funeral doom project

[spacem00se]

Hi everyone
I've been stalking this forum for some time (2yrs?), and learnt a lot from you guys. Thanks for this. I've just finished mixing&mastering a funeral doom/bm song - I know it's not what's "hot" around here but thought some of you may actually like that and by the way point out the flaws of this recording.

0:00-1:30 excerpt:
1. streamed: http://soundcloud.com/nmta/nmt-1
2. d/l: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VM8BUM5E

full song:
download only due to file size/song lenght (60MB, 30") http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0PY7DB5R

I've used Schecter 006 Extreme w/ stock p-ups, some Epiphone bass from '95, Addictive Drums, Reaper, a few VST freebies (like the magnificent LePou's Le456 ampsim) & impulses.

 

[DanLights]

Guitars and bass are too loud IMO, guitars seem to be eating up all the frequencies, leaving drums in the background. I can't hear the kick at all, but I don't blame you if you're using the AD kicks, I love the cymbals on them and some snares are good, but the kick sucks IMO. I love the vocals, a very Disembowlment sound in general, just needs a bit more balancing, and controlling the low end

 

[spacem00se]

Muchos gracias for your answer. I'll stick to your opinion as I'm mixing at home on budget & worn out Phillips headphones (yuck) and can't hear some things on myself - so this helps me a lot. Seems I'll have to cut the guitars w/ EQ a bit more, put them a bit down, and get some highs of kicks up or replace/mix them with other samples. I love deep, bassy kicks (especially in slower music) and rather despise clicky ones but it's harder to make them audible...
Thanks a lot once again!

Also, sorry for using Megaupload, but somehow I can't use Dropbox.

 

[Kevin Newland]

Overheads are killing the whole mix, waay too loud. I can't really make out the kick drum at all. Id roll the lows off @60-80hz & highs @ 12k. maybe throw a multiband comp on the guitars to push down the lows as well. maybe dip @ 300. Your in the right ballpark i think just more tweaking. BTW get a fresh set of headphones. they don't have to be expensive either. Keep it up dude!

 

[spacem00se]

Thanks for the interest and nice words, I'll definitely try out your suggestions. I'll let myself post the results again here.
I'm already looking for Sennheiser HD 555 headphones, wish me good luck as they're not produced anymore but I don't think there's something of comparable quality in this price range.

 

[DanLights]

I know what you mean about clicky kicks, I'm not a fan either specially for this kind of music, but there are plenty good kick samples around that could be useful, in case you don't have any other vstis. For kick drum it isn't really that important to have multisamples, a single sample can work fine as consistency is very important for metal bass drum. I like the music, is this a personal project or is it a "real" band?

P.S. you're using soundcloud, just so you know, there's a direct soundcloud attachment option in the forum, where we can just push play in the same post without having to open another window or anything, it's pretty cool

 

[spacem00se]

Thanks again for your replies, I just received a set of Sennheiser HD 555 headphones, MUCH cleaner low end than what I was used to, so I'll be carving the EQs to make the bass region have more clarity. I was trying blending other kick samples w/ Addictive Drums' but I think it's better to spend a few days/weeks on tweaking and getting used to new headphones instead of spamming here...
Also, yes, that's just my personal project. I suppose guys from the band I play in would fall asleep in like 3 minutes

 

[spacem00se]

Could you guys give it a listen? Brought the kicks up (EQ'd & blended with EQ'd Andy's), OHs, guitars (with some equalization) & bass went down a bit too. Low end sounds a bit more defined to my ears but I'm no expert by any means.
Also I've turned knee on mastering compressor from 20% to 25% compared to the 1st post.

Sorry but couldn't resist the urge to ask for your precious advice

 

[Robert W]

I like what you're doing musically.

The second mix is a big improvement, although the drums sound a little flat. The guitars sounded a little on the scratchy side. Maybe try some different cab sims to fatten up the guitars.

 

[spacem00se]

Digging shit up.
Thanks for nice words. I missed your post Robert_W, also I took my time trying to improve the mix and master... Trying different cabs gave worse results - at least to my ears, also I had some editing done past-reamping which I couldn't do again properly (some cuts not to the grid -> phase issues while blending with prior reamps).
To be honest I don't think I'm able to do anything better here (or I'm just too bored with this song already to try ), but I'm eager to hear your replies.

PS. If anyone gets bored with such music easily I can advise to skip to some 21:30 or sth for some Celtic Frost/Winter riffing