Death metal mixing tips?

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bassist

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Hey everyone

Here's the link to my MP3 (should be on the right, "Click here to start download..")
http://www.mediafire.com/?zyfitrv5hzn

I barely know the basics of the basics when it comes to mixing, and I really don't know anything at all about mastering, so any tips or advice you have whatsoever - from "kick drums is way too loud" to "OMG WTF DID YOU DO TO THOSE VOX" - is welcome.



Here's what I've done so far -

For both guitars, I EQd a cut around 400Hz, 1.6kHz, and a gradual boost between 4kHz and 6.3kHz just to clean up the tone a bit. I also gave the right channel guitar a slight slow cut and high boost, just to help differentiate the tone from the left channel. Didn't really do anything at all to the guitar solo.

I compressed the bass at about -10db with a 3:1 ratio and a pretty quick attack/decay time. After that, I EQd a mid boost mainly from about 500Hz-1.6kHz.

The vocals, I compressed the hell out of (-43db) with a low cut <250Hz and a decent mid boost from about 250Hz - 500Hz.

Drums are all just samples I've found. Nothing really done there aside from panning certain pieces of the kit and adjusting levels.

Unfortunately, due to a file save accident, I can only roll back so much of the guitar's EQing. And, all the vocal compression and EQ was done while recording via a patch, so that cannot be undone either (though, I'm not extremely happy with the way they turned out, so I wouldn't be against redoing them entirely if someone had something terribly wrong their mix).



I guess my own issues so far would be primarily with the vocals and the bass. I think I did a decent job with the bass, but it's not quite as clear as I want. I think the vocals are a little over compressed, too.

As I said, any and all tips or advice are welcome. Even if you don't want to type out a bunch of paragraphs; if you have a link to a decent tutorial you think I could benefit from, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
-Travis
 
as a death metal recording/mixing newb myself.. i too am struggling to improve my shit recordings.

how did you record the bass/guitars? mics, cabs, recorder, interface??? etc.

i like the song, the bass playing is sweet.
 
Thanks for the compliment, man.

As for recording - I use a Line 6 UX1 usb interface (google it, they're only like 100 bucks). For bass, I just ran direct with my sansamp DI box; in the future I'm gonna look into simultaneously running direct and micing a bass amp. Guitar I miced up my Ampeg VH140c combo amp with a Shure SM58 (SM57 would probably be a better choice, but I make do with what I've got). Vocals were also recorded with said SM58.

For tracking, I use Audacity - which is unstable and has a crappy interface. Not an ideal recommendation, but it is free/open source, so I guess you could call it a poor man's pro tools (plus, it's easier to use than pro tools). The Line 6 UX1 comes with a program called Gearbox, which is basically a set of virtual amps/patches that might come in handy as well (I used it on this recording for the vocal compression).
 
dont know if youve done this as im only listening through laptop speakers;

usually as far as i am aware guitars are quite often double tracked for each guitar, left and right. So if you have 2 guitarists, each one has 2 tracks. You have to make sure its really tight otherwise it will sound off, but get it right and it helps thicken up the sound and make it a bit more organic sounding than a POD into a computer.

also for vocals, again i couldnt really tell but what iv done in the past is have the main vocal melody hilighted with a gentle extra vocal line. Usually its the main vocals being quite high and a gutteral vocal in the background to thicken it up a bit. one mroe thing, if the singer is getting out of breath or the pronunciation is a challenge, break up recording into line by line segments, it will helphim keep his breath and powerful constantly.


HNR
 
It sounds pretty good dude. I like to cut the low and mid and raise the highs on DM vocals. Also try recording 4 guitar tracks for each guitar instead of just 2. I don't think the vocals are too compressed, It's death metal man :D
 
I listened to both tracks. I have a good deal of experience with recording DM so Ill lend you my ear. This sounds like it was mixed by the bassist. Bass dominates the mix. I like the way the bass is defined in the mix but the guitars do sound very POD-like and a bit mushy. If the guitars were a bit thicker it would really shine. As stated in other critiques, add more tracks to thicken the guitars. Atleast 4 tracks in total for the rythem section (Some producers even do 8, four per side ala later cannibal corpse albums). I would add a little more bottom end to the overall mix (80-200hz). Sounds like this was mixed on a bass heavy speaker system and you compensated. Also, the drum samples are out of balance with one another. There is that one far right panned cymbal that sounds like somewhere between a splash and a light crash that is just killing my ear. I wouldn't have the drums panned so much, to me it makes everything sound disconnected. I would also add a light wash of ambient reverb to the master track on whatever you are mixing on. Not much, just enough to give it a space. One thing about DM is you dont wanna add anything more than space because the sound is supposed to be tight. As for the material itself, it is very good. Excellent bass playing that reminds me of early Gorguts and for a self-labeled "newb" this is still quite enjoyable despite it's flaws. Keep on keepin on.
 
Turn down the cymbals, find a beefier snare sample, and try a multiband compressor on the 2-bus with a smiley face type preset, then adjust to your liking from there. the bass sounds a little too throaty in the 750 hz region, perhaps tame that a bit.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, lot of useful info there - pretty much everything Murdersgalore said is true...! I'll give it a shot for this next song I'm writing and get back to everyone. Appreciate the feedback, everyone.
 
Yeah cut the low mids on the vox and bump up the highs a little. They also sound kinda dry imo, but I'd slide the eq up and re-evaluate when I can hear it better. I think I'd add a little low end to the bass too, has a real terry butler (death) sound, as much as I always liked them, that kinda bugged me then too.. Cool song, my 6yo son is headbangin! The apple doesnt fall far... :D

lol woops,i listened to the track in the 1st post..... checking out the new one now..
 
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