Decay In Space (Metal/Industrial)

[STAT1STICK]

Hey guys and gals. for those of you who do not know, I am STAT1STICK. I was hybridsound. I ditched that account and decided to start fresh. Hopefully, there won't be as many misunderstandings this time.

Anyway... That whole Gmail thing didn't work out for any of us, so, I gave in and decided to use a more conventional method of getting my songs on the net.

This particular song is kind of a odd. I like to sway back and forth between a whole bunch of different genres of music. To put it in layman's terms, none of my songs sound the same. I still haven't figured out if that's a bad thing or not. I'd have to say that this is probably my biggest production yet. I pumped this song full of nearly 30 tracks and it's taken me a while to get it where it is now. I know that it's not perfect but I think I'm still learning as far as mixing goes.

Now, I'm going to tell you some things about this song that are going to make you cringe... But please keep this in mind: I am a poor college student who can't afford the best equipment in the world. I record in the basement of an old house and it's not sound-proofed at all. Because of this, I rarely use open mics.

The guitar sounds were achieved by using a Digitech RP50. The synth sounds were created with a Casio WK3000 and Absynth 3. The bass guitar is not a bass guitar at all. It's a pitch shifted guitar. The drums were made with drum pads and the cymbals are samples of real cymbals programmed into my synth. The song was recorded with Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and Adobe Audition 1.5. I used the sound card that came stock in my computer. For a mixer, I used a Behringer Eurorack UB802. All of my headphones broke so I had to monitor the song through an Audiovox shelf stereo system.

With all of that being said... I would appreciate it if you would give this song a listen and tell me if I'm making the most out of what I have or if I need to re-think my carreer. Here is the link:

http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=1367

I will upload the demo for this song later so that you can compare the two and see how the song has evolved.

I'd appreciate any feedback and/or suggestions.

FYI: I closed the previous topic about this song so that there's no confusion.

Thanks for your time.

 

[metalhead28]

sorry, I can't jam this at work right now.....I'll check it out a little later.

 

[metalhead28]

Okay, I got a chance to listen a little sooner than I expected.
First off, the sounds are not my cup of tea but that's beside the point. However, It does seem to be much too harsh and trebly. That may be part of it's industrial type of vibe, but I think it would benefit alot if some of the instruments had less of that high end to them. The synths, the guitars, the drums and everything have a really extreme high end, and the drums also have a real processed clickiness to them. I would say that something should be rooted with a more realistic sound and timbre and the whole thing would come together better. Something to offset all of the treble and fill out the sound. There may be alot of low end there but you don't really feel it in comparison. I think the cymbals are somewhat too hot as well. I'm not too familiar with this style so take my opinions with a grain of salt. My suggestions are just what I would like to hear differently. Good job overall tho, especially considering your very modest equipment!

 

[seismetr0n]

checked out your song .. pretty sweet,
but metalhead 28 is right...
it needs more -bass, low-mid, and mid.. probably becaue you monitor on your shelf system... try boosting 250hz or so on the guitars to fatten them up... and maybe boost some 60hz or so on the kick and a little higher on the bass track,,
its got lots of teeth but no balls
gl

 

[emergencyexit]

You can really hear the fake sound of the drums, and although this style calls for it, They don't even sound playd at all. Add some serious low end as well. Otherwise the song is pretty good sounding. Good job.

Ben

 

[systmovadown]

Okay, I got a chance to listen a little sooner than I expected.
First off, the sounds are not my cup of tea but that's beside the point. However, It does seem to be much too harsh and trebly. That may be part of it's industrial type of vibe, but I think it would benefit alot if some of the instruments had less of that high end to them. The synths, the guitars, the drums and everything have a really extreme high end, and the drums also have a real processed clickiness to them. I would say that something should be rooted with a more realistic sound and timbre and the whole thing would come together better. Something to offset all of the treble and fill out the sound. There may be alot of low end there but you don't really feel it in comparison. I think the cymbals are somewhat too hot as well. I'm not too familiar with this style so take my opinions with a grain of salt. My suggestions are just what I would like to hear differently. Good job overall tho, especially considering your very modest equipment!

agreed


a little toooooo harsh.
i like the bass.

its a little too fake though.

 

[STAT1STICK]

Thanks for your replies. I'd have to agree with you all about the highs problem. I guess it's kind of a complex I have. I'm always afraid of not having enough but then I over use them. Hmmm... I'll go through my mix and find out what the main offenders are and I'll cut back on the highs a bit.

About the Bass... It's really complicated. I tried to make something out of nothing and most of the time it doesn't work. When I ran the guitar (H-S-S) through the processor for the pitch shift, I had it set on the Neck+Middle position with the tone knob all the way up so that I would get a lot of natrual low tones and some string noise as well to simulate a real bass guitar.

When the actual mixing took place, additional EQ adjustment was performed to ensure that it didn't sound out of place from the rest of the song. I'm guessing in that process, some tonal qualities were dropped out/sacrificed for a greater goal.

The drums... I'm not sure what can be done about those. All of the drum samples I have sound like crap and so in this case, I had to find the lesser of two evils. I used the samples that sounded "best" and recorded it. As far as EQ goes... I do think they sound really "clicky" and fake... But, I just can't seem to find the right EQ mix that helps out here. It might be a lost cause until I can afford a real drum set. But then again, if I do get a real drum set, where the hell will I put it!?

Also, I have a few questions... Should the drums be louder than everything else? When I look at the waveform, I can distinctly see that the drums are peaking way above everything else. Is that normal? Should I be doing something different to the mix? What about a limiter? Would that help? And if so, do I use it on the mixed down song or just the drum track?

Is it a good idea to adjust the volume of each track so that they all peak at the same db?

How should I go about EQing the cymbals? When I try to do it, they always come out sounding really sharp and unpleasant. I want something subtle but not overlooked.

Again, thanks for all of your replies.