Death Grind stuff. Is this brutal sounding?

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Murdersgalore

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I've been working on a Death Grind project for a few weeks and it's turning out pretty well imho. Got a few more tunes to record before vocals and finishing touches. I'm gonna be mastering it myself because I'm broke. I wanted to throw a quick master up to get a good idea of what peoples reaction would be to how the finished product will most likely sound. I picked a more accessible track but be warned, this is not soft music. The guitars are distorted all to hell and it's supposed to be that way. :D

track3.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage
 
You wouldn't happen to be a guitar-player, would ya? The drums are a bit covered up by the guitars. Bring the snare up at least. The kick / bass / guitars sound pretty good. I'd change the snare sample, too.. It sounds too flimsy for the genre.
 
Another vote for the snare change....yes, sounds brutal.

Might be a touch too heavy in the ass end....I'm on my computer speakers 5.1 with a sub....not ideal, but sounds a lil bit muddy on my system.
 
I agree the drums could be a little louder. Just a little.
 
Brutal, as is bad on the ears. This is terrible. Sounds like a headphone mix. I know you want to be as brutal and badassed as possible, but it still has to sound good. The low end is a mush of sub-lows with no clarity. The guitars are more fizz than balls. The kick is lost in the mush and all that peeks out is a tiny little click. This can't possibly sound good to you.

What are you monitoring with?
 
Yup, sure is brutal, James, but I have to agree with the guys. Those drums are getting lost and the guitars lack beef in the mids. This is probably down-tuned isn't it? That would be why the low end sounds a bit muddy. I'm sure you could do better with this. It's a good tune but it should really kick ass.
 
Hmm that sounds like the kick off of Far Beyond Driven.

Don't be afraid to let the guitars have a little midrange! Check out Pierced from Wihtin by the band Suffocation.
Yours are mushy too - the faster stuff loses articulation.

Less bass on the guitars; you already have a bass guitar in there - let it provide more of the bass frequencies.

The main problem is the drums though. The snare sounds wimpy and thin, and the toms sound like cardboard! I'd love a snare with more "pop" and toms that sounded more well, like drums, and less lifeless.

The drums don't all have to go click click click, just because the tempo is fast. They need more power, attack, immediacy...

Another classic to check out might be Disincarnate, from 1993. Similar guitar sound.

Anyway, here's a short sample of what rolling off some lows and highs, as well as boosting mids and lowering 3.5-4.5K sounds like. It's impossible to improve things more without access to the original tracks, and of course, drum samples, amp selection etc.
http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/btpi5z

Chris
 
Un-scoop it! "Hump it", perhaps? :p
Having some midrange is a good thing. The bass is pretty rumbly - put a low pass on the whole mix and just listen to the bass - if you can tell what's going on, you may have a monitoring problem that you're compensating for.

ps: I think the music rocks. Keep it up :D
 
The guitars sound like they went straight from pedal to computer.
The snare sounds like someone knocking next door's door.
It does sound like a h/phone mix!
 
I think I am suffering from hearing fatigue. I didn't notice any of these problems, seriously. I read the comments posted yesterday and scratched my head thought "hmm....sounded fine to me." I stepped away from it and spent the night at a friends. Came home this morning and listened again. Yeah, it's pretty terrible. I A/B'd it with some other stuff and it's hollow as fuck. I am going for kind of a noisy, almost too distorted guitar though. See if this is better. If not, more recommendations are always helpful.

track3b.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage
 
Yeah that's better, but it's still pretty rough. It sounds completely artificial and robotic. Even the guitars. Maybe that's what you're going for, but it's not a good listen. Drop the guitars some. They're stomping all over everything.
 
The bass sounds a lot tighter. I can lowpass the mix and clearly understand what's happening now - Really a hell of a lot better in the low end. The mix overall is much much better, but I actually think you took the midrange of the guitars too far in the opposite direction, myself...I liked the tone better yesterday, to be honest - but that's more of a taste thing, I suppose - I think there's a happy middle-ground somewhere in there.

I assumed the drums were supposed to sound artificial - but I do have a suggestion - sometimes when the hats are being played and a cymbal is struck - the tail of the hat sample is chopped off very noticeably (listen around 1:16 or so, and again at about 2:12, after the little choke-choke-choke-choke part and it comes into what I assume is the chorus). It could be intentional, like the drummer closed the hat or something to silence it - but even so: it sounds like an artifact of your drum sampler/machine/software/whatever. If it is an artifact - I suggest recording two tracks; the first with just the hats and the second with the cymbals, so that the hats aren't chopped off like that.

looking forward to track3c :p
 
I think that is more an artifact of compression perhaps. I am actually considering redoing the guitars so we will see. Thanks for the help guys.
 
Not too familiar with the genre, but the guitars sound much better and fuller in the second mix murdersgalore. The drums sound better, but dynamics are still too compressed and possibly gated? There's something on the drums that I can't place - maybe the toms, that sounds like a helicopter blade whirring - I'd get a better sample here maybe?

Hope this helps
 
Soundwise, the 2nd mix is better, maybe too much mid in the guitar. Bass sounds more like bass; maybe cut back again a bit on the guitar high-mids. Drums sound very clickety; try something there, like new snare sound or low-mids added.

Suggestion: Let the kick groove sometimes, instead of all the monster dub riffing. 3/4 thru, the strings are in a groove that the kick is not following. I know its deathgrind, but grind can groove. I think it would make the song way more exciting. Brutally so. :)

Thanks. :cool:
 
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Great track, love the riffs especially that riff in your second MP3 link at 0:25, can't get it out of my head haha.
Guitar playing is also very tight.

Drums sound a bit too "programmed."
I'm presuming you're using a drum program or samples, but if possible try changing the velocity of each of the notes just a bit, not drastically though. I know in Cubase you can randomize velocities in between values "X" and "Y". I know I myself for the longest time was stuck manually typing in the hit velocity of each note. That might help give the drums a more realistic feel.

Kick and Snare sound weak, I like to start with these values for my metal snares, and then adjust them from there to fit the mix:

Snare
Band 1: 20-50Hz high pass
Band 2: +6-9dB at around 200Hz
Band 3: -7dB at around 800Hz
Band 4: Nice long parametric band boosting +12dB at 20kHz

Give the snare some reverb and adjust the "wet" option while listening to the entire mix.

Download GClip, freeware - (GVST - GClip) .
Crank the gain to 8-10db, and clip at between 35-45% (just use your ears and watch out for distortion).

Add some light-medium compression and you're set for a massive snare sound.

Always be sure to hit the snare hard, if you're programming the snare try and keep the velocity of the snare around 110-115 to give those BIG hits :)

More snare starting point EQ and comp. set ups can be found here: BenVesco.com » Mix Recipes: Snare Drum EQ and Compression

Kick Drum
EQ:

I'm too lazy to type it out... watch this video and subscribe to this dudes channel:
YouTube - Mixing Metal - Kick Drum EQ

Besides that, I find heavily compressing metal kick drums will make them sound SUPER "clicky" so ya... compression is always nice though.

Add some reverb.

And that's pretty much it... then again, I make sure I'm using a good sounding source to begin with.

If your drums kick & snare still sound super crappy after applying these effects then you should probably consider getting new samples for your kick and snare. +1 to msb3671's comment.

Goodluck! This track has lots of potential, would love to hear the final product when it gets there!

- Zac

www.youtube.com/user/scorge120
 
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