Another Superior 2.0 test

Splat88

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Jan 31, 2006
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Here's the same song I originally did with Superior 2.0 but I remixed the drums from the ground up. This time I exported all the drums with full bleed using the bounce feature and I used minimal EQ and compression on the snare top and toms only. Everything else is 100% dry. I did compress the drum buss, however and the kick is 50/50 replaced with Slate's kick 10Z1. I love the natural sound of these drums when you get all the bleed going. Thoughts?

EDIT:
This is the latest version and easily the best in my opinion. 2 of the 4 guitars have a tubescreamer.
http://www.esnips.com/doc/cb31e3a6-3ba0-4948-898e-d32095d60049/Superior-2.0-test-5

Original
http://www.esnips.com/doc/6e308ecc-810f-474d-9462-83f63709c98e/Superior-2.0-test

Here's two more samples, one with the same kick but louder and one using Andy's GOG kick sample.

Louder Slate kick

Andy's Kick

Here's another take with the TSS secret Tubescreamer VST plugin on all 4 guitars to tighten them up.
With Tubescreamer
 
Good stuff as always. Nice open sound to the drums. Not digging the kick, it's kind of lost, but my headphones aren't the greatest, so hopefully someone that is listening on nice monitors will comment on that.
 
Damn Splat! That snare sounds WAY better than anything I can attain from S2.0. :( Again, are you using outboard effects for compression? I've got the Waves Mercury bundle and I use Cubase myself, but nothing I do is getting me there? I do agree the kick is kinda lost, but I'm sure you can fix that.

Can you give us more details and the 2.0 patch would be handy too. What are you using for a final limiter? Do you do much compression at the final stage?

Your stuff never ceases to amaze me! Good work as always man! Keep up the great work.
 
Thanks for the feedback. After some listens on different systems, yes the kick is totally lost but I'm digging everything else. The kick is totally audible in my headphones though, which is what I mixed this on. I usually high pass the hell out of those Slate kick drum samples to add some clarity and tightness. They have some serious sub bass in them and I think that's what is hiding it in the mix. I'll take a crack at fixing that but I was trying to avoid using any EQ.
 
Damn Splat! That snare sounds WAY better than anything I can attain from S2.0. :( Again, are you using outboard effects for compression? I've got the Waves Mercury bundle and I use Cubase myself, but nothing I do is getting me there? I do agree the kick is kinda lost, but I'm sure you can fix that.

Can you give us more details and the 2.0 patch would be handy too. What are you using for a final limiter? Do you do much compression at the final stage?

Your stuff never ceases to amaze me! Good work as always man! Keep up the great work.

Thanks! I went back to the Slingerland snare for this one. I ruined it on the original version by over EQing it. Regarding you setup, I think you'll need a compressor with a faster release time than the Mercury comp. I don't think it will recover fast enough on snare rolls and fills. All I used on this snare was the SSL channel strip with a boost at 5k and a 4:1 compressor ratio with a 100ms release and 8-10 dbs of reduction. That was fed into Gclip for more volume. The other snare mics are totally dry. I think any compressor and EQ will get you there though.
 
yep, nice and airy! Interested in the guitars too, they chug brilliantly

Thanks! Its an Ibanez S now with a Dimarzio DActivator in the bridge and a Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell in the neck. 4 guitar performances into Gearbox and curve EQ. I did not track with a Tube Screamer this time, nor did I add a tubescreamer emulator. The Dactivators are a Hell of a lot tighter than the JB or the Duncan Distortion I had in there, and strangely enough, it doesn't seem nearly as hot in the output even though its advertised as a hot pickup. The reamp track with the DActivators was visually about half the amplitude of the Duncan with the same exact pickup height. Perhaps its just more compressed. I love it so far for the clarity and I think its a great pickup.
 
I really like the mix although I think the toms could be maybe a little brighter, but I think that is just a matter of taste.

The problem is if I add more highs, the cymbals bleed through the toms too much. The bleed feature is great. I think it keeps you from over EQing things and is more like a real world scenario of mixing.
 
I think the guitars are a tad muddy?

Perhaps I can try a tubescreamer on 2 out of the 4 guitars. I love the thickness of the tone with them off, but damn Gearbox is muddy with it off when you palm mute. I don' like the thinness when I got all four guitars with Tube Screamers going. I guess I'm kind of going for a guitar sound in between Katatonia and Helmet. I prefer their thick sounds over the djenty stuff.
 
IMO I think the Slate version sounds like it blends a little better. It almost sounds as if the Andy Sneap kick has too much click. Just my opinion though. They both sound fantastic. GREAT snare also.
 
Im diggin the andy sneap kick version, it sounds like a tighter kick. The slate one sounds a bit flabby.
Cool mix though.
I love the bounce with the bleed feature of s2.0, gives you a completely different way to mix.
And like the others have said, there is alot of air to these drums, I like it alot. Sounds really natural:)

Good job!!!
 
Splat so these are still just the newest line 6 patches you posted with curve eq and no tube screamer...the only difference is Dimarzio DActivator? Cause I dig these guitars so much better than the previous!! If anything else is different please explain...

Also the drum patch for superior is it the refined one or the 1st one?

Amazing as always splat!! The mix has some air and punch too it love it, and love the darker guitars!
 
I agree about the guitars being muddy. For me POD tones without tubescreamer are useless.

What limiter do you use during mastering?...

In my experience whenever I use a limiter to my final mixes the snare attack gets lost and it sounds awful. The way I do it is to simply use the limiter on the whole mix except the snare which I just let it clip.
The snare in your mixes has that fast attack that makes it stand out.... how do you do it?
 
Would you care to share the Curve EQ patch for the guitar? :) And also would share a bit more about the post-processing of the guitars plus the mastering process?
 
Splat so these are still just the newest line 6 patches you posted with curve eq and no tube screamer...the only difference is Dimarzio DActivator? Cause I dig these guitars so much better than the previous!! If anything else is different please explain...

Also the drum patch for superior is it the refined one or the 1st one?

Amazing as always splat!! The mix has some air and punch too it love it, and love the darker guitars!

Yep, same patches, the only differences are the pickups and the fact that there is no tubescreamer. That really darkens the tone up.
 
What limiter do you use during mastering?...

In my experience whenever I use a limiter to my final mixes the snare attack gets lost and it sounds awful. The way I do it is to simply use the limiter on the whole mix except the snare which I just let it clip.
The snare in your mixes has that fast attack that makes it stand out.... how do you do it?

I used a Waves L2. People complain about this limiter chopping off snare peaks. The trick is tailoring the signal that you feed to the limiter. I always limit my drum sub mix so the snare and kick peaks are not slamming the master limiter. Get the drums loud in the sub mix first with a clipper or limiter, and then feed that into the L2 and you'll find that the snare stays 100% intact. The highest gain reduction I'll get is -4dbs only on the strongest peaks.