Clip! SSD, LeXTAC, X30, new acoustic+sm81s...

[ParsonsMatt]

Same song I've been working on... All new tones :lol

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1161830/Life.mp3

First things first, right acoustic guitar is my Yamaha LS6 with Elixir 13-56 nanoweb phospor bronze strings, and miced with two SM81s in XY position. AMAZING TONE. I love the way this set up sounds. Will definitely be using it a LOT in the future. Left acoustic guitar is still a sim.

Drums are Superior 2.0 with Slate snare, toms, and kick blended in. I'm doing a LOT differently on the processing here.... Totally started from scratch.

Distorted guitars are all Edwards (ash body, maple neck thru, X2N), this time. Quad tracked as usual, this time I'm layering TSE X30 boosting LeXTAC and LeXTAC boosting TSE X30. The big open chords don't really show off the tone as much as I'd like to, I plan on recording more that you'll actually get to hear it better (chug, tremelo, etc.)

No bass Left it at the practice space.

Mastering is Gclip + Blockfish compressor + Classic Master Limiter.

Let me know what you think!

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Nothing?

 

[Ohmission]

personally I do not like the acoustic tone. The mix needs more bass too (guitars sound thin). Cool use of synths. The writing is very interesting and the track is cool. I feel like with some more beef in the guitars and the kick drum this mix can improve a bit. Good work.

Cheers,
George.

 

[lolzgreg]

Not to burst your bubble, but the acoustic tone is quite dense and lacks in the highs/high mids. Just listen to how drastic the change is from the acoustic guitars to the distorted electric; all the body disappears. You need a guitar tone with more low mids, less high mids, and you're going to need a solid bass track underneath.

I would also reconsider a blast beat as your drumline of choice throughout most of the beginning of the song. It doesn't feel authentic to me in the context of things.

The Opeth influence is obvious in your choice of drumfills, acoustic guitar intro, and choice of guitar chords/shapes.

The use of orchestration is pretty awesome.

Agreed that the kickdrum needs more punch and presence. If it's already getting lost with no bass in there, you're going to need some help with the low end.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Thanks! While I am pretty happy with the acoustic tone, you are right that it is very low-mid and bass centered. I'll try some new micing positions/techniques to see if I can't get a more balanced sound out of it.

The kick drum does tend to get lost, I will have to revise that. And yeah, it really needs a bass right now to thicken up the distorted guitars. I've been trying to find a way to beef up the tone without making it muddy but its sort of difficult given that I am playing the big, bright open chords. I think with more traditional riffing it'd sound better. Nothing that more experiments won't solve!

Thanks again for listening

 

[PhilR]

The balance seems pretty off from part to part. The acoustic guitars are quite loud and fairly dry and up-front, which diminishes the impact of the blastbeat riffs. Then the synths kick in, which are overpoweringly loud. There doesn't seem to be much sense of actual space, just a bunch of instruments competing for volume.