EZMix and Death Metal....?

[Bloodsoaked666]

Hello all,

I would like to use EZMix to get a solid demo recording. The song below is all EZMix along with some EQ (I'll post a screen shot of the EQ) and then some EXMix master plugin. The few vocals are just place holders as well as the solo so don't pick those apart... I tried using Reapers Comp plugin for the Andy Sneap trick but It just gave the guitars a flubby sound so maybe I'm doing something wrong. The drums are all EXDrummer with an EXMix plugin on the drum bus. The guitars only have the EXMix guitars, no bus, just the additional EQ (pictures below).

I would like to stick with EXMix/EZDrummer for this song and my project. If you have experience with EZMix any and all feedback is welcome. Thank you for your time.

​

GUITAR EQ
View media item 311
BASS EQ
View media item 312​

 

[Alex M]

This mix is more organic than http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/death-metal-mix-feedback.1481147/ It s more dynamic and natural. The mid zone on guitars sounds also more correctly

 

[Silkoch]

Hi, your demo sounds quite good mixing-wise. Rhythm guitar,bass and drum tones are good. However, the drums are programmed extremely robotic. First thing I would do is adjust velocities. The kick hits for example are a bit hard for that kind of speed. Every cymbal has the exact same velocity and the cymbal work is very basic. Not many drummers would play so monotonic. Mixing-wise I would turn up the lead guitars a little bit and maybe EQ them a bit differently then the rhythm guitars, so they are better seperated. Last, the vocals sound a bit muffled. EQ away this low rumbling frequency and maybe you can make them a little bit more aggressive by experimenting further with compression and (heavy) saturation.

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

Thank you two for the feedback, very much appreciate. I took some time and effort and uploaded a new mix. Personally I like the drum playing and don't think it sound to robotic but at this time I'm more trying to focus of the overall mix. I'm having a hard time bringing the overall volume up any louder without it clipping. Would love feedback on this mix and if anyone have any questions, sugestions or wants to know more about my setting please ask.

 

[Silkoch]

Thank you two for the feedback, very much appreciate. I took some time and effort and uploaded a new mix. Personally I like the drum playing and don't think it sound to robotic but at this time I'm more trying to focus of the overall mix. I'm having a hard time bringing the overall volume up any louder without it clipping. Would love feedback on this mix and if anyone have any questions, sugestions or wants to know more about my setting please ask.

I have to admit I liked the first version of the mix better. Now the guitars and drums are little bit of the harsh side, but still ok if that's what you are going for. Lead guitars stick out more in the new mix, which I like. Bass could be quite a bit louder.

What do you have on your masterbus? If the individual tracks are compressed enough, you don't need to do much on the masterbus in my opinion. I normaly just use a bit of corrective EQ, a multiand compressor (mainly to keep the low end consistent), some saturation and a limiter. The limiter is however not working hard, but just prevents clipping

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

I have to admit I liked the first version of the mix better. Now the guitars and drums are little bit of the harsh side, but still ok if that's what you are going for. Lead guitars stick out more in the new mix, which I like. Bass could be quite a bit louder.

What do you have on your masterbus? If the individual tracks are compressed enough, you don't need to do much on the masterbus in my opinion. I normaly just use a bit of corrective EQ, a multiand compressor (mainly to keep the low end consistent), some saturation and a limiter. The limiter is however not working hard, but just prevents clipping

To me the new mix sounds more polished by maybe I’m listening to the wrong things. I have too much more than likely on my master buss. If u like I can take a bunch of screen shots and upload a zip file to Dropbox...? It’s not to easy to post screen shots here.

 

[Silkoch]

To me the new mix sounds more polished by maybe I’m listening to the wrong things. I have too much more than likely on my master buss. If u like I can take a bunch of screen shots and upload a zip file to Dropbox...? It’s not to easy to post screen shots here.

It sounds more agressive yes, but it's a bit overdone. It would be nice to see the screen shots and also maybe hear an unmastered version of the song

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

It sounds more agressive yes, but it's a bit overdone. It would be nice to see the screen shots and also maybe hear an unmastered version of the song

The link below has screen shots of everything on my Master Bus as well as the unmastered track. The overall sound of this song/album I'm trying to get is something like the band HATE and the album "Anaclasis, A Gospel Of Malice And Hatred"

Maybe I took out too much Mids on the Master Bus that's making the guitars sound too harsh? I trying to clean up the overall mix from being too muddy...


https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulezf5437ku0hzw/Song 5 Unmastered-Screen-Shots.zip?dl=0

 

[Bloodsoaked666]

I've uploaded a new mix with now removing the Mid Master cut...

 

[Silkoch]

I have listened to your reference and I now better understand what you are going for. I think the album is heavily clipped, if you want that sound I suggest experimenting with the JS Event Horizon Clipper that comes with Reaper. I'd also try to use it on the drum bus as well as on vocals to make them sound a bit more aggressive.

Here is some stuff I would experiment with. Keep in mind that this is only my opinion.

Mixing
Your vocals sound pretty dry. You might experiment with some Reverb or Delay. Drum sound is similar to the Hate album but if you want to sound closer to your reference it try out some different guitar tones. However, I think your guitar tone is fine too.

Mastering:
I always make a seperate mastering project and pull some reference mixes in there to A/B my mix vs the references. Since you are using reaper, Id youse ReaXcomp to compress the mix (the feature "solo current band" is very helpfull). The eq your track to taste and compare with references, maybe add a little stereo width (for example with js stereo enhancer) and then bring up the level of your track with JS Event Horizon Clipper