and bringing up the guitar may help that.
 
There is a weird click at 0:36. As was stated, the kicks sound really clicky. The vocal (while not a great performance) maybe needs a little compression to sit a little better. I think that the rhythm guitars could be louder. Love the bass sound and the bass line is good. The snare is really clicky, but it might just have to end up that way at this point. How wide are the guitars panned? I might like to hear them a little wider. Hope something here helped a bit.

Matty
 
Mono mix?

Needs some stereo spread. Everything is bunched together in the middle.

Kevlar snare head? It sounds like a fuckin' bongo! :eek: Better put an Emperor on that thing, and loosen the strainer a bit. ;)

The guitar sounds ok on the intro, but it's pretty washed out in the rest of the tune. Needs some upper-mids, or maybe just bring it up front more.

Vocals need some space. Too dry.

The bass sound is good.......
 
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