Crit this clip!

[Heabow]

Hyall!

Been experimenting recording & mixing techniques lately. No vocals on this clip. FabPro limiter on the master bus just cutting 2db or so at max. This is from an album I produced 2 months ago. The guys were quite sloppy but I think it's decent. Please share your thoughts!

PS - First time I use the 'attached file' stuff so let me know if it does not work.

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Sounds very good man. What have you used for the guitars ? There's a subtle detail that captured my ear though. Between 0:34-0:40 for instance, there is a subtle noise in the guitars produced probably by the picking hand that I don't like. It's one of those things that once you hear it you cannot stop hearing it hehe

 

[Heabow]

Thanks for listening dude. Yeah poor picking technique, very irritating... Guitars are both 6505 with a Mesa cab IR here - Schecter w/ EMGs. Processing on guitar bus (I usually process each guitar separately) I'd like to get a more breathing guitar tone if that makes sense but I don't know how to achieve it really :/

Edit - Finally gave a second chance to another reamp option (Bogner Uberschall profile)

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

@Heabow I definitely prefer the guitar sound of your second test. About the breathing thing, Ermz advises in the systematic mixing guide to subdue a bit the range between 600Hz and 800 Hz (in the guitars) to increase the air and dimension. Have you tried that?

 

[Heabow]

Yeah, I have the systematic guide too But I'm not pleased in any way with my guitar tones. It just doesn't fit to me. I'm sruprised you actually liked the second clip more. To my ears, the guitars sound very "SSSSHHHHH" in a very bad way and they lack of weight a lot. Damn, guitar/bass tones make me crazy ahahah!

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Yeah man, finding good guitar tones is a pain in the ass sometimes. After listening to your clips again, I prefer the first one today hahaha it has more body and clarity. Nevertheless, the second one is not that bad, it's just a bit more scooped "thrashy" tone.

 

[Heabow]

Thanks for your time man, really appreciated. I reamped through my 6505 today and it seems a bit better. In fact, I want to get an open sounding yet deep tone. I set the mids at 6 which pretty rare for me on this amp. I'll shape a bass tone too and post the result. In my defense, I'd say that the playing is not good (bad picking) and it's pretty sloppy between bass and guitars. This makes my job more difficult now.

 

[Heabow]

Here is my third try... Seems more balanced to me, a bit less scooped. But damn, this bass player is not consistant at all :/

 

[HvO]

I like the new one. Sounds good!
I really like the drums too! What is it?

 

[Heabow]

Thanks for listening dude. Drums are real (I used Drumleveler to get consistency tho), snare and kick are blended with samples.

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Yeah, your last try sounds better. Yepp, sloppy playing -> bad for mixing. So now that you mentioned sculpting the bass tone. How do you usually do that ? Two tracks ? Three ? Do you reamp the DI through real gear ?

 

[Heabow]

Yeah, pretty common method here: one 'low' track using the DI only, then a grit one through a B7k. Both are preprocessed then glued together on a bass bus. I usually have no big problems but here this causes me difficulties to get at least a decent result. Playing is the most important part of a tone and I know I won't get a great product at the end with this but as it sounds pretty bad to me (I maybe had too much expectations!), knowing how it's perceived by you guys helps a lot.

 

[Heabow]

Finally found something that does not sound too horrible I think the bass/guitar combo works well here. What do you think?

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Sounds good man. Drums and bass sound pretty good, however, guitars could be a bit thicker and wider in the mix. Perhaps adding some bottom-end? I don't know, just guessing. I'm listening to your new mix through my shitty mp3 headphones so maybe that's the cause.

 

[wishtheend]

I think the bass could stand to come up a bit, seems kinda in the background compared to the drums when solo before the guitar comes in.

 

[Heabow]

Thanks for listening guys. I actually think the guitars have a bit too much low end, could be fixed by a more drastic multiband compression. As for the bass, I agree. I'll add some more 'grind' in it but the low part is good as it is to my ears right now.

 

[Heabow]

Here is an entire song with drums, bass and rhythm gtrs only. Some processing on the master bus (I'm using Slate FG-MU for the first time as a master buss comp - it adds a nice clarity here I think). Please let me know how this sounds to you!

Edit - Added an alternative version with a bit more low mids on the guitars. BTW, using the high gain input instead the normal gain input on my 6505 made a huge difference in a good way.

 

[Another Guitar Dude]

Sounds good man. I think I prefer the second clip, the one with more low mids on guitars. Maybe I'd give some more presence to the bass in the mix, I feel that sometimes is too buried in there. Besides that, I think the mix is pretty well balanced.

There's also a part that sounds a bit awkard/messy (to me) at 0:37-0:50, but it's not your fault, it's how the riffs have been written. As guitars play that part, it seems like there's a "main" guitar constantly going from side to side when it's not. I don't know if I'm making myself clear, probably not hahaha Maybe they were looking for that effect? I don't like it tbh.

Let us know when you add the lead guitars and vocals into the mix