Heavy and melodic 4-minute song with vocals. Free download. Please critique our mix!

[Sean Conklin]

Hi all,

So we've been working hard at settling on a somewhat decent mix to do our album with. This is probably the closest we've gotten to a sound that we like although it still could use improvement. But at least it's miles better than our previous mixes. Please take a listen and let us know what you think and what improvements can be made.



I guess a few things to note:

1. Soundcloud's rendering sucks, so please feel free to download the wav file to give it an accurate listen.

2. Vocals in this clip are just placeholders, that's why you'll hear the same phrase repeated. Actual vocals for this song to be recorded at a later time. This is also why the vocals probably don't sound the greatest with automation levels and de-essing etc. We'll focus on that stuff with the final vocal tracks.

Please feel free to rip it to shreds. We want as many fresh opinions on this as possible. Thank you guys,
Sean

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Drums sound programmed, fake (especially the shells, I could live with those cymbals, though), guitars sound a bit flat and a tad quiet (but good tone). Bass is OK, not very interesting, but good enough (a bit loose maybe, try compression?).
Overall mix balance is good, you can hear every instrument and get in the atmosphere of the song.
Harsh vocals sound as good as they should, clean vocals could get more presence IMHO.
BTW I like the music!

Cheers!

 

[Sean Conklin]

Dude, excellent feedback and I'll take a look at all the points you mentioned. Thanks so much!

I agree about the drums, having a heck of a hard time with that. I think the bass drum sounds pretty good, need to get the snare fatter, and the toms...just having a very hard time getting them to sound beefy without overpowering.

 

[rapucore]

Great song!

Raise the guitar a bit and make the drums (shells) could cut through a little better after that. And maybe do something about the fakeness mentioned above.
Maybe cut out a little mud out of the bass (just slightly to make the low-end a little clearer).

Overall it's very good, I like it a lot! Awesome music.

 

[Sean Conklin]

Rapucore, thanks so much man! Will do.

And I'm glad you dig the music!