Oppressé _ Tune from a french rock band called Erok !

[krucifyx]

Hi, it's the first time I post one of my work out here ...

It's also special for me because it's from my own band.

The mix is still hot from the takes (the day before yesterday) and might not be finished ... I would really appreciate comments and advice for this one ...

Thanks.

P.S. : If you can't understand the lyrics, that's not because of drinking too much, it's juste because it's in french
Also, If you hear any bips, they come from the demo version of the ValveTone plugin from TritoneDigital !

[RonObvious]

Enjoyed the recording - better quality than anything I'm capable of at the moment

My only comment would be that on my sound system there seems to be parts of the song (eg from 0:15 secs through 0:45) where the guitar and vocals seem a little "muddy" and maybe lacks a little in the higher frequencies. I'd contrast that with other sections like the openning 15 seconds where it seems a lttle less obvious.

Other people might disagree - I guess everyones ears are different...

[krucifyx]

Hi, thanks for the positive feedback !

And for the muddiness ... I totally agree with you ... I think it comes from the fact that in this region, the guitar, bass, kick, snare and voice are in the center (mono) ... Voice could need a better EQing !

I'll be happy to hear your tunes !

[andy_simpson]

Cool recording....the vocal (and everything else) sounds better when the guitars go W I D E, why not pan the verse guitars wide too?

Also, what are you doing with the valvetone plugin?

There definately is room for some good mastering, to get the track bigger, wider and deeper, but the tone sounds good to me at this stage.

Do you have budget for mastering or do you have to do it yourself?

It's a cool french vibe - pleasantly unamerican (which is refreshing!) - no offense to all you americans! ;-)

Andy

PS. What gear did you use?

[krucifyx]

Hi, thanks a lot for your post !

So : the ValveTone is set up on the Drum mixbuss, a little smokey and adding just a touch on the low and a tuch on the treebles.

For the mastering question, I was asking myself if i would go mastering for this one or not ... I think I may but will depend on so many things ... First one is : I don't have a lot of time (it was recorded really fast cause it's for a meeting with a big disc producer) ... And I have to finish the mix first !
Ho, by the way, I've normalised the master to -0.2 and I've been compressing it with a GR of about 1db on the loudest peaks ... So I think if I go mastering I'll undo these !

Gear ... Wow ... Might take a bit of time, but : We had to record fast so I used what I had home :
Vocals : Used a BPM Tb 95 mic on a TfPro P1 with a little of compression (then compressed again at mixing stage with 2 Sonitus comp plugs in series, a little EQ touch and verb, the one used in aux for vocals and drums)

Drums : preamps from my presonus FirePod, a pair of oktavas XY for OH, the BPM in fig8 (facing the sides) a little further, audix D6 for kick, 421 for snare top and Oktava again for bottom ... All mixed with comp (the ambiance mic cruched as hell) and EQ, verb ... and two sweet blended tracks of drummagog for snare and kick (samples taken from the recorded tracks)

Guitars ans Bass ... let you Guess ... (very kind of unusual lol)

Peace

Sam.

[krucifyx]

Ho, and I totally agree with you ... could sound better wih the guitars a bit wider but ... It was a choice to make the verse mono ... Maybe it's a wrong choice ? I'll try to spread those a little bit though ...

[andy_simpson]

I hope you don't mind, I've taken the liberty of doing a quick 'mastering' job on your mp3, to highlight what I think you could get with even my dodgy 'mastering'.....let alone decent mastering.

In my view, this highlights easily how much potential is in your mixes!
(I love that bass sound)

Btw, it doesn't actually _need_ to be that loud - -8.5 rms is perhaps too loud, but I only took about 10 minutes doing this from the mp3, so I just let it go loud - and in such a mastering exercise, you'd possibly want the snare up a bit pre-mastering.....

Again, I hope you don't mind my doing this without asking......I'll remove it if you say so.

Andy

[krucifyx]

Thanks a lot Andy !

Yes, it's a bit loud and pumpy, and the MP3 conversions ain't pleasing your work but it give me a nice idea of what it could sound mastered ! (and in fact, I choosed to go mastering for this one and for other titles ... )

So, if any body has a clue of what should get better berfore going mastering, I would appriciate the comments (and also, I've uploaded another track in an other thread)

Peace,

Sam.

[Anderson]

Great recording! The song is good too. I think that some editing on the song may be needed > I can hear some pbs regarding Guitar/Bass/kick synchro... that can be a bit annoying. Maybe you could get the drums a bit more upfront? Maybe use a Transient Designer or something to make them punchier... Did you use peak or RMS compression on the drums?

C'est du bon boulot tout ça!

[krucifyx]

Merci beaucoup Anderson ! (ho my god, someone might have understood my Lyrics !! )

For the drums, I think you are right ... Maybe the cymbals might need a little db push and same for the kick and snare ... And as for editing, think you're right !

On the drums, I used compressors with peak limiting.

So this afternoon : re EQ the muddy vocal part and push a little the drums on the front w/ kick editing !

Peace,

Sam.

[Anderson]

Pas de problèmes!

Maybe you should consider compressing with an RMS type compressor. It will keep the dynamics of the drums alive (transients) , though making it more stable in the mix. Maybe compress the hell out of your OH mics (RMS as well) and just add more room mic with no compression all.

Are you guys playing soon in France?

[krucifyx]

Thanks for the advice !
And I've spent my afternoon remixing a few songs to set them for mastering.

Are you guys playing soon in France?

May depend, but as far as I know, no dates are shelshuded next month ... Not easy becaus half of my musicians are 600km from us ! But I really hope that we'll agree on some dates to tour a bit ...