'Warm' metal/rock record, would love criticality

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Iechineband

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So Im putting this recording out there, and I've had my close friends with good ears give it a run through and gotten mostly positive feedback. However this doesnt give me much to go on for improvement with future endeavors and I'd like some food for thought on future recordings.

I wanted a tone similar to Rage Against the Machines debut record and the hot/dark tones used on the new Alice in Chains records, and drums more warm like on Rammstein's Reise, Reise record. All pop rock/metal and high budget recordings, so while that may not be attainable in a home environment I gave it my best shot. Further, the guitars are an octave lower than normal (a bass' E) and the bass is an octave below that, so we have some very low frequencies occurring.

A single song if you want to focus:

https://iechine.bandcamp.com/track/shift

And individual, more high quality recordings are at:

https://iechine.bandcamp.com/album/weights

Here is a stream if you just want to jump around the full record:

Iechine - Weights Full Album Stream - YouTube

Thanks for all thoughts and feedback.
 
Hey, I listened to a few of your tunes. It's not a genre that I know too well, so I don't really know many of the reference points (apart from RATM) - but I thought it was all played very well.

You've got plenty of power in the mixes, but I thought there were two recurring issues with the songs I heard. The first is that the basslines are all pretty boomy , making them stick out and mask a lot of other frequencies. They're at the right kind of volume in the mix, but I think you need to do an EQ sweep with a narrow Q peak to find where that boom is, and then turn that peak into a narrow cut at that point. Probably around 110Hz-ish.

The second is that I think the vocals are a little low in the mix. They sound good and accomplished, they're just too quiet. They're probably where they are for the same reasons that most people mix their own vocals a little low, but the songs will be much better for a volume boost in that respect.

Other than that, good work. Hope the above helps!
 
Hey Rob, thanks for listening. I've had a few instances of people saying there was boom, but the majority not. Are you playing it through a powered system by any chance? Its helpful to know what kind of system youre using for reference.

The vocals I agree are mixed low, but as much as stylistic reasons. I do have them hot in many locations. My wife says they are way too low too though.
 
Iechineband said:
Hey Rob, thanks for listening. I've had a few instances of people saying there was boom, but the majority not. Are you playing it through a powered system by any chance? Its helpful to know what kind of system youre using for reference.

The vocals I agree are mixed low, but as much as stylistic reasons. I do have them hot in many locations. My wife says they are way too low too though.
Click to expand...

Hey no problem. For your reference, I'm listening to it through my stereo amp and a pair of bookshelf speakers. They're not specialist monitoring ones or owt, but the amp's pretty decent and always set to 'source direct', so it shouldn't be colouring the sound too much. As I say, the speakers are bookshelf ones, but they're ones I've used to record/mix/listen to music on my PC with for years, so I'm pretty familiar with them.
 
A bit of bass boom - the kick drum doesn't help either as it fills the world.
The bass could use a little definition in the 3k zone so that it can compete with the guitar that sounds like a bass with the treble cranked and bottom end cut.
That same guitar dominates the space and buries a lot of the what's going on.
The drums sound digital - are they?
Lots of sytlistic decision that compromise clarity I think.
I do like the vocals slighhtly buried though.
Sounds like a fair attempt at Tool without being quite so jammy.
Final summary - too loud - as in everything is trying to be louder than everything else - except the vocals.
 
I'm digging the crunch guitars. Those are a very good sound!

I'm listening on cheapish headphones, so I can't really speak to the ultra low frequencies.

You've got a pretty interesting arrangement here, which is nice.

The vocals are pretty quiet in the mix, but so are Tool's, so it may work.
I'm not super excited about the tone of your voice. The vox sound kind of nasally, pitchy, and lo-fi. They're definitely the weak part of the mix.
 
Really good mix and stereo sound! What are you using for DAW? How did you get this sound?

The only critic I have is the snare sound. Could be EQed and made more punchier. Listen to RATM's snare on Killing in the Name. A simple but killer sound!

Other than that, I think you are well on the way! Rock on!

Jonathan
 
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