Opinions on the mix of the new Underoath album?

[TheJeffAllen]

So I just picked up the new Underoath album today "Lost in the sounds of Seperation", and was immediately completely baffled by the fact that the entire mix is being pumped by the kick and snare. On top of that, the entire drum kit is obviously oversampled and just mechanical sounding.

This mix is a definate departure from the more natural sound of Define The Great Line. But that is just my two cents. Anyone else have an opinion?

[stereomixer]

Well I listened to it and thought could this be some kind of joke? its so mechanical especially with all those samples. I think it could sound more like Uriah Heap or Iron Maiden.
Define the great line...was there a kick drum on there? I couldn't hear it. And of course there were no snare samples on there, real room sounds are the best!

Originally Posted by TheJeffAllen

So I just picked up the new Underoath album today "Lost in the sounds of Seperation", and was immediately completely baffled by the fact that the entire mix is being pumped by the kick and snare. On top of that, the entire drum kit is obviously oversampled and just mechanical sounding.

This mix is a definate departure from the more natural sound of Define The Great Line. But that is just my two cents. Anyone else have an opinion?

[bombasterd]

Originally Posted by stereomixer

Well I listened to it and thought could this be some kind of joke? its so mechanical especially with all those samples. I think it could sound more like Uriah Heap or Iron Maiden.
Define the great line...was there a kick drum on there? I couldn't hear it. And of course there were no snare samples on there, real room sounds are the best!

lol.

[TheJeffAllen]

Originally Posted by stereomixer

its so mechanical especially with all those samples. I think it could sound more like Uriah Heap or Iron Maiden.

Were the original drum tracks in the mix that you got or just the samples? The guitar tones are nice, but the mechanical drums are still killing the whole album for me.

[beau]

i like the songs. great dudes. but id have to agree that defining the great line sounds much better. just my opinion.

peace

beau

[stereomixer]

My advice to you is to play the record you like. And if you do not like my drum sounds its ok with me, millions of other people do, including the drummer in Underoath. Next!

Btw, didn't CLA mix your record? Is it gold yet?

Originally Posted by beau

i like the songs. great dudes. but id have to agree that defining the great line sounds much better. just my opinion.

peace

beau

[beau]

Originally Posted by stereomixer

My advice to you is to play the record you like. And if you do not like my drum sounds its ok with me, millions of other people do, including the drummer in Underoath. Next!

Btw, didn't CLA mix your record? Is it gold yet?

the thread is about opinions on the mix of the new underoath album. mine is that i think the previous record sounds better. thats all.

peace

beau

[TrashRocket]

I'm in love with the way this album sounds. My favorite underoath album (sonically) yet.

The drums slay. So much roomy vibe in that snare. I dig it real hard.

I've watched the DVD included with the special edition a few times already. Some cool footage of mic'd up drums and amps. It's always inspiring to see people that can use the exact same gear you own in your studio, in many of the same ways, and still manage to make shit sound so much better than you're able to.

[slaves666]

Originally Posted by stereomixer

My advice to you is to play the record you like. And if you do not like my drum sounds its ok with me, millions of other people do, including the drummer in Underoath. Next!

Btw, didn't CLA mix your record? Is it gold yet?

Humble much?

[stereomixer]

"you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the woman"...Scarface

Originally Posted by slaves666

Humble much?

[slaves666]

Originally Posted by stereomixer

"you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the woman"...Scarface

Thanks for reading my Myspace page.....maybe I should change the quote to "How did you get that scar, from eating pussy?" It's a great movie, doesn't mean I live my life by a quote.

For the record, I think the drums sound fine.....

[stereomixer]

I was just joking around, I am Canadian too!
Monarchy sounds good, real Soundgarden like. great stuff!

Originally Posted by slaves666

Thanks for reading my Myspace page.....maybe I should change the quote to "How did you get that scar, from eating pussy?" It's a great movie, doesn't mean I live my life by a quote.

For the record, I think the drums sound fine.....

[BLUElightCory]

I checked it out online and I think it sounds huge. The "sample-y" drum sound doesn't bother me; it's a stylistic decision and it's the only way to get the drums to hit as hard as they do on those songs. Good job to the production team, it sounds brutal and that's what counts.

[Zack]

I just bought the album the other day, in fact, I'm listening to it as I type. In my opinion I think it's great. Those drums are fantastic - sampled or not. Everything's punchy as and even the hats sound full and big. Loving the vocals too. The first thing I noticed when I heard the album was how all over the place the mix was, in a good way. There is so much going on and it constantly kept me guessing.

If you don't like it the sound of it, find something you do like and start a thread discussing how to get that sound. No one gains from putting down someone's work.

I for one would love some insight into how this album was tracked and mixed. David I see you mixed Lost In The Sound Of Separation too, would you be able to share some stuff? I'm particularly interested in the vocals, how many tracks? Signal chain? When we hear that bathroom reverb is that part actually tracked in a bathroom? What do you use to drive those vocals, is the distortion at the tracking end of things or is that what you have done in the mix?

Looking forward to hearing about it, congrats on another great album!

[beardsnotbeers]

Originally Posted by Zack

I'm particularly interested in the vocals, how many tracks? Signal chain? When we hear that bathroom reverb is that part actually tracked in a bathroom? What do you use to drive those vocals, is the distortion at the tracking end of things or is that what you have done in the mix?

Looking forward to hearing about it, congrats on another great album!

Zack,

We used a Neumann 149 on Aaron and the black neumann handheld condenser on Spee. As for the roomy parts, those were mostly done in house. There were a few parts where we set up a stereo pair of 87's at the end of a long hall and sang into that. that's what the first few lines on the first song are as well as others. David sweetened everything up for sure. As far as pres go I'm not exactly sure what Adam used on the vocals off hand...I know we had Averill 1073's, UA 4110, Neve Channel strip...etc. I hope this helps a bit....Bendy can chime in with mixing stuff.

[stereomixer]

For compression, a Vacrac, an ADR compex limiter, a 50's Gates comp and some incredible home made comps that Dan made in our shop in the style of an SSL or alan smart.
For reverb, lex 480l, fireworks, pcm70, and a few pcm 42 delays.
For plug-ins I think Dan will chime in, not many.A few long rooms and delayed reverbs.

console was an ssl 4000 G series with ultimation brown eq. Came in as pro tools and converted to Nuendo platform with Apogee for converter. Mixed straight to dig.

Originally Posted by beardsnotbeers

Zack,

We used a Neumann 149 on Aaron and the black neumann handheld condenser on Spee. As for the roomy parts, those were mostly done in house. There were a few parts where we set up a stereo pair of 87's at the end of a long hall and sang into that. that's what the first few lines on the first song are as well as others. David sweetened everything up for sure. As far as pres go I'm not exactly sure what Adam used on the vocals off hand...I know we had Averill 1073's, UA 4110, Neve Channel strip...etc. I hope this helps a bit....Bendy can chime in with mixing stuff.

[juniorhifikit]

I like the samples. David, what are you using in Nuendo to trigger the samples? Drumagog?

[jaydeluca]

this is a great sounding record. congrats to all involved. David it was cool getting to see you on the dvd, as i have read a lot from you on these forums and respect your work very much.

[Never1]

Ya know what?

I'd never heard of this band til this thread so I googled 'em and heard the track on their website.

Kick ass.

so f'in what if the drums are sampled? It sounds great and it gets the job done. These days I rarely find a band I enjoy and I really like this.

Props to the guys who made it happen.

The average joe-schmoe won't know, or care if it's been sample replaced or auto-tuned or whatever... as long as it kicks ass.

if you want to be idealistic, that's cool. Just don't berate anyone else for stomping on different grounds.

[Mayor999]

Originally Posted by Never1

It sounds great and it gets the job done.
Props to the guys who made it happen.

Awesome job to all involved!

[Bang]

I thought it kicked ass. Good stuff David, but then again I haven't heard anything of yours as of yet that I didn't like. Drums are slammin. Not that you would anyway, but don't let anyone influence you to wuss up the drums.

[themattgoldman]

Originally Posted by beardsnotbeers

Zack,

We used a Neumann 149 on Aaron and the black neumann handheld condenser on Spee. As for the roomy parts, those were mostly done in house. There were a few parts where we set up a stereo pair of 87's at the end of a long hall and sang into that. that's what the first few lines on the first song are as well as others. David sweetened everything up for sure. As far as pres go I'm not exactly sure what Adam used on the vocals off hand...I know we had Averill 1073's, UA 4110, Neve Channel strip...etc. I hope this helps a bit....Bendy can chime in with mixing stuff.

It was actually a 147, nbd

[Tonio Ruiz]

I loved the sound of the new Underoath's cd, the drums must be soundreplaced as it is on pretty much every album since quite a while, it is amazing, I'm sure it's a blend of the real tracking "reinforced" with some great samples, maybe taken from the same session though

please please pretty please if any one here at this thread knows what type of eq'ing and settings where used on the snare on both tracking and mixing, please could you share it with us????

I'm trying so hard to get that type of snare tone on my mixes and daaaaaaaaamn I'm so far away still

thank u all!!!

[Renegade Prod]

i have to say Adam D, Goldman, and the band did an amazing job on engineering, the guitars are incredible. It is obvious why the band would have known David B was the man for the job, that SSL made this album boom, and if ted jensen had something to do with it, im sure that would have helped. also love the use of delays and verbs on the singing vox, this album will be hard to beat sonically for the band.

great job all involved.

- and get over the sample crap, im sure if you took away the vox n gtars the kit would be quite odd, but that is not what we're listening to. The booming kick drives this entire album. We're in the 21st centuary competing with programing with NO noise flaw, if you want to make gold metalcore albums get a pen and paper.

[winvbass]

Getting back to the drum track for a second.
Got to say first that the mix works. An amazing amount of energy. It's got all the bands in my area excited about it, but have to ask, was there a decision made in mix to let the cymbals suffer for the sake of the overall kit sound? Brave and great choice if so. Classic example of breaking the rules for the bigger picture.

[Stevedresser83]

Originally Posted by Tonio Ruiz

I loved the sound of the new Underoath's cd, the drums must be soundreplaced as it is on pretty much every album since quite a while, it is amazing, I'm sure it's a blend of the real tracking "reinforced" with some great samples, maybe taken from the same session though

please please pretty please if any one here at this thread knows what type of eq'ing and settings where used on the snare on both tracking and mixing, please could you share it with us????

I'm trying so hard to get that type of snare tone on my mixes and daaaaaaaaamn I'm so far away still

thank u all!!!

ADR compex limiter, ams reverb, ssl 4000 g series brown eq, quantec room simulator and thats it! Snare chain, coming from dave himself. Not sure on samples.

[Jake 2.0]

10 guys in a room 10 different opinions entirely . 10 engineers = endless opinions that change by the day. I personally like the mixes on their new record a bit more than underoaths previous effert that was mixed by Cla. The first obvious thing to me was the bottom end was very tight and big on the new record, especially noticeable on the guitars and drums(it feels great). i felt on thier last record the guitars lacked bottom and were a bit harsh. again just my opinon. ben and cla are both great mixers in their own right. fan of both. respect them both.