Experimental Black Metal (REAL DRUMS - NO SAMPLES)

[Terminus]

I'm working with this raw black metal band (which oddly enough uses 7 strings and play some low notes) who plays an experimental, melodic BM and need some crits of my mix, mostly the drums. This is my first drum mix without relying on any sample augmentation whatsoever. I'm not looking to do a polished Sneap-style mix, more or less it's raw BM with a slight bit of clarity so the power of the drumming comes through. I've eq'ed, compressed and used transient designers on the kick and snare, with a slight bit of bottom snare mic in there. Didn't use too much of anything like compression, just mild slow attack/fast release and up to -3dBs of gain reduction across the board. Didn't get any room mic tracks this time around so did the best I could there. Are my levels good and do the cymbals sound harsh to anyone?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/994726/BM_SPX.mp3

Wav was too large for my weak internet speed so if you want to hear a higher quality version I chose flac
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/994726/BM_SPX.flac

 

[Terminus]

Sigh, here's anot updated mix
https://www.dropbox.com/s/30b92bzfcus30as/ASPX_10-3.mp3

 

[Einander]

I think the drums are tracked good, but the snare sounds really spongy, try to compress it more and add hall or plate (more ambient) reverb to it. The cymbals aren't exactly harsh, but they don't have enough space EQ-wise, so they are really high in the mix.. Kick and toms sounds solid. I think whats really weak is the guitar sound. Lack of presence, so the whole thing sounds muddy, no room for bass. If you'll fix that, the drums & bass will cut through better.

 

[downstroy]

well definitely better drums than mine! what mics u use and how much reverb you put them...it would be cool to hear drums only and btw good song!

 

[Terminus]

I think the drums are tracked good, but the snare sounds really spongy, try to compress it more and add hall or plate (more ambient) reverb to it. The cymbals aren't exactly harsh, but they don't have enough space EQ-wise, so they are really high in the mix.. Kick and toms sounds solid. I think whats really weak is the guitar sound. Lack of presence, so the whole thing sounds muddy, no room for bass. If you'll fix that, the drums & bass will cut through better.

Thanks for the response! I agree the snare does sound weak and spongey. I've compressed the living hell out of it, used a transient designer to add attack and also use parallel compression to add even more and it's still weak. Since the last mix I've just added sample augmentation so it's much better now. I used a SD snare. The guitar sound is out of my hands, I was only hired to work the drums and was given a single stereo track with ALL the guitars in it- already amped and processed, told not to change that except for hipass and lopass to suit my drum mix needs. All I can do in the end is tell them what you are saying. Thankfully i'm only going to be credited with drum mixing on the release.

well definitely better drums than mine! what mics u use and how much reverb you put them...it would be cool to hear drums only and btw good song!

No idea on the mics, these guys are halfway across the planet from me. I'm just mixing it. I just used a blend of a room reverb and a plate reverb, 30ms predelay, short decay on the room and a longer one on the plate. Blended it until you can just hear it. Cool song indeed, too bad I had nothing to do with writing it!