Public Mix Contest #3!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter xfinsterx
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Doulos.

You are belittling the positive focus of my thread for your own agenda.

Stop your arguements with Bruce.

If youd like to argue with him then do it on each others P.M.

Ill shut the thread down if i keep seeing this pissing contest.
 
doulos said:
blue bear

starting out? I’ve been doing this since I was 15 lets see 15 -16to 24 id say I've been at it for at least 8 years however I will say this I’m trying to take my mixing to a higher level and the results I've had in the past pale in comparison I've noticed that a good engineer with good gear in a modest recording environment can get about 90% the way to professional records even after pro mastering id say im about 85% the way there and that to me is just not good enough unfortunately its that 10% after 90 thats the most expensive in gear and the greatest learning curve to overcome awesome engineers know audio inside and out and I lack in this department I have many areas in engineering I’m not familiar with nor have the gear to see the difference but will this stop me? nope ill get the gear and ill continue mixing till its second nature and the day i turn out professional results is the day ill call myself a true audio engineer
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I read this in a fortune cookie once:

Your mixing skills can only be as good as your punctuation skills.

Once I accepted that, my mixing improved exponentially.
 
Raw-Tracks said:
I read this in a fortune cookie once:

Your mixing skills can only be as good as your punctuation skills.

Once I accepted that, my mixing improved exponentially.
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..........ROFLMAO!
 
doulos said:
the day i turn out professional results is the day ill call myself a true audio engineer
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As it should be... at least we can agree on that point.........!!

Chris - I'm partly responsible for taking the thread slightly off-topic (although I was merely trying to do damage control on some of Doulos' um..., dubious "audio theories")... in any case, I won't be taking it any further here with Mr. Doulos...... I've said my piece! ;)
 
Raw-Tracks said:
OK, here is my mix. I do not intend to enter the contest. I would just like to offer up my "interpretation" of the mix.

Do NOT ENTER IN CONTEST...thanks

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This mix raw tracks is extremely well balanced in terms of the parts being fully listenable on an individual basis.

However.

Its clear (as you admitted) that you arent farmiliar in blending this style.
About 90% percent of the folk who entered hadnt done this type of mix before. With that fact in mind----I'd say all the mixes rock. :)

"THE BASS GUITAR IN A METAL MIX"
Is to be more as a low end extension of the guitar.
Is to be more felt than heard in a mix.
Youll notice how tight the bass player is with the guitars.
Ill spend a couple of hours just trying to make the bass and the guitars sound like one HUGE thing in tandem.
THEN ill bring the drums in.
Then, provided you left yourself enough db meter room.
You should be able to just compress and float your vocals and lead solo over the top of the mix.
But the vox in this style are far better heard as a coagulation with the distortion of the guitars. As opposed to beong treated as an R&B vocal.
The vocals are brought in last. Not second or first.

This is how "I" do it.

YMMV
 
What finster stated about the Bass in a metal mix brings up some questions. Are we supposed to mix as the genere dictates : guitars over powering the other instruments, Bass buried, snare smothered and hi hats and cymbols almost non existent? Or do we mix so all of the instruments are well balanced with clarity and good timbre [IE. the criteria that Bear used on the last contest]? These 2 ways of mixing do not coincide. I've been working on a few different mixes and my non-metal mixes sound way better to me than the ones that are true to the genere. This leaves me confused as I'm sure that some of the other non- metal guys are. I guess what I'm asking is will we be critiqued on a "Metal" mix or just a mix in general?
 
I think my mix turned out thin (as pointed out by a few comments) because of the references I used before and during mixing. I find that digitally recorded 90's/00's metal is thin. Granted, someone with more experience can probably tackle this, but I found that turning up the bass and/or messing around with EQ/delays/fun stuff just made it stand out. The playing in this song should be tight with the guitar, IMHO. I gave it a little definition in the higher ranges to make it more audible without making it honky. You can definitely tell the bass is there on my mix, it's just tight. I set the level by turning it all the way down and then bringing it up until I could just tell it was there - i.e. it wasn't sticking out but I could tell a difference if I muted the track.

I'll agree with the guitar being a little mushy, but I was just trying to take out the DI sound. No matter how much EQ and processing is involved, it always sounds like DI to me. Meh.

I think it's a matter of experience with the genre at this point. Of course, I'm not claiming to be a pro by any means (though I was in a well-respected studio recently and the engineer did take several hints from me...); I'm just doing this for fun and for learning. I'll take whatever criticism I can get with a good attitude, but I do have my own set of opinions and preferences, too. I consider myself pretty well educated audio-wise, but not completely stubborn.

But I am wondering on the basis of comparison, too. If I'll be judged on a normal mixing scale like the last contest I'm sure to lose. But eh, it's all in good fun!

Oh, and for a good example of what I mean by thin 90's metal, check out "Follow the Reaper" by Children of Bodom. The bass is almost strictly under 100hz. It's a very, very bright mix (or maybe that's the ME's fault), I couldn't listen to it on my old car's system because the tweeters were too strong.
 
I would recomend you mix according to the style of music. Or your interpretation thereof.
 
ocnor said:
guitars over powering the other instruments, Bass buried, snare smothered and hi hats and cymbols almost non existent?
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These are your opinions Ocnor.
Dont generalize them into facts.



Lets focus your concern on your personal mix.


Your Broad concerns are valid to a point.
Youre focusing on what everyone else is doing.
Let me review your mix.....
 
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I actually hadnt noticed you entered ocnor......
Ive been busy.

Lemme listen..

BRB.

Ok.

Where are the guitars?
The cymbals are louder than the guitars Ocnor.
Is this the counter move to what you described as "typical metal production?".
And yes, i am being facetious. :D

Anyways, the snare.
Youve made it sound like i tracked it in some massive cathedral.
I think it just sorta takes away from the tightness that is intended for the song.

If this is what you think is appropriate for a metal sound, then thats fine with me dude.

But if you want my 2 cents?
It dosent cut the metal mustard.
 
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mmm... why won't my mp3 clear?
ok.. when I get home from uni I'll upload it somewhere else...
for the moment, I think the lo-fi play works:
here

grr...
 
Hey fin. You giving out too many details on how the song should be mixed. LOL Keep it up i might meet your criteria. LOL and I still have not heard anyone elses mixes.
 
Raw Tracks
Mix kicks some serious ass. It is mixed in a sort of modern pop way, ie big drums, but man they sound good. There's enough guitar to cary the tune and I really like how the vocals sat in the mix.
 
Doug H said:
Raw Tracks
Mix kicks some serious ass. It is mixed in a sort of modern pop way, ie big drums, but man they sound good. There's enough guitar to cary the tune and I really like how the vocals sat in the mix.
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Thanks Doug, I appreciate the kind words.
 
Part 2 of my mix reviews:

Duolos:

I do think the low end is a little light on this mix. Just a touch more and I'd be happy. Overall balances are nice. I could also use just a bit more overheads, they seem a bit buried to me. That might help to add a little shimmer to the upper end of the spectrum. Guitar lead to me seems a little on the buried side, at least birghten that up a little.

FattMusiek:

This mix has a certain energy that I haven't got from the previous mixes. I think it's in the drums. I really like the snare sound. The ring/resonance is really dialed in and brought out. I think some mixers might have tried to get rid of that tone, I tried to bring it out in my mix. I think Fattmusiek really brought that out. I think this mix makes full use of the audio bandwidth. Nice Work.

jsandlin:

Only could get the lo-bandwith one. Wasn't worth a listen. The 192k file is on the Contest Download Page.

jtvrdy:

Good mix. Tonal balance seems fine. Balances between the parts are good. If anything, I could use a little more ambience on the snare, seems a little dry to me. good Job.

MixMister:

A little too mid-rangey and overly compressed(?). That second vocal seems very compressed. It's almost like it jumps into my head. I think the vocals have taken over on this mix. I think the kick tone is pretty nice. Overall, this mix is too fatiguing.

NL5:

I was enjoying this mix until that second vocal came in. The one with the "low bit rate" effect, or whatever that is. I don't care for that all. Interesting panning on the lead guitar. I think that was a little fast on the panning. Maybe leave it in the middle a little at first then slowly pan it across once or twice. I think the Kick is just a little too loud in the mix, I think the tone is fine, just bump it back 2db or so. I like the snare tone, good volume-wise too. I miss the toms, they are too far back. Overall, I think this could be a great mix if you just lose the gimmicks (panning, weird vocal fx) and fix a few very minor drum levels. Nice work.

ocnor:

Icicles breaking through glass. This mix is bright 'n' brittle. I think mainly due to the overheads. The guitars don't seem overly bright, the cymbals are just killing me. I really think there might be a good mix under the barrage of cymbals. I just can't quite tell.

Pro Tools User:

This is a very Mono mix. Only the overheads and toms are panned. Everything else is in the middle. This is making for a very small mix. I think you may have pulled too much midrange out of the quitars. They sound very scooped.

SEDstar:

This mix is a bit fuzzy and fluffy sounding. I think it is lacking in definition and detail.

Track Rat:

Another brittle mix. Holy vocal delay Batman! Jury's still out on that, can't tell if I like it or not. Might be OK. Levels are nicely balanced. Guitars sound like they are breaking up on the top end. Interesting pan at end of guitar solo.



That's all for now. These have just been quick impressions, jotted down while listening to the mix. I mean no harm in any of the comments. They are just my opinion, and do not reflect the opinions of this contest, thread, web site, or this internet.
 
This is just an experiment (i.e. do not post, hehe), but I've "remastered" my mix. I just took an uncompressed version of my mix #12 (the one that's posted) and applied some overall EQ, compression and limiting while listening to the aforementioned Children of Bodom record, trying to match the overall tone as much as I know how. What do you guys think?



Thanks!
 
doulos said:
Tekker
Didn’t Play
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Yeah, it did play.

That was a joke mix I did, because I don't like heavy metal music. So I muted everything and turned it in... I think it's the best metal mix I've ever heard and I'm really looking forward to hearing Blue Bear's critiques on it... lol :D

-tkr
 
I've declined to submit a mix.

I don't think that I have the ability or experience to do the genre justice.

There's some small consolation in that ...
 
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