Commercial rock track. Real everything, no samples

[Nolly]

Hey dudes,

This is a mix I did today for a rock project of my own. Real drums tracked at a local studio, no samples used whatsoever. Guitars are my ViK Hollowbody through a Diezel VH4 into my Zilla 4x12 with V30s and Lynchbacks in an X-pattern. SM57 on one of each type of speaker, then a pair of U87s in the room for natural ambience.Bass is Darkglass B7K through a Vintech 273 pre in parallel with clean DI being smashed with through a Distressor into a Chandler Germanium pre. Vocals haven't been tracked yet.

[SOUNDCLOUD]https://soundcloud.com/nolly/ryan-nolly-song-1/s-iG813[/SOUNDCLOUD]

 

[otamatone]

sick sound ! really nice !

 

[Melb_shredder]

Lovin the guitar/ bass tones not liking the snare too much in it's current state! I wish could explain my exact qualm, ill listen again later and try to word myself

 

[Nolly]

Thanks for listening chaps
Melb_shredder, sure, that'd be cool to know about if you can figure out what it is you're not into with the snare. A large percentage of the snare sound is actually coming from the overheads (stereo and two mono tracks), and I'm trying to keep this fully natural. Perhaps you just dislike the sound of that particular snare/tuning?

 

[Melb_shredder]

It sounds awesome being natural dude! I think you're right, might just be my personal opinion on the tuning. I feel like maybe a little more snap/ splat and a little less body/ whack would suit. But it's mostly aesthetic and taste! It's a great sound so I don't hear any FLAWS, just my own opinion that's all ^_^ I think I'm just a bit over the huge snare thing. I've forgotten how many of my favorite mixes have a little snappy but punchy snare etc

 

[Nolly]

Great, cheers! Definitely sounds like it's just taste in that case, I love nice small snares (I recently got a Noble & Cooley 14x4.5" that has the craziest crack to it haha) but definitely felt like this was the right vibe for the material It's really good to have your feedback though

 

[Melb_shredder]

Oh NICE! Yeah, I love the crack on snares like that sometimes for sure \m/ again, good sound man

 

[Nolly]

Hehe yeah it's a little firecracker. It's the second one here:

 

[Melb_shredder]

The second one! That's tops! haha. Love it \m/

 

[hahallur]

Great sound, what type of Yamaha bass guitar exactly was used?

 

[Nolly]

Thanks, the bass is my custom Dingwall Afterburner 6:

 

[Frak]

Sweet mix Nolly, I like everything about it.

This is definitely the song for a huge snare!
Can't wait to hear it with some vocals.

Btw, that bass is so yellow it burns my eyes... wow.

 

[-Loco-]

Meh I think it sounds quite lifeless. Definitely needs a lot of work for it to carry the weight of a professionally produced rock mix. Snare is too upfront and the whole thing lacks vibes. It sounds like it was approached like a metal mix with 'rock' riffs

 

[slo77y]

i love the kick sound. what i love about it that it has no apparent peaking out "kick-frequency" where the attack lives, its just very upfront and natural sounding. any info on that?

 

[Nolly]

Sweet mix Nolly, I like everything about it.

This is definitely the song for a huge snare!
Can't wait to hear it with some vocals.

Btw, that bass is so yellow it burns my eyes... wow.

Thanks man! (Sorry about your eyes)

Meh I think it sounds quite lifeless. Definitely needs a lot of work for it to carry the weight of a professionally produced rock mix. Snare is too upfront and the whole thing lacks vibes. It sounds like it was approached like a metal mix with 'rock' riffs

That's cool, I appreciate your opinion, though the way you state it as though it is objective is mildly annoying.

i love the kick sound. what i love about it that it has no apparent peaking out "kick-frequency" where the attack lives, its just very upfront and natural sounding. any info on that?

Cheers! Honestly I think the bulk of that is down to Ryan being a very consistent and hard-hitting drummer, and the fact that his Pearl Masterworks kit sounds incredible. It's a 24" kick, Powerstroke III batter tuned loose, Audio-Technica ATM25 just inside the port (I love that mic so much!), subkick and Neumann M149 outside. We committed to compression and EQ on the way in so I haven't done very much other than level the three mics in the mix and add a small wide boost on the ATM25 around 1.5k.

 

[-Loco-]

Don't see why it should be annoying, I TRIED to be constructive but there's no single element I could pick out other than it sounding flat all-round.

I don't think you're used to negative criticism and that's why it was annoying.

I was comparing it to older Funeral For A Friend tracks as references since you're working with their drummer. In comparison to a Colin Richardson/Terry Date mix you might be able to see what I mean. Doesn't sound bad, I just think you need to keep working at it.

Hope that's more useful.

 

[burn4ever]

Hey Nolly,
I love the Snaresound!
You mentioned that a big part comes from the overhead. Thats cool cause I like the approach to capture the whole kit with the overheads and not only high pass them.

Maybe you can tell us little bit more about snare capturing and processing?
What kind of stereo micing technique do you use? AB or an XY for the stereo track?

Top and bottom mics?
I think you have captured every important element of the snare, wires, body and attack sounds well balanced. How do you tighten up your snare sound a part from a good drummer who`s first choice ;-)

 

[Alphanumeric]

Don't see why it should be annoying

'Rock'.

 

[Daybreak]

That guitar tone is so massive. If I read your post right, you used one SM57 on the cab and two U87's for room ambience on the guitars, and then blended them together for that massive sound? I actually never heard of having room mics for guitars, that's why I'm so curious. Was there any problems with phase etc? 'cause the guitar sounds awesome. <:

About the snare, I actually think it could use some more body instead, but I think at this stage it's all just personal preference, it does sound awesome as it is. Only "complaint" about the mix is that I feel the guitar leads get's a little buried sometimes.

 

[Arkhamusic]

That guitar tone is so massive. If I read your post right, you used one SM57 on the cab and two U87's for room ambience on the guitars, and then blended them together for that massive sound? I actually never heard of having room mics for guitars, that's why I'm so curious. Was there any problems with phase etc? 'cause the guitar sounds awesome. <:

About the snare, I actually think it could use some more body instead, but I think at this stage it's all just personal preference, it does sound awesome as it is. Only "complaint" about the mix is that I feel the guitar leads get's a little buried sometimes.

Same question. Room mic for guitar is not quite often

that bass and guitar interaction is damn good!
and those guitars are so wide