Black Metal, aiming for Old school. Too mushy?

[DanLights]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/954292/Music samples-stems/Devil in Traki Rough Mix.mp3

Have a listen my friends, the mix is trying to emulate old school black metal ala old gorgoroth, satyricon, etc. you know the deal. All instruments by me (drums programmed)

pretty much everything has a certain amount of reverb to it, perhaps that's what's getting the mix all mushy? I've been mixing for quite a while so I need a break to get back in perspective, so in the meanwhile maybe someone here could give their thoughts on this mix? It's certainly not finished, and vocals need some automation cause the fade out in some parts, but I'll let you do the judging.

Edit: Finished Version: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/954292/Music samples-stems/Trakian Forest - El Diablo Esta en Traki.mp3

 

[Jaymz]

Sounds REALLY authentic old school black metal to me ears dude! Good job!

 

[Ashgarth]

I think the reverb is making it sound pretty muddy, if you use a little less reverb it can get much clear, but you're really getting that old black metal vibe!!

 

[ulverine]

I agree with the above statement. It's almost there! Perhaps a bit less verb on the guitars and there might be too much click on the kick.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Is the reverb over the dry guitars or is it bussed?
Guitars a little higher would be great!

 

[Mago]

yeah man gets the old shool vibe good I find...maybe overheads sound too "good" for that lol

a bit less verb overall would also do the job tho

nice job!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Maybe trigger a really high frequency squeak sample along with the kick for that "Antichrist" sound

 

[DanLights]

Is the reverb over the dry guitars or is it bussed?
Guitars a little higher would be great!

they are sent to a reverb bus.

Yeah maybe I'll just lay back a little bit on the verb, thanks for the comments so far and I'm glad many of you like it!

 

[jackbraglia]

yea i see what you're going for here, but you're definitely overshooting your mark on the reverb. maybe -3db on the verb and it'll be perfect

 

[acappa]

I can feel the old school black metal vibe....but as other have said, I find the amount of reverb a bit overwhelming...

 

[poisoned dreams]

very old school sounding....... i like it

 

[ratsapprentice]

I don't think there is too much reverb, just that the dry guitars are too low in the mix.

 

[Ascendant]

That's pretty damn trve, you definitely got the right vibe there. I agree that the reverb is a bit excessive on the guitars. Don't really think the kick is too clicky, though I'm referencing some Emperor and at least they had somewhat clicky kicks. Snare sounds trashy as fuck and I love it, pardon me but what did you do to make it sound that bad?

 

[spacem00se]

Cool Bathory worship, I'd say better abandon vox automation, in BM less is more. The drums are maybe even too well-played at times
You may as well leave it as is and go straight for mastering (after taking a break for gaining perspective you wanted to).

 

[DanLights]

That's pretty damn trve, you definitely got the right vibe there. I agree that the reverb is a bit excessive on the guitars. Don't really think the kick is too clicky, though I'm referencing some Emperor and at least they had somewhat clicky kicks. Snare sounds trashy as fuck and I love it, pardon me but what did you do to make it sound that bad?

Well, the fact I'm a terrible guitarist is partly responsible! Hahaha although careful A/Bing of ampsims and impulses to fit the wanted tone helped.

Cool Bathory worship, I'd say better abandon vox automation, in BM less is more. The drums are maybe even too well-played at times
You may as well leave it as is and go straight for mastering (after taking a break for gaining perspective you wanted to).

Funny, I don't think I've ever heard Bathory but thanks! Well the drums have some intentionally sloppy parts on the blastbeats, lots of manual humanization as well, I tried to make it sound like a second-rate Hellhamer wannabe with some frost thrown in more or less. I do want to clear up the vocals a bit, I want them to be understandable cause it's a big joke, might even make a singalong video to it. It's in Spanish in case anyone tried to understand.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have a final mix, thanks to all who have commented so far!

Edit: @ascendant: sorry you were asking about the snare, well besides making the drums intentionally sloppy at parts (for example making blast beats progressively go behind the beat on the long parts and then ahead, to simulate getting tired and then trying to catch up. Subtle, but it's there and it's noticeable IMO), there's really not much more to it, besides after sampling tons of snare samples (multisamples btw) and choosing the most fitting one, I hipassed the snare quite drastically to take away a big part of the low end and body and leave the "ping", and then it went through a slight reverb, not very big, just to give it some wetness cause it still got sent to the drum room bus. I also faked some bleed into the overhead tracks, making a send from all other drums into the overhead tracks. Not sure how much that really helped, but it's a trick I got from the Reaper manual and wanted to try it.

 

[DanLights]

Ok so allow me to introduce you to Trakian Forest´s "El Diablo Está en Traki", if you´re not from Venezuela you´ll never get the joke (unless I explain the story and lyrics in detail) but it´s something about a "non-existing" incident regarding the devil and a famous Venezuelan department store. So far my comrades I´ve shown it to have laughed their asses off so I think my mission is accomplished lyrically speaking. The intro is a commercial from said store.

Enjoy!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/954292/Music samples-stems/Trakian Forest - El Diablo Esta en Traki.mp3