Tech meatalcore band recording - Any advice for this final Mix?

[beau_mckee]

Hey Slutz,
I have this band ive put a fair bit of time into, hopefully get me alot more work too. Just wondering if i can have some advce for this mix of a song i have done for this band "Murder She Wrote"?

I dont have great monitor speakers, so ive just been cross rfeferencing, but it would mean alot if i can have some wisdom!

[beau_mckee]

I feel this mix is a little muddy, i just dont really know how to go about getting better seperation in the low end. any advice?

[Rogervandeberg]

I am listening on my not so good speakers now, but the first thing what's really obvious is the snare. Is is sort of overcompressed and has imo more the sound of a kickdrum. It can be a creative decision, but i think you can make the snare sound a bit clearer.

[Mafiso]

I completely agree about the snare. Usually metal snare's have a nice ping to them. I can't really distinguish the bass either. The low-end is just kind of a muddy mix of bass, bass drum, and snare. I think it could all be fixed with different tonalities on the snare and bass. The bass drum sounds good by itself.

That is just my rather unprofessional opinion. I do listen to a lot of metal/hardcore stuff so its more of a end-user opinion than a professional one.

[xmostynx]

you did this on shitty monitors?

im using a set of yamahas HS50M's..
and if your room is dead, a pair of shitty monitors are PERFECT to mix on..
how many NS-10's do you see in studios...LOADS
shitty-flat monitors are perfect man..

i like genelecs tho.. :)

that drummer is pissed?!!!!!!!!! haha!

dude yea!, i love the overall 'production' you guys NAILED a metal feel..
it just needs to be cleaner...
from the kick, snare, and bass guitar..the guitars sound fine..

so do the vocals..


i just wrote a huge thing on this tune..and freakin' forgot to take the "eq" off my itunes....uhhhhhhhhh

i'm giving you my honesty dude, so take this as you wish.

the tune is great, i'm jealous you got to work with a good metal band!

IMO:
you need more depth in the mix, its not warm enough.
the kick drums is god like man, and I'm finding by boosting the lows of the whole tune, around 125 its making this mix slam.

Gate the kick and the bass, i find this helps them snap more and have more presence when they are there and less mess when they are 'resting'

exp during the fast parts, you want that shit to move like a machine...

look for the balls in your kick, i like how you got it snappy, but i'm missing the stuff you can feel in your chest. the deep lows, look for those.

look for the balls in your bass that will sit behind those sweet sounding guitars
for what its worth, i'm boosting around 65, to 125Hz, and its warming your mix up nice

check that out.

i think the guitars sound fine, the snare could use some 'mush' outta its mids and if that doesn't clear it up, then maybe boost something in the highs..but i like that sound. i enjoy snares that have some bottom in them.

my rule of thumb is not to go boost crazy! take out what you don't like in the sound and then see whatcha got.

check that out, but make sure you post up what you end up with!!

[beau_mckee]

woah guys thats some wicked feedback, especially from you xmostynx!

i tried gating stuff and it sounds a little more neat, i wasnt gating the kick or snare or bass at all before, and i also turned up the condenser mics a little on the guitar cab for a slightly brighter sound. Here is my latest mix.

Any advice on how to get the whole mix louder without making it dip with a limiter im using? i feel it dips a bit, and gets a little bit crackly because its running too hot especially on the bass booms..... that is definitely my overall biggest weak point the "mastering" stage.

what you think overall? if you guys are really excited, i can put up the other 2 tracks haha

Beau

[xmostynx]

i think you can hear the compressor pump?

be careful mastering stuff, everything sounds better LOUDER.
BUTTTT!!!!! dynamic range is natural man..IMO i would let someone else master it
these mixes rock..and you can REALLY trash a good mix with a compressor
you can make it sound like an FM mix!


i'm gonna take a listen to your other mix..
take that limiter off and repost if you can.
i don't know what your using as far as equipment.

but if your using any analog stuff, run that stuff HOT...no distorting..but hot
if your doing digital, you wanna make sure you give your mix headroom to get louder...EXP on the master fader...

ya...i think your compressor is pumping.

look for some string noise in your bass...around 700-1k ish..

to pull it away from the bass..when you mix your kick and your bass together..
find their own spot..

in my experience..if i stick a D112 inside a rock-kick.. with a aquarius super kick head, i'd place that D112 off the center of the beater towards the right, and a little more than half way in. (some guys hate this!)

i'd find that around 60-80hz is a nice push of bass...and then i'd look in my bass guitar whats nice around 180ish 200 and i'd cut a little bit of that outta my kick drum eq...i'm using british eq's btw...

either way...if i like something in the bass around 120 on my low shelf i'll cut a little bit..and i mean like a dB to 5 dB MAX outta it..just so the bass sits into the kick..you can almost picture it..like puzzle peices

that way..the kick and bass don't sound boomy because of just pushing all kinds of bass up..you kno?

cut the mids outta your bass stuff..300-400-500 usually thats all mud and will cloud a mix.

also..i just learned this lastnight, watch your gate release times..
they can REALLY make a difference. on your toms...read my post in the moan zone.

if you find your low end resonating to much, make the gates release times quicker..that way when your kick slamms in, it gives its power..THUMP and then the gate closes on any UMMPPPPP you don't want haha

if any of that made any sense...then yea!

i need a cup of coffee tho..let me know how it works out.

also dude..we are all full of shit! the coolest thing about engineering audio..is there is NO right way to do anything. everything is different. as long as it sounds good..shit you could use a gated verb on the guitars and get big hair metal sounds! haha

just have fun, the band your working with is real good, so thats gonna look nice on your demo cd for yourself and studio.

[beau_mckee]

Okay this ended up being the fnal mix unfortunately, they were in a rush for it. It is a bit different to the previous i posted. i did the best i could in the time i had. I took off that stupid limiter i was using, and replaced it with the smallest amount of compression on the master track (protools by the way!)

Im using all daw at the moment, but i think i will buy a really nice 2 channel preamp to track with and also to run it through the compressor on the preamp for the final master track.. is that a good idea?

Even though theyve already accepted it as it is, i would love feedback on this mix still, even so i can refine it for futre clients!... and now i feel the mix was a little dull sounding. oh well here it is:

Beau
PS also here is there myspace

www.myspace.com/mswmetal