Any tips on mixing these two songs?

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mactabilis

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Here's two songs I recorded and mixed in my band (without any previous knowledge of mixing)


(the first part is supposed to sound telephone quality... for effect)

and..



anyway.. I could use some tips on levels.. EQs.. ect.

oh.. and what is "Mastering" exactly.. seems really vague.

Thank you for any comments or suggestions.
 
It's called screaming.. hehe
see. I thought what you just described was "mixing-down"
 
In general there is considered two processes; 'mixing' and 'mastering'.

Is that really nothing but you screaming?

Let me give you some advice then, not related to mixing at all. Stop. Now. Find another way to express rage in your music, perhaps with effects, perhaps with something else.

Lets take a best case scenario. You get a following. You get a club gig. You are asked to do several 15 minute sets with a few minutes in between. Even better you get multiple such gigs in a week. What will your voice sound like by the end of the last set? What will it feel like by the end of the week? The end of the Month? The end of the year?

It is damn easy to destroy a set of vocal cords forever.
 
heh.. alright. First off, that's not me singing.. It's the singer of my band, Brent, and he's pretty good at that.

Second, It's actually just a way of screaming vocals.. lots of "hardcore" bands do it. It's not _just_ screams.. there's lyrics. (http://www.learntosuffer.com)

It's also not rage. You sorta have to be in the scene.. but ya.
It's just a style.
 
That's bs, if it's not rage it's not communication. I don't get unintelligible lyrics anymore. I don't miss that "scene".

The recording quality is more than this song needs in mt opinion. It's not great but neither is the song so...it works.
 
Leaving aside the musical critique, I think the mix sounds decent, although like many of the "screamers" I've heard online the sound is kind of thin and one-dimensional. Personally, I'd be curious to hear this kind of music done with actual production values - you know: a decently recorded vocal sound, some real stereo imaging, some dynamic fluctuation, etc.

I mean this stuff all seems to be pretty much recycling that early 80s LA hardcore thing, a'la Black Flag, etc. - which was a pretty limited range of sound to begin with (although I dug some of it). It would just be cool to hear people trying something new with the genre.

Okay, I guess I didn't leave aside the musical critique.:) Just got me thinking. I hear a lot of this kind of music online lately and I keep waiting for someone to stretch a little and ditch the "recorded in my garage" sound.

Just some thoughts. I know, I'm rambling.

Chris
 
check out the band Atreyu.

also.. there's two songs.. not just the one
 
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that scene si just not my cup of tea, however the tracking was done well man. The playing is tight and the "singing" is tight. I couldnt get the bass feel I`d expect from it though, I`d like to hear it clanking some more.
 
the telephone part was eq'd right!

i wouldn't know where to start with this. gotta be a tough task to mix considering all the distortion.

the bass drum needs to be louder imo. that's all i have to offer.
 
Lots of energy. If this doesn't wake you up I think you're dead. :)

I detected a small tempo issue around :06. The tempo floated around a bit early on in the song. It clips quite a bit, but there's an audible distortion from 1:16 - 1:18.

The singer has a very powerful voice. But I couldn't make out any words. I think it must be exceedingly difficult to work in this genre however. But maybe if you EQ out some of that guitar midrange, the vocals would have a bit more space.

My thoughts.
 
yes! some helpful responses! Thanks.
When we record again, Im gunna set the Bass drum mic better, and louder, and do some reverb on the drums, and vocals. Set up 2 Air mics for the drums (and put them somewhat left-right stereo wise). and then play my bass much better, and through and ampeg pre-amp.

for now, Im gunna definitely scoop the mids on the guitar a little, and possibly see If i can get a better sound out of it.

Vocals clip a lot, cuz Brent is really loud, and the mic can't take it well.
 
in order to make this work you are going to need to add a lot of grunt to the guitars. right now they sound really thin. if you add more bass and a whole truckload of beef you might have something here.

timing is all over the place. i recommend playing a click track into the headphones of the drummer and have the bass player watch the drummer during recording (assuming tracking is done all at once).

vocalist has talent. if you don't tighten up he will be gone.
 
DEATH METAL

ah death metal, you gotta love it huh a super critic? Or did you listen to this song?
Anyway I like the music.
The Screamin' ain't for me though. But that's just me. Plenty of people do, as I sure you know. If thats what you like, your guy can certainly do it.
 
grammar

I gotta go home, I can't even understand what I just said.
-joe
 
although death metal does have some screaming.. It's not death metal.. but anyway..

super critic guy.. all tracking is not done at once.. which makes it harder to time.. when we're all playing together it's much easier.

we do it this way..

drummer watches guitarist and listens via headphones.. and plays to that (the drummer sucks at timing, which is a bad thing.. but ya know. so he needs to watch and hear the guitarist)
then once we have the drum track down, the guitarist listens in cool edit to that track, while playing..
then after that, bass does basically the same thing, listening to drum and guitar.

and then the singer's turn..

so we all try to rock out on our own listening to crappy computer speakers.. It gets difficult.

It'd be great if we could track all at once.. but we just can't
 
Better than tay vay

You guys are hilarious !

---------------------------------------------------------------

I hearing the lead singer ... screaming ... into the left F-Hole of a cello. I see a microphone for the right F-Hole ... big marshall stacks ... and stacks .... yeah a babe, hot, spanking the singer ... with a violin ... yes this tune is appropriate for a full string arrangement !

There's these chicks at the casinos, and I think they'd do it ... really ...
 
RIB

Whoa... lo fi, no kidding... but then, you just open the mix into a larger bucket .. :) Okay, I'm not hearing any snare drum... or kick... I can appreciate the energy that's gone into this... but... everything's kind of "MONO" and un-mixed sounding... it may be best if you check out a basic mixing thread first (if you'd like actual recording/mixing help):

Sonusman's mixing thread

Here You Go

I'll just assume the same applies for this song.



Chad
 
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