First Mix Post - Addictive Drums/PODX3/ESP/Mastering

[GATA4]

Hey everyone,

Here is a mix that I've been working on for a while. I used Addictive Drums (stock pieces for kick, snare, crash and Metal AdPak for the china) and my POD X3 to make it all come together. The guitars just have some EQ and compression applied for post processing (the tone itself is straight from the X3--no Pod Farm) and same foes for the bass guitar. This is my first time experimenting with the mastering process. I put a maximizer, compressor, and limiter on the master bus so I could try to glue everything together while still achieving loudness and fullness. I am pretty pleased with the way it's sounding, but it might be a little too powerful/in-your-face for me (I definitely won't be sticking with it for the long run). Please excuse the goofy sound clip at the beginning (and the boring/bland "test" riff--it was just something simple I came up with so I could loop it while mixing/mastering).


http://gata4.bandcamp.com/track/too-much-schwang-schwang-v30

(If anyone could inform me how to embed the bandcamp player on this page, I would be very grateful. I can get it to embed on sevenstring.org but not here for some reason).

EDIT - Forgot to mention that I also have a parametric EQ on the master bus which is boosting some higher frequencies for a little more clarity.

 

[Pitbulltodd]

sounds fantastic!! i wish i could come even close to getting that mix.

 

[GATA4]

sounds fantastic!! i wish i could come even close to getting that mix.

Thanks a lot man! I'm glad someone else likes it haha. I've been working uber hard to get it to this point, but I still have so far to go. I'm always comparing my mix to those of other artists and there are just so many things I want to achieve!

 

[oroinvictus]

I like the guitar tone, although it sounds a little scratchy, maybe a bit too much pre-amp gain. When the china hits come in, I'm hearing some weird artifacting.

 

[GATA4]

I like the guitar tone, although it sounds a little scratchy, maybe a bit too much pre-amp gain. When the china hits come in, I'm hearing some weird artifacting.

I think the scratchiness is from the EQ I put on the guitar after I recorded it. I will have to work on that. What artifacts exactly? Dips, crackles, or something similar?

 

[oroinvictus]

It's almost like clipping and pumping at the same time, could be the result of too much compression. I'm not listening on my monitors at the moment, it's hard to say.

 

[GATA4]

It's almost like clipping and pumping at the same time, could be the result of too much compression. I'm not listening on my monitors at the moment, it's hard to say.

I actually agree with you on both accounts of clipping and pumping. I do believe you are correct about the guitars having too much pre-amp gain, because I solo'd each one and by themselves, they crackle and fizz...they are not clipping on my dB meter but they may have been doing so, or just shy of doing so, as they came out of the POD itself. As far as the pumping is concerned, I should be able to take care of that with the limiter...but I don't think I'll even bother now that I know the guitars need to be re-recorded. I appreciate your keen ear, dude. I will be honest, I noticed the crackle/clipping-sounds of the guitars but I thought it was just my CPU telling me BOUNCE THIS THING AND SHUT ME DOWN haha. I did not, however, perceive any pump until you mentioned it (it's pretty minute). Thanks for the tips.

 

[oroinvictus]

No problem, the mix is solid, save for those little nitpicks. I never messed with addictive drums long enough to get them sounding that good. Is the tone all pod farm?

 

[GATA4]

No problem, the mix is solid, save for those little nitpicks. I never messed with addictive drums long enough to get them sounding that good. Is the tone all pod farm?

Thanks . The tone is actually from the POD X3. I have PF and I do plan to use it at some point to really fine tune my guitar tones, but it takes a lot of CPU and I don't have a lot to spare right now haha. I actually have SD2.0 also, but it's a pretty complicated program, and I've been using Addictive for about a year so I figured I'd just go with that.