Enter the Inferno - My first decent mix.

[pinguinpanic]

Hey there guys,

I've been lurking these forums a lot, and learning a lot from here and after a lot of practice I've finally created something that I'm content enough with to share with you all. It is by no means at the same level as all the amazing stuff that gets posted here, but I was hoping you could help me with making it better.

It's one of my band's songs that I recorded myself.
Guitars:
ESP LTD-M200FM with stock pups through an Engl Powerball
ESP LTD KH-202 with EMG's through an Engl Powerbal.
Drums are done with Drumkit from Hell together with samples for snare and bass.
Bass is some kind of Squier through an Ashdown MAG EVO II
Recording interface used was my Phonic Helix Board

So here it is:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20975139/Enter%20the%20Inferno.mp3

 

[DanLights]

Guitars sound too centered, like you have a guitar up the middle louder than the panned ones?

Edit: Vocals are pretty bad, sounds like a bad source/vocalist (no offense if this is you, just my thought) and almost no processing done to them except cheap reverb, or is it just the room you're getting while recording?

Guitars don't sound bad, the panned ones, the center one shouldn't be there IMO, drums are not bad either

 

[pinguinpanic]

Yup there's a guitar in the middle that's louder then the other ones. If I recorded it another time and panned both tracks left and right would that fix the issue? Because I kind of need that guitar since it plays the melodies. The cheap reverb you're hearing is probably my bedroom, all other stuff was recorded in our practice room which is all covered in egg foam to stop any reverb. There are a lot of effects going on on the vocals though, they just seem hard to mix with the song (I'm not the vocalist by the way). What I got going on on the vocals is an "Exciter", a small tat of reverb (Reaper's build in one, so this might be the cheap reverb as well, but it's almost inaudible so I think it's the room), a lot of equalization and some effect called "PsuedoStero" which makes it sound a bit more stereo.

Didn't the mix have a bit too much lower end though? I'm finding it hard to judge because I have this feeling that my Earphones are giving me more bass then there actually is, so I left the bass just a bit too much in hopes of it sounding perfect on normal speakers.

Thanks for your quick reply!

 

[DanLights]

Yeah about the guitar, the best to do is double track and hard pan like the other ones, it'll sound much better that way, although I don't even like the tone on that guitar, I prefer the tone on the panned ones but that's just my opinion (as is everything I say).

Glad to know you're not the vocalist, honestly he sucks, you should fire him. He isn't sounding any more "stereo" nor is he getting any more "exciting" either hahaha seriously, without the vocalist it can be a pretty decent mix. Sorry if I'm harsh, it's my honest and humble opinion

Edit: oh and bout the low end, I heard it ok but I'm on headphones as well, and I know how hard it is to achieve a balanced low end if you're never sure that you're hearing it well.

 

[pinguinpanic]

Well actually I kind of agree with you with that the guitar tone isn't that great, but the thing is, the only thing different with the 2 panned guitars and the center guitars is that the panned ones are done with EMG's and the centre one is not, so I think I'll have to invest in an EMG for in the bridge myself or record it again on the LTD with EMG's (My band's other guitar player played that track). Or could different playing styles have that much impact on the tone? Because to be honest the other guitarist is a lot tighter then me, especially with Rhythm guitar work.

I don't mind any harshness, the more you tell me that's wrong, the more that I can improve on. And to be honest I was kind of expecting a huge shit-storm since the quality of this compared to most other stuff here is pretty bad

 

[DanLights]

Well actually I kind of agree with you with that the guitar tone isn't that great, but the thing is, the only thing different with the 2 panned guitars and the center guitars is that the panned ones are done with EMG's and the centre one is not, so I think I'll have to invest in an EMG for in the bridge myself or record it again on the LTD with EMG's (My band's other guitar player played that track). Or could different playing styles have that much impact on the tone? Because to be honest the other guitarist is a lot tighter then me, especially with Rhythm guitar work.

I don't mind any harshness, the more you tell me that's wrong, the more that I can improve on. And to be honest I was kind of expecting a huge shit-storm since the quality of this compared to most other stuff here is pretty bad

Playing styles can make a difference, when people say 80% of the tone is in the hands it's true, but everything else also makes a difference, and EMGs have a very characteristic sound to them that's pretty different from other pickups. If the other guitarist is tighter and you're man enough to admit it without having any issues, then it's probably best for the band if he records all rhythm tracks, but that's no law, you could do the "melody" guitars (the centered one) and let him keep the tight rhythm ones, but yeah the EMGs definitely help so try to record with that guitar instead

 

[pinguinpanic]

I'll try playing it on his guitar then, in hopes of it being the guitar and not my playing. Otherwise I'll let him do the rhythm parts .

Any idea what exactly is bad about the vocals? I had the impression that he's singing pretty in-tune but something is just lacking but I can't really put my finger on what.

 

[DanLights]

I'll try playing it on his guitar then, in hopes of it being the guitar and not my playing. Otherwise I'll let him do the rhythm parts .

Any idea what exactly is bad about the vocals? I had the impression that he's singing pretty in-tune but something is just lacking but I can't really put my finger on what.

I'm not an expert on vocals in any way, but the fact that he simply does not know how to sing at all might be what's wrong there, he just sounds like a drunk dude doing a karaoke

 

[pinguinpanic]

Meh, is there any other way to fake having dual tracked the guitar? I got my LTD tuned to C standard, and it is a pain in the ass to tune back to D with the locking tremolo and all that jazz, and my Cort's sound is not suited for this stuff. So is there any way to make it appear that way? I searched but didn't find anything, could be that I'm just asking a stupid question. I tried putting one left and one right and inverting the phase of one, but that resulted just in some kind of weird slow phaser effect.

Now I'm asking for help anyway, here's another question: Do you guys have any techniques to make the vocal delivery passable? I tried auto-tuning it but that wasn't really the solution .

And I'd like to thank DanLights again for his helpful replies, although all of you guys might not be noticing it, this forum is filled with so much fantastic stuff and awesome people. This forum and all the awesome songs that get posted is my sole reason for interesting myself in mixing stuff.