Need opinions on new recorded song?

[Bloodsoaked]

Sounds pretty good to me man. If I could get my tunes sounding half that good, I would be happy.. It will really pick up when you get the bass in there. Not my style ,but, sounds good, nonetheless.

Thanks allot I appreciate it...

 

[Bloodsoaked]

I'm in a band called Flesh-Resonance and we host our main site over at Artistlaunch:-

http://www.artistlaunch.com/fr

But I think you might find it a bit quiet fot your tastes . BTW, don't expect to find anything there any better than what you have achieved. It's not bad, and we had our last CD pressed from a glass master, but improvements are being made IMO.

As it happens, the two guys who started this band used to play for a Death Metal band called Morbid Symphony... quite some years back.

Have fun slaving over that hot mixing desk

I checked out a few songs and I really liked them. I bookmarked the page and will be back to listen to more. Very cool and different stuff.

 

[chessrock]

You have a classic case of a BAD BAD HORRIBLE guitar tone with scooped mids and harshiness....no mids, no body, harsh..stings my eardrums very badly.

All the mix sounds so scooped, drums also...did you scoop all the mids? run the mix and guitars through a BBE Sonic Masturbator 369 ?

What he said.

I think you can do a lot better. Keep working at it.

.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Had another listen...



yep... at least I think it is anyways. The high freq of the guitar is fighting with the cymbals so much so that you can hardly tell that there are any cymbals there at all.

Have a go at taking the guitars right down in the mix... less than -18dB and you'd be surprised how loud they still appear to be. Raise them a little... perhaps up to -12dB/ Perhaps export a version of each and compare.

The reason I say this is because I've just become more involved in the recording process of the band I'm in. I felt that there were occasions in the past where the guitar was a little too loud and did drown other stuff from time to time. I found that if I dropped the guitars out completely and then gradually brought them back into the mix, I didn't have to bring them right back up again... Try it and see... post the results as A/B's

I tried whay you said and it seemed to help a bit. I did post the new version at the same link as above (begining of thread). Let me know if you think it made any difference. Sorry, no version one and two posted. Just the new version. Thank you for all your help...

 

[Bloodsoaked]

EQing an entire mix is undesirable. I'm serious about that. Leave it to the mastering engineer.
....and if YOU are the mastering engineer, then be sure to get the tones you want while tracking so that minimal EQ is required further down the road.

Ohh and about the cymbals, an important part of the mixing process ig giving the instruments place to breathe. It takes quite some time to learn though, but in the end, it's what makes the difference between an amateur and a pro. A way to give depth is to play on EQ and positionning. But as far as I could hear, the drums are too low in the mix (as far as my personal taste dictates it...) and this doesn't help your ride to come out.

So basicly keep playing around with the EQ on each track and not the entire mix till I get a mix where everything is where I think it should be?

Shold there be EQ on each track? Compression on the guitar tracks? What is general does compression do to a guitar and/or vocal track? I have been reading other fourms and allot of people are saying for death metal music the vocals and guitars should have compression. Any opinions?

 

[TheDewd]

So basicly keep playing around with the EQ on each track and not the entire mix till I get a mix where everything is where I think it should be?

Shold there be EQ on each track? Compression on the guitar tracks? What is general does compression do to a guitar and/or vocal track? I have been reading other fourms and allot of people are saying for death metal music the vocals and guitars should have compression. Any opinions?

About your first question, yes, everything should sit where it should, preferably with minimal EQ, even on the tracks. The trick is to get the tone you want right to tape and don't mess with with it later on.

Compression on vocals is almost a must in most musical genres. It tightens the vocal track and make it easier to sit in the mix afterwards.

Compressing heavily distorted guitars is pretty much useless, but it can be done. An heavy guitar tone is already really compressed by the amp, but compressing it further can help it sit in the mix better.

Also bear in mind that most (if not every) compressor has it's own "tone" and that sometimes you apply compression to get this effect, rather than compression. Indeed, it works better than an EQ sometimes (providing you have a good compression and know how to use it).

 

[Bloodsoaked]

About your first question, yes, everything should sit where it should, preferably with minimal EQ, even on the tracks. The trick is to get the tone you want right to tape and don't mess with with it later on.

Compression on vocals is almost a must in most musical genres. It tightens the vocal track and make it easier to sit in the mix afterwards.

Compressing heavily distorted guitars is pretty much useless, but it can be done. An heavy guitar tone is already really compressed by the amp, but compressing it further can help it sit in the mix better.

Also bear in mind that most (if not every) compressor has it's own "tone" and that sometimes you apply compression to get this effect, rather than compression. Indeed, it works better than an EQ sometimes (providing you have a good compression and know how to use it).

Thank you very much for all the info...So what would you say is more important the mix or the mastering?

 

[TheDewd]

Thank you very much for all the info...So what would you say is more important the mix or the mastering?

Mastering a poor mix will be like polishing a turd.
So yeah, the mix is the most important part.

 

[staring]

What exactly do you mean by "thin"? How would I go about fixing that? The drums are a drum machine and not being a drummer I did the best I could but for the most part I am happy with them. Maybe as you said the bass track will give the kick some "umppph". Was your "nice guitar track" comment serious or sarcastic, LOL? Is my guitar sound not fat and full?

Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment. I have brought the vocals back down, let me know if you notice and improvement.

It sounded "thin", maybe the bass track wasn't there..

I was serious about the "nice guitar track" comments - it's cool.

Again, i will let you know what are my comments after i download this song...

Peace out....

 

[Synkrotron]

I tried whay you said and it seemed to help a bit. I did post the new version at the same link as above (begining of thread). Let me know if you think it made any difference. Sorry, no version one and two posted. Just the new version. Thank you for all your help...

Just listened to your latest version. I'm now starting to hear the cymbal crashes now whereas before they were totally drowned out. And I think that the vocal sits better too. I think you have two vocals sitting dead centre? if so, offset each one ever so slightly (only about 5% - 10%) from centre and see what that sounds like (main vocals do normally sit dead centre but seeing as you appear to have two then it's worth a try).

I would still be tempted to bring the guitars down some more which would allow you to bring up the whole mix a bit more without peaking and therefore bring up the drums a bit more.

It's a pity you can't download the track because I'd have a copy of each version then to compare.

Oh, and thanks fro dropping by my band's music site... much appreciated.


Keep at it...



andy

 

[Cult_Status02]

Hrm...the drum programming got kind of annoying, guess it's just not my thing, and I think a bit of verb to the vocals and bringing them down a bit would be good. I think they are too far up front in the mix, it's like your screaming in my face, but the band's chilling in the back of the room.

 

[ericlingus]

Yeah I think the vocals are too up front. Maybe add a little reverb to the snare or something? The drums seem kinda stale. I think this mix sounds much better than your first one though.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

It sounded "thin", maybe the bass track wasn't there..

I was serious about the "nice guitar track" comments - it's cool.

Again, i will let you know what are my comments after i download this song.

There is no bass track yet. I ahve to be recording the bass track this week. I need to borrow a bass form a friend. Glad you like the guitar track, thank you.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Just listened to your latest version. I'm now starting to hear the cymbal crashes now whereas before they were totally drowned out. And I think that the vocal sits better too. I think you have two vocals sitting dead centre? if so, offset each one ever so slightly (only about 5% - 10%) from centre and see what that sounds like (main vocals do normally sit dead centre but seeing as you appear to have two then it's worth a try).

I would still be tempted to bring the guitars down some more which would allow you to bring up the whole mix a bit more without peaking and therefore bring up the drums a bit more.
andy

I have three tracks of vocals, two deap voice vocals and one higher pitched vocal track. I also have a few tracks of vocals for some background vocals. The main vocal tracks have a total of three and the back up vocals have two.

I will bring the guitars down a bit again and try some other stuff. If you would like download the song and save it to your hard drive, then when I upload my newer version you can compare them. Only if you have the time and are willing to keep giving feedback and some great advice.

Thank you...

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Hrm...the drum programming got kind of annoying, guess it's just not my thing, and I think a bit of verb to the vocals and bringing them down a bit would be good. I think they are too far up front in the mix, it's like your screaming in my face, but the band's chilling in the back of the room.

So adding reverb will lower the vocals? Would it be better to just lower the overall vocal tracks? Just qurious.

Thank you...

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Yeah I think the vocals are too up front. Maybe add a little reverb to the snare or something? The drums seem kinda stale. I think this mix sounds much better than your first one though.

At least it is sounding better...LOL

I am going to continue mixing and then maybe have a pro mix and master it and see how much of a difference it will make. I can have the whole song mixed and mastered for about $40.

 

[staring]

Just listened to it. The whole mix was much better than the first one. These are my comments:

1. Humanize the drum... you could achieve it by varying the velocity of the bass drum-specially on the double kick part. What kind of drum machine do you use?
2. Vox sits well on mix now... try to pan, apply short reverb.
3. Again, i think the mix will be much better if you got the bass track on it...

Ok... peace out.

 

[ericlingus]

also when you program the drum rolls, make some of the beats a little off. I'm talking very minute. Not like like an 8th note off or something. Rolls are usually sped up slightly. I'd try that. Don't make every beat exactly on. Humans cant do that. On your beatcraft set it up so you have 32 steps in each beat. Then you can humanize the timing.

 

[Bloodsoaked]

Just listened to it. The whole mix was much better than the first one. These are my comments:

1. Humanize the drum... you could achieve it by varying the velocity of the bass drum-specially on the double kick part. What kind of drum machine do you use?
2. Vox sits well on mix now... try to pan, apply short reverb.
3. Again, i think the mix will be much better if you got the bass track on it...

Ok... peace out.

The only reason I did not spend time "humanizing" the drums was that it was going to take a long time. It is something that I really should do. I just wanted to get a mix down. would you say vary every kick hit? 100%, 95%, 96%, 90%, 98%, 95% and so on?

I use Beatcraft for my drum machine. It is all software based. Pretty easy to learn. I am not a drummer by any means so I am still learing that as well.

I have added some reverb to the vocals now as well and lowered the guitars just a bit and the snare as well. I think everything is "starting" to stand out.

I hope to ahve a bass track in a week or so.

Thank you for talking the time ti listen. If you have anymore free time and would like to check it out again with some reverb on the vocals and slight snare and guitar volume changes please do.

Thanks...

 

[Bloodsoaked]

also when you program the drum rolls, make some of the beats a little off. I'm talking very minute. Not like like an 8th note off or something. Rolls are usually sped up slightly. I'd try that. Don't make every beat exactly on. Humans cant do that. On your beatcraft set it up so you have 32 steps in each beat. Then you can humanize the timing.

Thanks for the info. I know you use Beatdraft as well so I will see what I can do.