Dio Tribute "Children of the Sea" Song Discussion

[vespiz]

Settle down there bubba, just got around to having a listen.

OK, well.. er.. to be honest I think there's still some work to be done on the mix. At least I would work on it. Especially now that the bass is there, the guitars sound muffled to me and a bit weird ... like some phasing stuff going on?? HOWEVER! That sound is so Tony Iommi, and as I said earlier, if that's the way it needs to be then that's it!
Cut some stuff from the lead guitars to make them more audible?

And pummel that bass down. Use comps and limiters in series if need be.

More room on the drums for a more epic sound? I dunno, might have to re-think the whole mix then...

Please don't kill me?

 

[Skinny Viking]

^

Awesome!

Seriously, thats what I needed to hear. Keep in mind of course that this is just a 1st draft of a mix so absolutely there is quite a bit of work to be done. I'm just trying to get a good foundation and the bass is killing me I'm seriously SLAMMING it with layers of compression and EQ but I think maybe a healthy low shelf cut is in order. The drums ... I have a LOT of the room mic on the drums going ... I think it has to do with the bass eating everything up, lets see what happens there when I shelf the bass. I don't see how there could be any phase issues with the guitars since they're direct, 2 separate takes and played tight as fuck (If I do say so myself) so I think maybe it might be some frequency jumble going on. I have the melody guitars in the chorus hi-passed at like 175 but I can try cutting some more lows from them and see how it fits. Just so you know, they're also supposed to be very quiet, background melodies ... I decided to just have them on the guitars instead of the keyboard shit I was gonna try and do.

Its all about that bass ... I have to figure that bitch out

I have a small list of some things I'm gonna try ... I'll be back in a day or 2

Thanks for the input Jussi!

 

[DanLights]

tried lowering the fader on the bass?

Just kidding, I like the tone you're getting out of the bass, but of course is has to be controlled much more for the whole mix to sit better, but I really like the idea you've got there, the guitars sound as Jussi said very Iomi-ish, I like it!

 

[Skinny Viking]

tried lowering the fader on the bass?

Even the mute button couldn't hold that fucker back!

 

[Skinny Viking]

Ok are either of these two better sounding?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/594184/Mix Test 2.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/594184/Mix Test 3.mp3

Its basically the same section, I just made 2 sets of changes and wanted some outside ears to let me know if its an improvement and if so, which is the better

Can't wait to hook up my new monitors

 

[Skinny Viking]

 

[DanLights]

definitely an improvement IMO, I think I like 3 a bit more, don't know exactly why though, I think 2 feels a bit too "full" if you get what I mean, like foo filled up, whereas 3 is a bit "lighter"

 

[Skinny Viking]

foo filled?

I get ya ... the only difference between 2 and 3 is with #3 I have a small high shelf boost on the master fader ... like 3 db or something

glad it seems to sound better ... Jussi?

 

[vespiz]

The boost in #3 helps, but there's a risk of making the cymbals sound a bit too frisky. Overall the mix opened up a bit, compared to the first version.
You know, as the song is not that fast (except for that one part), it could use a bigger bass drum sound. Now it's a tight thump, but there could be room for more..

How about getting that acoustic treatment up?

 

[Skinny Viking]

The boost in #3 helps, but there's a risk of making the cymbals sound a bit too frisky. Overall the mix opened up a bit, compared to the first version.
You know, as the song is not that fast (except for that one part), it could use a bigger bass drum sound. Now it's a tight thump, but there could be room for more..

How about getting that acoustic treatment up?

"Frisky cymbals" - I totally agree which is why I usually don't like putting any EQ on the master. Just wanted to see/hear the difference in how it would sound after a bit of mastering. Also gives me an idea of where I can high shelf the overheads if the rest of the mix seems to benefit from it

"Bigger bass drum" - At the moment I have a pretty steep high pass on the room track which is crushed with compression. I had it set like that as I was playing with the clean sections cause the combination of everything was causing some pumping that I didn't like in the quiet parts. I was planning on trying some automation so that when the hammer drops and shit gets heavy I'd mute the hi pass ... might be that little extra bit of "big drum" the song can use. At the moment I'm just trying to find that perfect balance of elements so that when I do go in to start some automation I don't have to swing back and forth as far

Now when you say the mix opened up a bit, do you mean like it needs to open more or do you mean "a bit" as in its a considerable amount compared to the 1st draft?

Room treatment - my traps arrived yesterday! Hanging them up on friday The auralex shit is already up and that the reason I'm at the point I am now with this mix after 2 tries instead of 5

Also, I tried something with the guitar sound because of what you had said about them sounding maybe a little phasey ... I changed the impulse I was using on the right channel and kept the one on the left the same. Honestly I only hear the slightest difference but thats about all I can think of to separate them more ... they both already have slightly different EQs applied to them. I did it after I ran off these clips so maybe bend your ear a bit in that direction when I throw the next clip up

 

[Executioner213]

Mix 3 does it for me

 

[Skinny Viking]

quick update ...

I got hammered with things last week so I had no time to do anything ... however ...

played my last gig of the year saturday, no rehearsals until after christmas and only one, maybe 2 studio dates next week for some Shadowdance stuff and some choir vocals for Marco's band ... point being, my time has finally opened up so I'll start really digging in on the mix starting this week. I think the musical backdrop is almost there with some tweaking needed so I'll be posting clips soon with more of the music and as I do some automation. Vocals will be dick easy since they sound almost perfect just dropped in the mix. Should have something posted by tomorrow

 

[Skinny Viking]

How do we feel about this here

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/594184/Test Mix 5.mp3

I've brought in more elements, still no vox, made some slight changes to the drums and only done the subtractive bass automation. Some parts will need to be boosted. Some of the melody parts in the bridge as well as my little mini-solo at the beginning of it need to be messed with and the new little guitar harmony part at the end of the 1st and last chorus is brighter than I want it but I knew that ... I'll mess with some EQ on it later. Right now I'm just checking everyone's feeling on what I got going on.

So far, I'm digging it but I've only checked it on my pc speakers here at work

Thoughts?

EDIT: Kicks might be a little loud now that I've listened to it a few times

 

[vespiz]

Sounds better! Keep at it..

 

[Skinny Viking]

anyone else care to chime in?

Otherwise I'll be keeping this is the basis and start doing some additive bass automation next. Then I'm gonna try something with a cello

as our boy Felix is so fond of ending most of his music posts with .... You can be curious

 

[Executioner213]

I dug it so far.

 

[Skinny Viking]

^ cool

 

[Executioner213]

hows the vocals kickin on this?

 

[crillemannen]

Im on a roll so i could probably record the vocals on the song this week . I'll Pm you if i make it.

BTW, the mix feels a little bit overcompressed for me, but good work overall

 

[DanLights]

Vocals were done dude, by Carlos' buddy, were just waiting on a mix with them