Critizise my mix!

[Salvation 13]

Seems like I'm not going to get any answers in my other thread so I'll just start a new one.

The song is here:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=BD5227275E7444F4

No vocals or lead guitars yet. The bass tone is going to change to a not so scooped one.

 

[Rekisum]

Well... uhmm... first of all... 12mb is a lot to download. It sounds okay... not my stile, but anywho...

The snare sounds a bit like a circusdrum... don't like it... i like the guitarsound. You're mix... i don't know... i'm an complete amatuer here... but now you got something ;-)

 

[Razorjack]

I don't like the heavy guitars and the overheads sound a washy. The snare could do with tightening up some compression, then it might sit better in the mix (right now it's on top of everything).

I like the feel of the song though.

 

[Salvation 13]

Please be more precise. What don't you like about the guitars? I'm sorry but english is not my native language so what do you mean exactly by "washy"?

There's 8 tracks of guitar with 2 different amps through 2 different cabs with 2 different mics, so there's quite a lot of room to change things around. (All of our band members like the guitar tone though).

The snare has a lot of compression already. No reverb though, it could make it sit in the mix better. I like the way how the drums sound spacy, I don't want them to sound like "pro" drums in this song. (ie. too processed).

Thanks for your input.

 

[Salvation 13]

I updated the clip to a smaller file.

 

[~BURNY~]

I like the heavy guitars and the song but there's a few playing and tuning problems and yes, the drums are kind of messy. The snare drum isn't easy on ears (too much high and possibly out of phase). The bass, the toms and the bass drum are fighting and the OH are too "sharp".

 

[Salvation 13]

Thanks. I'll have to check on those. What kind of tuning problems you mean?

The bass guitar I used isn't of the best quality, the bass track is just for testing the bass tone for now. Our bass player will play it again with a better bass and newer strings soon.

 

[~BURNY~]

The clean guitar part sound out of tune to my ears. Can't say if it's the intonation, the setting or involuntary bends.

 

[Salvation 13]

The chords used in that melody are dissonant, could it be that?

The guitar we used on the clean parts had a new set of strings and we checked that the finetuning was ok.

 

[ScottCash]

I liked the way the song "kicked in". Cool. I think the comments on the drums are pretty accurate but what it was missing for me was some low end resonance on the bass drum and the low tom. They seemed kinda thin. On my shitty little computer speakers I could barely hear the bass drum. The mellow guitar in the beginning could use some "effect" like a chorus or flanger or just something "unexpected" but that is not a mix problem, that is producer side coming out. When you start playing 16th's the snare sounds like it is going crazy in the background. Was he playing "ghost" hits or something. It just sounds really noisy and cluttered. Cool, hope this helps.

 

[Salvation 13]

I liked the way the song "kicked in". Cool. I think the comments on the drums are pretty accurate but what it was missing for me was some low end resonance on the bass drum and the low tom. They seemed kinda thin. On my shitty little computer speakers I could barely hear the bass drum. The mellow guitar in the beginning could use some "effect" like a chorus or flanger or just something "unexpected" but that is not a mix problem, that is producer side coming out. When you start playing 16th's the snare sounds like it is going crazy in the background. Was he playing "ghost" hits or something. It just sounds really noisy and cluttered. Cool, hope this helps.

Believe me, the kick and the toms have almost too much low end. I think it's just in the 50-100Hz spectrum that doesn't come out too much on smaller speakers. I'll have to figure out a way to make them sound as big on all speakers. What frequency do you guys usually boost to make the kick and bass sound big on smaller speakers?

He's playing 16th note ghost hits with the snare on the chorus. I like the way it sounds, not a very usual drum beat.

 

[Salvation 13]

Here's a new mix:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=DC906BF03CDDDFB4

I changed the snare settings, took off a little bit of the high end from the OH's and the hh. I did a small dent on the bass at 60-80Hz and at 140-160Hz on the kick. I put some slight plate reverb on the snare and changed the compressor plugin.

Any better?

 

[sparkyness]

seems to be some low-end rumble going on....primarily the bass seems "woolly" or boomy sounding on my system. Maybe a 220-250k cut will take care of that. Really noticed it on the drum fills when the toms kicked in.

Snare is not to my taste, in terms of sounding a bit brittle/thin during the quieter sections but it cuts through ok during the heavier sections.

I like the heavy guitar tone...

 

[Keessi]

to make the snare more ballsy, try to flip the phase of the overheads. Imo sounds REALLY harsh. if you have an undermic as well, flip it's phase too

 

[Salvation 13]

Ok, here's one with a dip at 250Hz in the guitars and bass. I also reversed the phase from the OH's and the bottom snare mic.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=96092413376CFDAF

Sounds quite a bit better than the first one. Thanks for your advice, everyone. Anything else?

 

[Salvation 13]

bump. It can't be perfect yet?

How would you guys mix some lead guitars to this song? Anything about the bass tone?