Christian Metal-core!

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mrhotapples

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This is a band called Martyr's Prayer that I'm friends with. We recorded this in December as a demo and we're recording a full-length CD this coming week that they want mastered and mass duplicated so they can sell it at shows and local CD shops plus shop it to labels...So it's gotta sound good.

I have nowhere near professional gear...Infact my most expensive piece of equipment is the Firepod, but I can get acceptable results. This is a pretty thrown-together mix of the song...The guitars and vocals are my biggest qualm, I should have used a brighter microphone and some real tube amps instead of the pos peavey transtube combo. The room wasn't treated so it's kind of muddy in comparison to what stuff sounds like in there now too.

So after saying this, I need opinions on what I can do to improve my mix. The drums are sampled and time aligned except for the cymbals and toms. I am thinking to make this any better, I'll need to start getting into more advanced mixing techniques...So throw some my way.

Martyr's Prayer - "Bleed" @ Lightningmp3.com
 
Well, crap, I'm afraid I can't be of much help. I think it sounds pretty good, especially considering what you say you are working with. The vocals could use a bit more presence, and the guitars seem a tad muddy, and a tad dull (just a tad).

Overall, very nice work IMHO. :D
 
the guitars could use a little midrange, and a little clarity. the vocals need some more balls, and my a SLIGHT distortion on the screamed/growled stuff..... the snare could come up some and maybe use a slight reverb to make it sound a little bigger... cymbals could come up slightly, the kick sounds really nice and clicky as is usual for the genre... overall it sounds really good though.
 
Great playing. Are the drums played or from a program? The whole mix needs some frequency adjustments. In laymens terms, it lacks low end and lower mids across the frequency band. I think the mix sounds great....typing as listening....the part with the clean guitar part and intermittent dirty accents...the "dirty" guitar could use some reverb since it is so forward in the mix at that quiet point. Cool arpeggios on guitar toward the end as a backdrop...like an '80s arpeggiator they used to use synths for. Good crunch and tone to the guitars, just need the whole mix to get a little more beef. I'm not into hardcore personally, but I think the vocals (the 'growling' parts) are executed great for that style. Good clean vocals when the vocalist comes out of it too. Strong pitch, delivery. Saturate the "clean" guitars with chorus to add a "otherworldly" effect would be my personal preference. Man, this is a long song, isn't it? There is the arpeggiated guitar again...solid. Now given this is an MP3 I'm listening to through JBL computer speakers, but the overall sound is a little 'cold'. Maybe boosting the lower and mid-lows would help remedy this a little.
Sorry, just read the answer to my question about the drums...so live player, but sampled. Hell of a drummer, I must say, no offense in my slang meant.
 
Heh, it's cool. 'Hell' is just a word to me, and to this band actually. We just love Jesus somethin' fierce.

As for the mix, I made some adjustments but my ears are probably lying to me...I'll post a re-mix tomorrow. I just slightly boosted around 150hz (about a db) on the whole track, carved out the guitars and vocals a bit differently, thus making space to make the vox much more present...and added some reverb and delay to the clean guitars plus cut down on the click of the kick during that part. It should make for a more interesting mix.

All in all though...I am glad we're re-recording it, because most of the things that have been said, I agree with...But I hate EQing when the sound was poo going in anyways.


BTW, the kick and snare samples are from a post on this forum, by The Blue Room I believe...They work reeeeally well!
 
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