Zombiism - Feedback needed

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FoulPhil

FoulPhil

Well-known member
Here's a new track I'm working on. I think I went a little overboard with the brightness. I was comparing it to other albums and everything just seems super bright on most of them. And the track lacked clarity. The type of insight I'm looking for is if it's overly bright and needs to be dialed back some and things like that. I'm looking for comments on the overall sound.



EDIT:

V3



V4

 
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Even I can give accurate feedback on this one. Darken those cymbals! Guitar tone and the riffs are pretty badass. The high-end sound of the kicks might be louder than I ever heard in a song, but I like that kick sound, so I'm not bitching. A lot of reverb or delay or something on the guitar around 4:30, the combination of that and the kicks made me a little dizzy.

Vocals are FUCKING AWESOME! :)
 
NotThatBright said:
Even I can give accurate feedback on this one. Darken those cymbals! Guitar tone and the riffs are pretty badass. The high-end sound of the kicks might be louder than I ever heard in a song, but I like that kick sound, so I'm not bitching. A lot of reverb or delay or something on the guitar around 4:30, the combination of that and the kicks made me a little dizzy.

Vocals are FUCKING AWESOME! :)
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I put up a quick 2nd version. On the first one I just put some bright EQ on the whole track, like a dork. On V3 I just put it on the guitars because it seemed like it was mostly the guitars that are super bright on the albums I'm using as a reference. Even so I think I'll tone it down just a bit. Thanks for listening :D

By the way this is the reference I'm using. Although I don't think I'm anywhere quite near to this. I think I'm getting closer to some similarities.

 
Not a fan of the guitar sounds. They have that fizzy distortion thing going on. Nut much oomph.
 
There is somthing gritty and strange about the guitar tone. The drums are kinda busy and at times seem to lose the groove. I like the guitar riffs..

It also sounds like the master is pumping and maybe distorting a little in the loudest parts.
 
Guitar tone sounds good to me.
Vocal tone is good. Probably at an appropriate level in the mix. A little buried, but not completely indecipherable.

The one possible nit I have is that there seems to be some build up of low/mid frequencies that muddy things up (and not in a good, brutal way)
Granted, my headphones are kind of crappy and emphasize those freqs anyway, but it's a bit more pronounced.

I like the guitar breakdown at 3:something. Sounds a lot like Arch Enemy but without the twin leads.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
Not a fan of the guitar sounds. They have that fizzy distortion thing going on. Nut much oomph.
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I feel the same way still needs some work. Thanks for checking it out

cakewalkgg said:
There is somthing gritty and strange about the guitar tone. The drums are kinda busy and at times seem to lose the groove. I like the guitar riffs..

It also sounds like the master is pumping and maybe distorting a little in the loudest parts.
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You're right. It seems to do that distorting thing on the parts that have tom grooves and I'm not really sure how to fix it lol

VomitHatSteve said:
Guitar tone sounds good to me.
Vocal tone is good. Probably at an appropriate level in the mix. A little buried, but not completely indecipherable.

The one possible nit I have is that there seems to be some build up of low/mid frequencies that muddy things up (and not in a good, brutal way)
Granted, my headphones are kind of crappy and emphasize those freqs anyway, but it's a bit more pronounced.

I like the guitar breakdown at 3:something. Sounds a lot like Arch Enemy but without the twin leads.
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea what needs to be tweaked to address the muddy frequencies?

dobro said:
There's something to this comment. They ought to have a touch less fizz, a swat more balls.
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WORD. Can't really figure out how to get more balls. Although I'm trying to use that TransX plugin and have yet to figure it out. The fizz will be toned down a bit in the final version. Right now I'm just trying to make sure everything seems to gel correctly. Track consistency etc. It's so damn hard...
 
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Tell me about it. I'd rather track than mix, cuz it's more fun. But once you get into mixing, really into it, there's a kind of compulsion about it that carries you through to the end. I'm in awe of pros that say they can mix a song in a day. They just wake up the next day and listen with fresh ears and tweak a couple small things and it's D-O-N-E! More like a week for me.
 
dobro said:
Tell me about it. I'd rather track than mix, cuz it's more fun. But once you get into mixing, really into it, there's a kind of compulsion about it that carries you through to the end. I'm in awe of pros that say they can mix a song in a day. They just wake up the next day and listen with fresh ears and tweak a couple small things and it's D-O-N-E! More like a week for me.
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Yeah it's going to take me weeks of working on it. Not to mention I'll probably have to go back and record vocals again on certain songs that just didn't come out right. I always have to figure out new ways or styles to do the vocals. Even after months of practicing when it comes to recording them, it just doesn't work. Most of the time I just give up and do the best I can with what I have, but sometimes it's better to just take your time and not rush it.
 
Hey Phil, had a listen to v4, didn't think it was too bright. I think you are pretty close to your reference and i'm pretty familiar with most of what carcass has ever done. Funnily enough i was just listening to carcass and napalm death minutes before listening to your song, after commenting in another thread.

The kick drum sounded more roomy and less close miked than the carcass tracks i just listened to, a bit boomier, less clicky if you know what i mean. I didn't mind the sound of it, it just sounded a bit different to what i'm used to in that style. The rhythm guitars didn't seem to have the 'body' and depth, or balls and guts of the carcass tracks i listened to, and in retrospect maybe they were just a tad bright or a bit fizzy by comparison. Sounded a bit closer to bolt thrower than carcass in parts. Lead guitars sounded right to me though, tone and playing wise. Wasn't trying to compare you to carcass, i think the sound of your mix stood up fine in it's own right, just my take on your reference.
Pretty good job so far - haven't listened to much stuff like this for a while though.
 
Anders Erisian said:
Hey Phil, had a listen to v4, didn't think it was too bright. I think you are pretty close to your reference and i'm pretty familiar with most of what carcass has ever done. Funnily enough i was just listening to carcass and napalm death minutes before listening to your song, after commenting in another thread.

The kick drum sounded more roomy and less close miked than the carcass tracks i just listened to, a bit boomier, less clicky if you know what i mean. I didn't mind the sound of it, it just sounded a bit different to what i'm used to in that style. The rhythm guitars didn't seem to have the 'body' and depth, or balls and guts of the carcass tracks i listened to, and in retrospect maybe they were just a tad bright or a bit fizzy by comparison. Sounded a bit closer to bolt thrower than carcass in parts. Lead guitars sounded right to me though, tone and playing wise. Wasn't trying to compare you to carcass, i think the sound of your mix stood up fine in it's own right, just my take on your reference.
Pretty good job so far - haven't listened to much stuff like this for a while though.
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Thanks I'm dealing with some issues that I'm not sure I'll be able to over come. Basically I'm trying to get close, but doesn't have to be exactly like Carcass. I'm just using it as a reference because it's one of the better sounding new albums. Thanks for listening :)
 
FoulPhil said:
Do you have any idea what needs to be tweaked to address the muddy frequencies?
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Listening again with an EQ to offset the crap headphones. It's a lot less pronounced than I'd thought. If you can nail it down, you want to find which frequency it is that's building up and add notches or small bumps down to that freq in some instruments.
To find the freq, I'd start on the bass channel. Add a notch band and sweep it around until it gets less boomy.

Mix 4 sounds a bit muddier than the earlier ones.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Listening again with an EQ to offset the crap headphones. It's a lot less pronounced than I'd thought. If you can nail it down, you want to find which frequency it is that's building up and add notches or small bumps down to that freq in some instruments.
To find the freq, I'd start on the bass channel. Add a notch band and sweep it around until it gets less boomy.

Mix 4 sounds a bit muddier than the earlier ones.
Click to expand...

This is going to sound real lazy of me lol, but I'm almost so tired of trying I might just be calling it done soon... :cursing:
 
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