Black metal mixing practise: Dissection - Unhallowed cover

[RaNk]

At some point I decided to do a cover of Unhallowed. Since many mixing threads have been really helpful, I decided to share it with you. I hope there's still some that like this band and want to give it a shot, it's a bit different than most mixing threads so maybe it's good to have something else for a change.

There's no vocals yet, but expect some to be recorded anytime soon. Or someone might wanna give it a try too, that would be cool. The rest of the tracks is: Drumtrack (SDX mapping, not humanized yet), Bass, 4 rhythm guitars, 2 lead+solo tracks and 2 clean tracks.

The tempo map has alot of changes, I wanted to have those as close as possible to the original. It's not perfect, of course, but it turned out the way it is now. Same goes for the programming of the track.

Here's the files:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19759737/Dissection - Unhallowed [cover] STEMS.rar

And here's my own mix up till now:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19759737/Dissection - Unhallowed [cover] - RaNk Mix.mp3

 

[Deathprayer82]

Killer man! I will do my best with that as soon as possible i fucking loooove Dissection

 

[NecroDM]

Awesome, i love Dissection! \m/

I'll give it a try once i get some time, it's nice to see some real metal instead of the "chugga chugga" core bullshit that plagues the metal scene these days.

Cheers!

 

[Deathprayer82]

can somebody tell me what drummap has to be used or what conversion for Slate? I don´t want to look what cymbal has to bis this and that and...my usual settings don´t work and the map does not show me what it has to be

 

[RaNk]

heres my rough take. used an axefx 5150 sim on guitars. humanized the drums a bit too

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12373101/dissection 5.mp3

I like your mix, guitars sounds nice. The snare maybe has a bit too much reverb and is generally very loud in the mix, but overal the balance is very good. I like the way the toms sound.

can somebody tell me what drummap has to be used or what conversion for Slate? I don´t want to look what cymbal has to bis this and that and...my usual settings don´t work and the map does not show me what it has to be

It's an SDX mapping, I will put that info in the starting post too, thanks.

 

[Deathprayer82]

its still not working, i don´t know what has to be:

D#0
E0
G0 0
G#0
B-2
C-1
C#1
D-1
F0
F#0
F7
C8

the normal stuff, snare, toms, kick...all works, also some of the cymbals. I belive these are some Hihats, different played and chokes. A SDX drm map would help me maybe, i can´t find with google

Finished my mix, only this is missing

 

[Deathprayer82]

i loaded a SDX avatar full map, still these notes are not named/played when i load the map

 

[RaNk]

Hey man, I don't use many different cymbals. You can just select one whole "note" and move all to the proper place. It sounds like horrible work, but I think it's ok, I have to do it too sometimes. Usually (depending the kit selected) it's the ride that's on some cymbal position. I don't use many different ones, for the ride I think I even used only one "note". The ride is the one that's totally on top, somewhere in the 8th octave or something. Looking forward to hearing your mix, and others'.

 

[Deathprayer82]

so but just tell me, what notes are Hihat. I have no Hihats so far or is there just ride?

 

[Deathprayer82]

i think i really have to compare it with the original and see

 

[RaNk]

The hihats are all around the C0 note. Above there is quite some space (about one octave) with nothing, that's where all the cymbals start until a bit higher the kick and snare are start. Above those are all toms, and then skip lots of octaves again where only the ride is and nothing else. I hope it makes sense.

 

[Deathprayer82]

ok thanks!

 

[mickrich]

Thanks for uploading.
Did this during a much needed break from preparing a beat detective class for tomorrow.
Didn't have time to re-amp all the guitars so the main left/right tracks are triple rectifier.
All other guitars are lecto to my 57/201 impulse.
Bass is Zoom MS60b>MXR bass DI>UA LA-610.

https://copy.com/XVdtyTUjjRguC2II

 

[RaNk]

Nice one again mickrich. Guitars are "high" sounding but not harsh. Rest of the mix is well balanced too.

 

[gch]

Can't understand why the thread is dying, such an awesome song and DI's.
Here's my take: http://soundcloud.com/artyom-gorbatuk/dissection-unhallowed-take2.
It's far from perfect, right guitars are lecto, left - Harlequin by roxolder, all into Mercuriall Cab sm57 cap. Would be nice to hear about mistakes (I know that there are some obvious, like pumped upper bass and high end of guitars, but want to know some more).

 

[blg84]

My mix

Dissection the best band from Sweden

 

[RaNk]

Can't understand why the thread is dying, such an awesome song and DI's.
Here's my take: http://soundcloud.com/artyom-gorbatuk/dissection-unhallowed-take2.
It's far from perfect, right guitars are lecto, left - Harlequin by roxolder, all into Mercuriall Cab sm57 cap. Would be nice to hear about mistakes (I know that there are some obvious, like pumped upper bass and high end of guitars, but want to know some more).

Hey man I'm happy you took some time to mix this, hopefully a few more will follow if they like mixing a song like this. Also I hope to have some vocal tracks ready soon, but it might take some time (I can't do it myself so I'm a bit dependant with that).

you mix doesn't sound perfect, but it doesn't sound bad either. If you want to improve it a bit, I would concentrate on the bass at first (like you say yourself). It needs quite some filtering in the low mids, I did some dips anywhere from 140 to 500Hz. Not that mine is perfect, but it dominates the mix a bit less that way.

The guitars on itsself are quite good, but I think they clip on the master quite some, which seems to make them a bit harsh. The mix itsself is also clipping a bit, maybe it's smart to start of with a less loud master and see what happens. The advantage is that the original isn't that loud either (around -11dB RMS), so no need to be ashamed of that.

I like the kickdrum, the snare is maybe a bit loud at some times (during the blasts). Maybe make the drums as a whole sound a bit more "natural" by using some tape saturation plugin. It could make them sound a bit less digital. I still have to experiment with this myself.

 

[RaNk]

My mix

Dissection the best band from Sweden

Yes, and not only of Sweden haha. \m/

I like your mix as a whole, it sounds quite natural and balanced all the way through. Maybe make the bass a tad less loud but I'm not sure, I like the way it sounds through the whole song. Great drums and generally very well balanced cymbals, I love that.

 

[blg84]

Thanks Rank

The bass has enough presence with less presence bass in the mix I will have to try hahahaha
Sorry for my bad english ;-(

 

[RaNk]

Thanks Rank

The bass has enough presence with less presence bass in the mix I will have to try hahahaha
Sorry for my bad english ;-(

Yes well it's still cool as is, the bass.

And the DI isn't perfect either, so it would have helped if I made a better one.

Your English is not so bad, I understand it, so that's most important.