Pros/Cons of this mix?

[heisleyamor]

Putfile - New song clip for gearslutz

it's a link to putfile so you can stream the song...I did all the instruments and vocals in this song...it's just a clip

There is no bass or vocals in the chorus and the guitar sounds kind of weak in the beginning and through the verse cuz I used my SM57 and in the chorus I used my SM7 and it sounded a lot better...Also I think the snare sounds a little fake and weak...but let me know some pros/cons of it...thank you!

[heisleyamor]

anyone? :-) just lookin for some tips
thank you

[Kiwiburger]

My very subjective opinions fwiw -

pros:
The song
The arrangement
Your voice
The basic guitar parts and tones

cons:
IMO The repeated "When you do everything I say" needs to sound different from the main vocal I would probably apply a lofi telephone effect or phaser or something.
Guitar tuning could be better
High Hat too loud
IMO there needs to be more compression overall for gell and balls.

The biggest area I would be wanting to change is the use of reverb. I felt the dirty guitars were a little washed out with reverb. I would want less reverb on the main vocal, so the distant vocals sound further back.
I would try to place the drums further back too, while giving the kick and bass more oomph (compress them together?). Probably reduce the stereo field of the drums & cymbals too, and let the guitars and vocals spread out more.
I would probably layer the vocals and guitars with more takes for a more modern sound and extra width and depth.

Just my 2c.

[AdamLazlo]

I'll have a go at it...

There's only a few things but your foundation sounds good.

I'm not liking the guitar sound, not in context with the rest of the tones. The guitars sound brittle and reverb'd in the mix. I like a more direct sound with room ambiance than something like a hall or chamber verb.

The vocals are well recorded, a few sibilant spikes that you might want to take care of but overall they're sounding good.

Drums sound great.

I really notice how much the song dies when the bass guitar is gone. I find that a song can really glue better if the bass guitar is louder than I think I want it to be. Not overbearing but go louder and one notch more. I like to, at least, match volume (and then some) with the kick drum.

But I think mostly it's guitar that's throwing me. If I sat down to remix, that would be the first thing I'd be concerned with.

Hope that helps out,
--Adam Lazlo

[heisleyamor]

thank you. I'm trying to go with more of an ambient sound with the guitars....kind of like the band circa survive...it does sound a little fake and I think it sounds a little bit better when it gets to the chorus, but ya the chorus the guitars aren't strong enough and the reverb I used kind of kills it...I'm just tryin to figure out how they recorded their guitars because it sits well without sounding too up front.

More comments please! :-)

[heisleyamor]

also, I didn't work much with compression. Just at the end I use a Waves L3 Ultramaximizer to raise the volume and compress it a bit. Any suggestions on compression of the song? drums? what should I do? overall mix?

[patrox247]

Originally Posted by heisleyamor

also, I didn't work much with compression. Just at the end I use a Waves L3 Ultramaximizer to raise the volume and compress it a bit. Any suggestions on compression of the song? drums? what should I do? overall mix?

The Kick drum wasn't compressed?

[heisleyamor]

kick is a sample that I alterred a lil bit...so ya the original sample was compressed...I like that quick punch for the bass drum for this style of music.

[heisleyamor]

but seriously if anyone has any compression tips let me know...or any other comments...thank you!

[patrox247]

Originally Posted by heisleyamor

but seriously if anyone has any compression tips let me know...or any other comments...thank you!

I wouldn't compress that kick any more as it has already been treated fairly brutaly. A typical 2 buss compressor for this style would be an SSL(slow attack,auto or quick release).

[Kiwiburger]

My suggestion about compressing the kick and bass together wasn't because the kick sample needs compression, but to glue the kick and bass together so they can be brought up louder in the mix.

In Cubase I would just create a Group channel, route the kick and bass to the same group, and use an insert compressor.

Alternatively, you could use a compressor on the bass and route the kick to the compresser sidechain, so the bass level is ducked each time the kick is triggered. Or if it's triggered by midi, a midi gate can do the ducking.


If you double or triple track the guitar parts, you can pan them for width, and they create their own ambiance, so you will feel less compelled to apply too much reverb.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

If you double or triple track the guitar parts, you can pan them for width, and they create their own ambiance, so you will feel less compelled to apply too much reverb.

Yeah....I'm not a big fan of hard panned guits. There is a lot of space on your soundstage for these guitars.
After you follow Kiwi's sound advise you might use some delays to move the extra tracks front to back a little.

[heisleyamor]

well I don't use a lot of chords. I do a lot of melodies and stuff so it might be hard to get more guitar parts that sound the same especially in the chorus. So i'm not sure how I'm going to do that

[Ice]

The dirty guitars are what I think is killing it. The clean guitars are nice and bubbly whereas when the dirty guitars come in, they get noticably thinner and shrill. Granted, that is the nature of distortion, but I think they could be tracked better to comliment the mix and the change between clean and dirty. Definitely digging the song, though!

[barryjohns]

Tell us about the Guitar Amps used and how much you had to eq the guitars?

[Edge]

the reverb on the whole mix was to much come down off the decay

[heisleyamor]

I am going to retrack the guitars in the verse and the whole beginning because it is a little out of tune, but I think it sounds fine in the chorus when I use my SM7. What do you think about the tone in the chorus? I used my Mesa Single Rectifier, a 70's Gibson L6S guitar, and miked with an SM7 (in chorus) and a SM57 in the beginning and up to the chorus. I'm going to retrack the guitars in the beginning because they do sound shrill and there is a lot of reverb used...I think I'll try using a room mic or something. Any suggestions?

[HighKing]

I thought it was great overall, but I feel like the kick drum doesn't sound right to my ears. I feel like w/ the sound of everything else, there should be a little more "thump" to it.

Just IMO.

[heisleyamor]

well if anyone has any good rock snare or kick samples please let me know because those 2 were the best that I had.

[heisleyamor]

I still wanna hear people's thoughts on the compression of the mix and what I should do with it. Let me know if you have any comments or kick or snare samples...thank you!

[rodge]

well, first u should probly finish writing the song if you havn't already

also. circa use alot of delays on their guitars, and lighter on the verb because of it. you've got the right level of saturation though. cut out some highs and lows on the delays, than u can use it alot more liberally

thoughts on compression of the mix? did u put a comp on the 2buss? cuz i cant hear it. what patrox said, mimick the ssl comp.

[Absolute]

Hey

The most glaring problem is the unnatural guitar sound

Too much reverb and the wrong reverb. Back off the gain too..if it cant be re-done use an explander because it just so small

Big vocal/small guitar..no good. Dont even think about mix compression until thats fixed.

if you dont recognize it..turn your mix all the way to whisper levels and it will become clear to you.

[heisleyamor]

I have the SSL comp plugin and I don't know what you mean by "did u put a comp on the 2buss?" how would I do this?...and also, if I were to use a reverb as a plugin, what should I do? cuz I tried using RVerb (renaissance...and that's mainly for vocals) or adobe audition's full reverb...but both didn't sound right...what do u suggest? I guess I'll try some delays too and lower the reverb after I retrack the guitars.

[rodge]

2buss, master bus, outputs 1-2....same thing

little eq before the comp too. 2db at 100, 2 at 3500 and 2-4 at 10k. should be a good starting point

[Blindside]

Cool song. I love the vocal sounds. Nice ambiance.

Hate the kick and snare. My opinion is the kick needs to be a lot less punchy and fuller in the low end.

The snare, as you said sounds fake and weak. Maybe too compressed, but I think it isn't tuned well more than anything. I would tune the bottom head down and loosen the snares.

I like where you are going with it, though. BTW, what size is the snare and how many plys?

Edit: Oops. I thought it sounded like samples, but just now read you verify it. Can't help there.

[heisleyamor]

ya they're samples...they're great samples for metal, but this isn't really metal so I'm on the search for some better sounding samples...I have sooo many samples but none of them are good. Any other comments or tips or samples? :-)