from lame to massive wall of sound.. HOW TO?! samples to mix inside!!

[Calippo Tecks]

Hi,
One thing I notice when mixing whatever is that I'm just not able to get a massive 'wall' feeling in my mix... it sounds just empty. I think the basic sound of my guitars, drums is quite 'ok' but when I listen to other stuff it sounds much 'fuller', more in your face, ya know... This is what I got of this simple drum + guitars thingy I made:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/drumsdrooglala.mp3
I try to experiment with compressors, maximizers, ... but I really don't get that wall out of it at all, sometimes it sounds a little bit better, 'louder' but totally not a big difference.

I also noticed in the guitar sound competition how low the 'volume' of my sound was and how the other ones had a much higher 'volume', so I'm really doing something wrong.

If anyone would like to try to get some wall out of this and like to share some settings, hints, tips, whatever... It would be amazing to me!
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/samples/drums.mp3
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/samples/gitaarL.mp3
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/samples/gitaarR.mp3

Big thanks in advance

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

One of the biggest factors in getting the guitars sound big is a good bass sound. Experiment with a bass, not compressors and maximizers

 

[Sean in Silence]

One of the biggest factors in getting the guitars sound big is a good bass sound. Experiment with a bass, not compressors and maximizers

+1

 

[Calippo Tecks]

I recorded some bass for this part too... but I'm afraid I lost it, forgot to save so that's why it's not included. I see what you mean but when I listen to Soilwork's Stabbing the drama for example, I can hear that there's some bass coming from the guitars as well with the palm muted notes, so it's probably a matter of only getting the needed bass spots up in a mix? I also think most of the time there's too much bass in my guitar sounds, but I need it somehow for the palm mute stuff, so, goddamnit! Anyway I'm gonna see that I always mix with some bass guitar in there and experiment with it for sure.
Thanks for replying.

 

[GarethSE]

If you provided multi-tracks for everything I'd be able to coax something out of this, I'm sure.

Having a play with the files you've supplied though, gimme a min

 

[GarethSE]

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/631208/wallofsound.mp3

Mostly thinned everything out a little bit actually haha, and tried make shit gel together a little bit more.
Also ran it through a quick mastering chain.
Although, I don't think this is much closer to the fabled wall of sound, I have to admit.
If you upload multi-tracks I'll do a full mix. Tried compressing the drums a bit for some more punch but it just brought the roomyness up and I couldn't get it to sound as direct as I would have liked. Need to play with everythings levels.

 

[GarethSE]

Yeah, NEEDZ A BASS

 

[Calippo Tecks]

Hi, I found my bass part back, don't mind the bad timing, I'm learning finger bass
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/bass.mp3
Gonna upload the kick, snare, hihat and toms later, I don't have much time right now(and cubase is acting like a bitch), but thanks for your help!
I made this quick mix with some bass:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/mixbassmast.mp3

 

[Calippo Tecks]

Here are the drum samples:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/970622/samples.rar

Anyone who likes to noodle around with it, give it a take and share yours with us.