Bang's new Blackline Remix

[Bang]

Here is a remix I just did of my band Blackline's song ARMAGEDDON SOUL. The album is very close to being done, I hope you rockers will buy it upon completion. Anyway, here is the tune, the idea I had was making it "commercially loud" but still have some PUNCH... Let me know,

Here is the "kick up" mix inspired by Randy Wright
www.blacklinerock.com/music/wrightweb.mp3


Steve

[Jason Poulin]

Good job man,


Good music too.


What's your analog/digital approach on this one? Love the drums.



Jason

[Bang]

Thanks Jason. For this mix I just went all in the box. We're waiting to install a Neotek Elite in here but I needed to mix something, so I did. I used URS S series and Sonalksis eqs exclusively, along with UAD compressors and a PSP Master Comp on the whole mix. Thats my new favorite mix compressor for the box, adds a nice sound to the whole mix. Drums were just eq'd heavily and I mixed in a bit of sample with the snare.

Steve

[djui5]

Steve,
It's got your signature, that's for sure

Some things I noticed, the song sit's pretty flat. The intro is fine, and it breaks in nice, verse sounds good. Then comes the pre-chorus and the drums change a litte bit sorta, then comes the chorus and his vox drop off a little. It sounds smaller than the verses do.

I think you could defeniatly use some dynamics there. The chorus should break in huge, with some big airy plate on the vox and drums, not to be heard, but to add a sense of "floating through the air" if you know what I mean.

Also, the kick dosen't seem to have that classic bang punch/sound to it.

[Bang]

Good stuff Randy. I think the chorus is also an arrangement issue. I think it needs a lead guitar thing doing something fancy in a different rhythm. I've tried to make the chorus a bit spacier but I always come back to making it a bit drier. Again, I think adding MORE to the chorus will make it stand out a bit, maybe a strummed dirty guitar doing the notes of the chords...

As for the kick... I started getting kinda tired of mixing the kick so big, when I listen in my car, my system pumps a lot because the headroom sucks and I felt that the kick was ruling the song too much so I put more snap on it and less BOOM. But you're not the first person to say that so I might have to resort to my old ways. A lot of records I've heard lately have a more moderate kick sound, TRAPT being a big exception and also a kick ass record.

Either way, when I do final mixes on the Neotek, I'll be sure to do some "kick up" mixes. The Neotek EQ is great for drums btw.

Steve

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Bang

Good stuff Randy. I think the chorus is also an arrangement issue. I think it needs a lead guitar thing doing something fancy in a different rhythm. I've tried to make the chorus a bit spacier but I always come back to making it a bit drier. Again, I think adding MORE to the chorus will make it stand out a bit, maybe a strummed dirty guitar doing the notes of the chords...

Agreed

As for the kick... I started getting kinda tired of mixing the kick so big, when I listen in my car, my system pumps a lot because the headroom sucks and I felt that the kick was ruling the song too much so I put more snap on it and less BOOM. But you're not the first person to say that so I might have to resort to my old ways. A lot of records I've heard lately have a more moderate kick sound, TRAPT being a big exception and also a kick ass record.

Either way, when I do final mixes on the Neotek, I'll be sure to do some "kick up" mixes. The Neotek EQ is great for drums btw.

Steve

Of course. Maybe not so much the boom, but the upper range of the kick. The smack of it, that 2-4K region that you hear so much. It's such a staple in rock music, it sounds strange without it, especially with music like this.

Keep us updated

[Bang]

Randy here is your update.. enough kick??

www.blacklinerock.com/music/wrightweb.mp3


Steve

[Jason Poulin]

Steve,

Are you achieving a big part of your sound while tracking? Also, did you use outboard dynamics and eq's while recording?

To tape or directly to the Box?

Sounds really big!


Jason

[Jason Poulin]

ps: Kick on my monitors was fine in the first mp3.

Not too much click but enough to cut through.



Jason

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Bang

Randy here is your update.. enough kick??

www.blacklinerock.com/music/wrightweb.mp3


Steve

You even put my name in it, how sweet

I want 40 points......


haha!

Yeah, I think that's a lot better personally. You can hear it better now and it's not overbearing the song like some modern kicks do.

[Bang]

Jason, for this tune, the tracking was really lacking on my part and most of it was in the mix. I can say this because I tracked it myself rather shittily (no thats not a word). For one thing, the guitars sounded horrid, its one of those things where I have no idea what was wrong with me that day, I think they lack definition and tone. The overheads were harsh. The vocals were kinda honky sounding.

I didn't use any eq or compression to HD. All 44.1khz.

So for the mix, I really had to eq and compress things a lot to FIX them. The URS eqs and the UAD mixers are great for this stuff.

Steve

[Jason Poulin]

Steve,

luckily you were still able to bring it to that sonic level.


Interesting how the box can work.

Thanks for the replies.

Jason

[mr.gefell]

i loved it

[heyman]

Bang, I gotta come work for you.. Your my hero...

[Anderson]

thumbsup

Keep going Mr.!

Cheers!

[AdamJay]

great stuff bang.
good to hear you're using the Sonalksis, love their EQs.

[NeoVXR]

for the "smashing" job, I think it is impressive, but maybe not fully state of the art.
it could sound a little bit clearer, and the guitars (but ok you said tracking was not optimal) have the dynamics of a vacuum cleaner, regarding the chorus.
kick and snare sound a bit synthetic with this crunchy click, kind of stabbing through the thing, but lacking beauty. to my taste, attack (the _sound_ e.g. snare, not the "parameter") is a bit short.
I think it is a very interesting experiment and in good progress...
anyway, sounds very good already.

[Bang]

I can't say I disagree with you on anything, but I also admit that for this kind of song with such a dynamic difference between the kick-snare and the rest of the mix, its VERY hard to make it commercial loud (and this song is louder then the Trapt disc) without kinda messing with the transients. However, I still think they punch through decently. They are not going to have the crystal clear sparkle that they did in the mix, but at least they have impact which is hard to say about a lot of hard rock masters these days. The guitars are what they are, we're retracking them in a few days but I think they do the job ok for this little mix. The chorus to me just needs another guitar part which will be added, some kinda lead thing to exciten them a bit. Same thing with the B section in RUN, we're going to liven that up for the album. I'll send you a clip of the actual mix, try to put it through the mastering methods you PM'd me about, I'd be curious to hear it. Thanks to all btw, after working hard (especially on your own music) its rewarding to know that people enjoy it.

Steve

[NeoVXR]

ok, lets try thumbsup