Help out a beginner? Melodic metal

[Shawnn]

I need help mixing something I just recorded. The part the I'm most concerned about at the moment is the bass. It always sounds detached from the mix, so I was wondering how I could get it to sound more glued together. Comments and criticism of any sort is welcome however.

Guitar: SoloC/8505 (Waiting for Onqel's TSE X50! )
Bass: Cheap Dean 5-string through TSE BOD
Drums: SSD EX

FINAL MIX:


So how can I make this sound better? Thanks in advance! ^_^

By the way, I've been listening to a lot of Widek and Anthem Alone lately, so yeah.

 

[sk8a123]

the kick seems to be lacking some low end.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Says the track is not available. Of course, I could just post blind guess work and incoherent rantings and ravings....

EDIT: Nevermind. THERE IT IS!!!

Kick could definitely use some more of the 80hz range.

 

[Shawnn]

Thanks guys! I'll try to work on the kick more.

And the same thing happened to me at first, but it's loading now.

 

[Seth Munson]

sounds very slatey

maybe try some blending?
cool song tho

 

[Shawnn]

Thanks Seth!

By the way guys, here's my reattempt. Did the 50hz kicker thing, blended the snare with a maple snare sample(I think it was from Jordon), redid the bass chain from scratch, redid the master bus, and some other stuff. It doesn't sound too much different from the first mix though, and I think I went in the wrong direction with the bass this time. But my ears are shot. Someone with fresh ears give it a listen?

 

[tylerrr]

I think the bass is simply too loud. If you turn it down a bit then it might sit better in the mix. If you think you're losing power when you turn it down then try slightly boosting some lower frequencies on the bass. Maybe a 60-65hz bump and/or a 105-125hz bump. I might be wrong, but it's worth a shot. I know bass can give me a lot of trouble sometimes and I've definitely had that "disconnected from the rest of the mix problem". I've noticed a good tone and performance obviously help. Isn't it that way with everything though...

 

[Harley Barley]

Reverb

 

[Shawnn]

@tylerr: Thank you! I tried out your suggestion, and it helped a lot. The bass is less protruding and sits in the mix more now.

@Harley Barely: I don't know where to put reverb, but putting just a TAD on the rhythm guitars seems to smooth them out.

Anyways, here's my third attempt at making this sound better.

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/sssshawnnnn/endeixis-thorns-preview-mix-3/s-vc9OM[/soundcloud]

I added a tad of reverb to the rhythm guitars and redid the bass chain again in addition to including the solos and whatnot.
What's mostly bothering me now is that the solo guitar tone seems kinda out of place, and the reverb swells on the snare sound weird.
I'm still far from satisfied with the mix still. How can I make this sound better? Thanks so much for your help guys!

 

[Shawnn]

Anyone? Please.

 

[Shawnn]

Sorry for posting for the third time in a row and resurrecting this thread, but I was playing around with the mix again today.

Mix 4: Added more low-mids to guitars, re-eqed the snare, redid the "epic snare" reverb sounds during the breakdown, and a few other small things. [SOUNDCLOUD]http://soundcloud.com/sssshawnnnn/thorns-preview-2/s-RS6ts[/SOUNDCLOUD]

Any help and constructive criticism would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[zver]

guitars sounds too thin try to make them bigger

 

[Shawnn]

Thanks! What would be the best way to go about this though? I tried raising the low mids, and it does make it sound fuller. But it also muffles the sound as well.

 

[zver]

well try some other simulations or try adding more gain but becareful with that or try duplicate them with some delays there are milions way to do that or just record 4 tracks i hope i helped you

 

[Shawnn]

It's already quadtracked, but I'm gonna experiment for the time being, focusing on that at the moment.

 

[spencerlogan]

it seems like it needs bit more work with quantizing the guitars, and there needs to be more kick as well. you might also trying layering the snare if you haven't already. great effort though.

 

[zver]

It's already quadtracked, but I'm gonna experiment for the time being, focusing on that at the moment.

how did u pan them ?

 

[Shawnn]

Left 80%
Right 80%
Left 100%
Right 100%
Solo guitar centered

As is common practice.

 

[zver]

its weird maybe couse they are so thin

 

[Shawnn]

I think it probably something to do with the bass. I noticed in the older mixes of this where I had the bass louder, the guitars sounded a lot more thicker.

I'm still experimenting with the guitars though, trying to find ways to make it sound more meaty and three-dimensional. No luck though.