Death Metal debut album mix. Please help me improve it! :) Real everything!

C

CarlBlomqvist

Here to learn
Jun 18, 2008
263
0
16
Skövde, Sweden
Hey guys!

It's soon time for my band to relase our debut album. We released an EP about two years ago, and have been pretty silent since then.

Anyway, you helped me with my mix back then, and I'd love to hear what you have to say about this one. I reamped the guitars and the bass today, and "mixed it a bit". Tell me what is good, what is bad, what to change, what to keep, whatever!

Guitars are ENGL Invader 150, preamp out with impulse. Bass is Sansamp for the distortion and Pod Farm for the lows.

LINK: Version 1
Update: Version 2
Update: Version 3
Update: Version 4
Update: Version 5!

Cheers!
Carl.
 
Sounds heavy man, the vocals are brutal!

I think the guitars are struggling to cut through sometimes (especially on blast beats). Maybe they need to be a bit louder? Maybe someone else would have a better idea.
 
Maybe they need a little 4k for a bit more bite? That might make them pop out a little more but might add too much fizz.

Don't take what I say too seriously, I'm not nearly as good as the other guys on here!
 
Firaxis said:
Maybe they need a little 4k for a bit more bite? That might make them pop out a little more but might add too much fizz.

Don't take what I say too seriously, I'm not nearly as good as the other guys on here!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm thinking that aswell. What about more lows on the kick? So you can feel it in your chest? :)

I'm also thinking the guitars might have a tad to much gain? That that's what makes them a wee bit... unclear. Thoughts about that?

Cheers.
Carl.
 
the kick sounds great on my system man, I think it's fine. I would just try making the guitars louder and maybe the vocals could come down a little.
 
Firaxis said:
the kick sounds great on my system man, I think it's fine. I would just try making the guitars louder and maybe the vocals could come down a little.
Click to expand...

I added some ~4k to the guitars and some mids. I think it fits the tone, the music and the mix to have middy guitars. I also added some sub/lows to the kick and bass, and removed lows from the guitars.

LINK: Version 2

Opinions?

Cheers.
Carl.
 
It's quite unpleasant to listen to tbh. There's some nasty stuff going on in the high mids. Listen to "Heirs of Thievery" album by Misery Index. The guitars are bright, but not unpleasant at all. Try scooping the 2-4khz range a bit and boost on either side of it. The snare could also come up a bit.

edit: after listening for a while you get used to the frequency balance actually, but initally its quite shocking. I would have a look at the high mids, but don't go overboard.
 
Morgan C said:
It's quite unpleasant to listen to tbh. There's some nasty stuff going on in the high mids. Listen to "Heirs of Thievery" album by Misery Index. The guitars are bright, but not unpleasant at all. Try scooping the 2-4khz range a bit and boost on either side of it. The snare could also come up a bit.

edit: after listening for a while you get used to the frequency balance actually, but initally its quite shocking. I would have a look at the high mids, but don't go overboard.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the more I'm listening to it, I feel I'm further from done. I do get what you mean by getting used to it though. Everytime I take a break and come back, I get that "shock" aswell for the first minute or so.

I'll keep working with the guitars. I feel they're the main thing that need work. Nothing else you can think of?

Cheers.
Carl.
 
CarlBlomqvist said:
Yeah, the more I'm listening to it, I feel I'm further from done. I do get what you mean by getting used to it though. Everytime I take a break and come back, I get that "shock" aswell for the first minute or so.

I'll keep working with the guitars. I feel they're the main thing that need work. Nothing else you can think of?

Cheers.
Carl.
Click to expand...

Nah, the rest sounds pretty good. The kick is a bit plasticky and fake compared to how natural the rest of the mix is. The vocals sound sick, really smooth. What mic was it? Sm7?
 
Morgan C said:
Nah, the rest sounds pretty good. The kick is a bit plasticky and fake compared to how natural the rest of the mix is. The vocals sound sick, really smooth. What mic was it? Sm7?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the kick is the only thing that is replaced... Now afterwards I wish I had triggered the snare aswell, because the mic leaks a lot, so it's hard to make the snare louder without making the drums sound to mono. I don't want to replace the snare, just blend in some other sample :) Will do that next time for sure.

Yeah, it was SM7.
 
CarlBlomqvist said:
Yeah, the kick is the only thing that is replaced... Now afterwards I wish I had triggered the snare aswell, because the mic leaks a lot, so it's hard to make the snare louder without making the drums sound to mono. I don't want to replace the snare, just blend in some other sample :) Will do that next time for sure.

Yeah, it was SM7.
Click to expand...

I would blend in a touch of sample for the snare, to give it a little more lowend and a little more ring. Personally I'd find a more natural kick sample. I've got a couple if you don't have. I think this one sticks out as being replaced, moreso because of the sample than because, well, it's replaced.
 
Morgan C said:
I would blend in a touch of sample for the snare, to give it a little more lowend and a little more ring. Personally I'd find a more natural kick sample. I've got a couple if you don't have. I think this one sticks out as being replaced, moreso because of the sample than because, well, it's replaced.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but it's impossible to trigger the snare. Too much bleeding/leakage.

I really like the kicksample, but I might add another one and blend them, because I understand what you're saying and I agree.

I might give the guitars another go on the reamping later today. Maybe try another channel on the amp or something.

Cheers.
Carl.
 
I changed the impulse, and re-EQed the guitars and all. I also added some nebula-preamps on guitar, bass and drum buses. I added some highs to the snare, aswell as some ~500. I think it made it pop out a bit more and sound bigger.

I think the vocals turned out to low in volume now and the guitars might be to loud, but the guitars sound much better now imo!

Thoughts/opinions? :)

LINK: Version 3
Cheers.
Carl.
 
slayercannibalsuffohead said:
Ive only heard version 4, but the guitars for me, need to come back to the rest of the pack. Scoop out some high mids and add some lo-fi to the top end to bring the guitars back. Very much digging the vocals dude, great to listen to.:Smokedev:
Is there some stereo imaging plug on this?
Click to expand...

"add lo-fi to the top end"...? What do you mean? haha

Yeah, as I said before the guitars are the biggest problem for me. But I think they're starting to turn out well :)

There is no stereo imaging plug. What made you think that? :)

Cheers
Carl.
 
To be honest i liked the first version of this, now it sound's too middy.

I agree with other comments to bring the guitar a bit forward but you
have too do it real gentle and subtle. There's also not much low end in the
guitars. Liked the first better :)
 
Yeah I agree ^^^ I liked the first version the most. Sounds good IMO. There's a lot going on in the song and it sounds cluttered but I think thats the song writing itself. I quite like the rawness of it all.
 
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