Judge my metal mix

[FutureBreed]

Hello,

I just finished working on this song, i would appreciate any kind of feedback. The guitars may be a little too loud, and the drums may be a little bit buried, it kinda depends what you listen it on.

Also, I used this as the reference track: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GckcSCdaj6E . I know they still sound very different, but I didn't and couldn't make it sound exactly the same (eq wise, compression, etc). The thing I'm struggling the most is making the whole mix "In your face". Having that bass blast in your face without clipping, or making the mix too dark.

Dropbox - Through My Veins Final.wav

So I would appreciate any kind of serious/constructive criticism.

Thanks!

 

[easlern]

I think your instincts are right- the guitars feel like they're burying everything but the vocal. The vocal sounds pretty awesome actually. The guitars are really wooly, I think some carving in the low mids would help a lot so they don't have to be so loud to come through. Also holy shit that solo is insane. . .

 

[VomitHatSteve]

The guitars are really wooly, I think some carving in the low mids would help a lot

That was my thought immediately on the start. (Tho, I would have said "woofy") I think some of the drum EQ might be emphasizing the same frequencies that the guitars' EQ is, so when the kick and guits play together, the low mids dominate. (Ironically, this makes the guitars seem cleaner and less heavy than I suspect you intend)

You were probably more aggressive on taming the high end than you needed to be. The vocals sound pretty good but could use some air (just a little). The rhythm guitars could use a little more high end. Maybe even the cymbals; they're kind of dark (tho turning up their high end could quickly backfire).
The leads sound good EQ-wise. The solo and the post-solo pianos are sitting pretty great.

 

[bainmack]

awesome guitar parts and solo!
rhythm section needs to be EQ'd like others have said. low to low-mids.. its a difficult area.
drums need more life.

dope track though!

 

[RedStone]

It's closer than you might think ...

It's actually very very close (to my ears). The mix is very mid focused which makes it hard to hear exactly what's happening. Cleaning it up with a bit of EQ revealed some heavy compression. Be careful with that, as compression and over-limiting can take the snap and sizzle out of a mix. But a bit of compression and a limiter set right will do wonders.

Here's my take on what the mix could be ... I didn't spend long on this - just enough to try to coax a vision out that better matched the reference track. Some low-mid boosting on the guitars, some adjustments to the sizzle across the mix and some selective EQ on the bass, vocals and upper mids was what I did. Hope it helps.

View attachment Reverse the Moment re-master2.mp3

 

[Bulls Hit]

Yeah I agree with Redstone its very loud. And I say that with an unblemished record of seekingloudness You've got a good sound and compositional aspects but its being squashed. Everything is louder than everything else. I'd like to hear this as the band would sound in a small pub venue with a really good PA. More dynamic, more light and shade. Punchier and generally tougher all round. Try using parallel compression to bring out the drums or whatever instead of smashing the whole mix. Good jam

 

[Ujn Hunter]

I think I prefer that re-master2.mp3, but I can't tell if you have a bass player or not? Only at the 0:51 and 0:55 marks did I notice the bass... being a bass player primarily I don't like it that all... Perhaps this is how "modern" sounding "metal" is supposed to sound, but the guitar tone itself isn't the most appealing to me... is this a 7 string or just down-tuned? Maybe that's why the bass is non-existent? Maybe it just sounds too "sterile" for me if that makes sense? I'd like some dirty sounding bass to go with those guitars, as it stands I don't hear any bass and it lacks punch to me because of that... nice solo.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Some low-mid boosting on the guitars, some adjustments to the sizzle across the mix and some selective EQ on the bass, vocals and upper mids was what I did. Hope it helps.

View attachment 104620

Wait... do you have the tracks that you were able to remix this?

This is definitely an improvement over the original mix. I re-listened to the reference track, and it's probably a poor choice for comparison. The drums especially are such a completely different part between the two that it's going to throw everything off.

 

[RedStone]

No individual tracks - just the OP's wave file and some mid-side processing and a few other tweaks.