Homebrewed Death - How to master it

[1111belphegor]

Hi all,
Here's a first master of a song I recently wrote and recorded. Would be nice with tips and pointers on how to improve on it!
/Cheers!

https://soundcloud.com/1111belphegor/heart-of-ammit?utm_source=soundcloud&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=email

 

[SkylarWanke]

I think it sounds good. Can't turn my volume up loud enough to really give a super accurate judgment, but from what I can hear, it sounds pretty good to my ears.

 

[1111belphegor]

Thanks, man! It would probably sound more professional if the master had more loudness to it, but I possess neither the plugins nor the skill to achieve that without destroying the dynamics (have tried several times).

Stay black!

 

[Ericlingus]

Nice song man. I like it! I like the mix between black and death metal. Has kinda an old school style to it. The semi clean guitar tone is neat. Maybe during the breakdown at around 45 seconds you could add a bigger snare sound with lots of reverb with a swell into it ala Joey Sturgis. Seems like it would add to the heaviness. There isn't anything that really stands out as bad sounding to me. I like the rawness of the mix. Maybe the guitars could have a slight cut at around 500-700hz and a boost in the highs a little bit. Adding some keyboards to it would be cool. COuld you give some production details about the mix? What did you use for the guitar tone? How about the drums? Overall cool mix and song!

 

[1111belphegor]

Thanks!

The guitar tone (both the high gain and the semi clean tone) was mainly created by my two beloved friends: the Schecter C-7 Jeff Loomis and the Peavey 5150, Mk I, (set to "12 o'clock" apart from resonance that is set to 10) with a 4x12 Marshall MF400 cab. The high gain tone was dry whereas the semi clean tone had some added chorus and delay. For the "sweeps & shreds" I actually used Amplitube 3 (emulating the same gear that I otherwise use) - sacrilege I know, but the other persons of my households were asleep… The live guitar (all parts except for the solo) was recorded into Logic Express 9 with a Sure SM58 (the grill really close, just off centre from the speaker cone) through an PreSonus Audiobox. In Logic I use a high pass filter for the guitars - a rather gentle slope starting somewhere between 150-200 Hz. Their EQs have a slight scoop around 500-600 Hz (but just slight, -1db I think, I don't want to loose the angry mids) and elevated highs, around 3-5kHz, with some +2-3 db. Most guitar parts are quadded, some doubled.

Drums are just EZ Drummer, Drumkit from hell, with your regular tinkering with reverbs and levels.

Thanks for the input - will definitely try some "swell"…!

 

[1111belphegor]

Remixed and mastered and now I think it sounds way better.

Still, it's not quite there… What to do?

https://soundcloud.com/1111belphegor/devourer-of-the-dead-heart-of