[DJENT] First paying gig!

[xBOBxSAGETx]

Drums: Superior Drummer 2.0
Guitars: LePou's Legion Head
Bass: Trilian Bass


Let me know what you guys think of this mix. I'm pretty happy with it. I need help bring out the low end to really make this mix bang! Help me out!!


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9875484/Villains/LBP2 (Snare Mod2).mp3

 

[jackbraglia]

the guitars sound super mechanical, almost as if you recorded them one note at a time and edited it all together. tone sounds good though. I'd also bring the snare down a bit.

and if you want more low-end just bring up the level of that bass, its trillian so its not like you have to do much in the way of compression or EQ, but I can barely even hear it.

 

[xBOBxSAGETx]

^Jack that's exactly what I did. Had no choice. These kids are 15 years old with 8 strings. Horrible technique and they write all of their music in a tabbing program. Vocals come in on Sunday.

What I'm doing is having the same octave as the guitars on the bass with Trilian (Like Meshuggah) and then I have another Trilian "DI" doing the lower octave of the guitar for the low end BUT when I bring the bass up, it turns into mush. I can hear the high octave bass fine but the low tends to mush up and sound like shit :/

 

[Spite]

Guitars and snare sound very mechanical.
Especially the snare sounds fake to me.
I would perhaps make a few narrow cuts in the upper frequencies in the guitar to cut a little bit of the sizzle away.
Bring up the bass, and add just a hair of "snap" to the kick.
Just my .2

 

[xBOBxSAGETx]

@Spite. They wanted the snare to sound like "Volumes" personally I HATE fake sounding snares like that but it's what they wanted SIGH!! They were also looking for the super quantized sound that they preferred! I also did cut some of the upper frequencies @5500khz and LP at 10khz. I've noticed that sizzle too. I LP a little more, lemme know how it sounds to you!!


UPDATED MIX:

Turned snare down
LP guitars more
Bass Turned up

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9875484/Villains/LBP2 (Snare Mod3).mp3

 

[jackbraglia]

wow, that's a tough situation. i know a lot of guys who wouldn't even bother recording them. Personally I'd still do it for the money/experience, which is why you're doing it I'm sure. its crazy how these kids are playing 8 strings when they haven't even bothered to learn 6! ESPECIALLY when they're only even playing 1 damn string at a time! probably the hardest part for you was finding a way to politely tell them "you suck, so this is gonna take a while!"

but anyway, I've actually never tried the whole 2 octave thing with bass. generally what i do to get a nice tight bass sound is to compress it pretty hard, then split it into 2 aux channels, hi and lo. distort the hi one, HP the lo one at about 50hz and boost 90-100hz. thats about it. I'd use the "hardcore bass" in trillian.

[edit] as I'm writing this i see u updated your mix. i see how the bass is a bit muddy down there. what patch are you using in trillian?

and the snare is still way too loud i think.

Just my .2

.2 would actually be 20 cents, just to bust your balls

 

[Spite]

.2 would actually be 20 cents, just to bust your balls

Oh snap! What do I know?

Anyway, its does sound better, but the snare needs some bawls and it's still too loud.
I'm also assuming the track is missing quite a few guitar parts(?) so it's kind of hard to tell how the finished result would sound like.
If they want to sound like Volumes they've got work to do.

 

[Frak]

The guitars literally sound like you've taken the Guitar Pro DI and run it through an amp sim. So do the drums really. I'd say if you can't get them to re-record it properly, do your best to get the mix over and done with and never work for them again haha...
Just my 0.02

But seriously, in terms of making the mix better, you need to remind them who is doing the mixing and let them give you some more freedom. Tell them that they're holding you back from really making the mix as good as it could be. Even if you saved what you have now, and mixed your own version without their restraints to show them and prove that to them.

 

[tghRF]

Brutal. You are a brave soul. Sounds like you used Guitar Pro midi into a cheap guitar vsti then reamped it and then chopped it into little pieces and glued it back together.

At least you are getting paid and learning something in the process. This stuff is so slow and easy to play on guitar...how can they not play it themselves? Maybe you could record it yourself when they are not around

Good luck.

 

[xBOBxSAGETx]

Well just for everyone's info. A lot of big names record this way. I know that the new Structures was recorded this way and since learning this technique I can tell that Meshuggah uses this technique too. It's quite obvious but it yields the best results. I'm getting paid to do this and really all I'm trying to showcase what I can do and I can fulfill the clients needs at the same time. If it's what they want then I can do that. I don't mind because it's not my music. They have the right to want whatever they want because it's THEIR music not mine. Not tryna be a dick but I mean I'm not gonna turn down work because they're after I certain sound. I love to record and capture music. If anyone has any info on humanizing the guitar playing that would be sick!!


Here's an update mix with 4 guitars and a new bass tone


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9875484/Villains/Devin 4 GTRs.mp3

 

[iarebrandon]

i agree with you man. wouldn't turn down the work myself either.

i dont know if your wanting to invest anymore money into something this... unorthodox, but there are programs that are getting better at doing this sorta thing. a couple off hand are the real guitar LPC. and vir2 electri6ity. and im sure there is cheaper ones as well.

 

[oroinvictus]

It sounds like you chopped too much of the waveform off, there's no picking sounds, and you could shift notes slightly off-grid for humanization.

 

[xBOBxSAGETx]

It sounds like you chopped too much of the waveform off, there's no picking sounds, and you could shift notes slightly off-grid for humanization.

You're exactly right. I cut off the picking noise. I'll put those back in when I get back from vacation next week!

 

[tghRF]

Not trying to be a dick and I understand that you are using a particular method. Bottom line is that it sounds bad and super fake. As mentioned earlier, it is good practice for you and you can't be held responsible for how the band wants things to be done. If going down this road, have they considered something like using a better way to write the midi and then using something like prominy guitar vsti's for the "guitars" then using podfarm or something?

Good luck with the project.