How's this mix sound?

[dill_the_devil]

Okay, I spent two and a half hours on this one, so not exactly an exhaustive session - it's only 47 seconds or so long, just for feedback purposes really. Drums were programmed using Leafdrums, 4 tracks of guitar recorded with a Line6 Guitarport, and the whole shebang was mixed in Adobe Audition. Let me know what you think, any suggestions more than welcome. Oh yeah, there's no bass in there - have to wait until Christmas before I get mine.

http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/dillthedevil/riff-mix-08-11-04.mp3

 

[ThomasT]

Guitars ok, drums ugly.

The drumsounds sound cheap.
And there is the "machine gun effect" when playing 16th.
Never play the same sample twice after each other. Variate at least volume/level.
Better variate the whole tone. Don't know what you can tweak in your software.
A real drummer never hits the drum exactly in the same way. Least of all when using the other stick when playing rolls on the snare.

A drumcomputer _can_ sound good, but this is not much easier as to play them...

 

[dill_the_devil]

Can't do velocity programming or slight randomisation of the timing of notes on Leafdrums - it's a basic shareware program, can't actually afford to buy anything better at the moment... it took me ages to tweak the drum samples that I could find to sound that realistic, but yeah, it sounds cheap and nasty... probably should have mentioned at the start of the thread that I'm really new to this too... this is about the third mix of a riff I've made that I've felt comfortable with posting for public perusal!

Here's a tweaked version of the mix - made the guitars a bit louder because on reflection they seemed too quiet... added some slight reverb to the drums for a less clinical feel... fiddled some other bits and pieces too.

http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/dillthedevil/riff-mix-08-11-04b.mp3

As much feedback as possible please, don't hold back - the more I cock up now, the faster I'll learn from my mistakes.

 

[Ermz]

The guitar sound is pretty good. That snare is nasty and doesn't fit into the mix whatsoever... The kicks work because they give a sort of triggered feel which seems to suit the music.

I think the volume balancing needs a little work too. Guitars need to front up a bit in the mix, and you gotta take that nasty snare off there.

 

[Razorjack]

Are you mixing on headphone? The kick is lost in the mix, while the snare is dominant. If you have to use that snare sound then it should be the other way around!!

You should reference your mix with other bands with a similar sound to that whilch you're after. (If I was mixing this I would reference Fear Factory, for example).

 

[ThomasT]

Buy an old Roland R8 drumcomputer. I love mine. The samples are sometimes not up to date anymore. But you can change delay, pitch, nuance ("color"), volume for each note.
E.g. 16th closed HH can sound really realistic. Fast open HiHat or rolls on the cymbals did not but that's a problem of all programmed drums.

And you have pads to play the drums instead of programming each note.

 

[ThomasT]

Buy an old Roland R8 drumcomputer. I love mine. The samples are sometimes not up to date anymore. But you can change delay, pitch, nuance ("color"), volume for each note.
E.g. 16th closed HH can sound really realistic. Fast open HiHat or rolls on the cymbals did not but that's a problem of all programmed drums.

And you have pads to play the drums instead of programming each note.
And - very important - 10 outputs, one stereo sum and 8 individual.

 

[dill_the_devil]

Moonlapse - cheers, I'm gonna start looking through my album collection for a better snare sample... the one I'm using was originally really room-y, had to compress it a bundle... I'll make the guitars louder again too, cheers for the advice!

Razorjack - I was using some personal stereo earphones - crappy, I know, but I have pretty much no budget and very little experience, so I'm making do with what I can cobble together. I'll go back to the drum kit wavs and pump up the kicks and reduce the snares. As for referencing the sound - well, I'm not entirely sure what kind of sound I'm after - some of my riffs come out with a bit of a Killswitch Engage vibe, some with an early Incubus feel, I've got some mournful clean guitar melodies... it's hard to really pin anything down - I'll give it a shot though!

ThomasT - cheers for the recommendation - I'd consider it, but as mentioned previously, I've got no spare cash floating around - working about 16 hours overtime a week at the moment to save for Christmas, paying some old debts and for me and my missus to move in together! Also, I can't actually play the drums... hehehe...

Edit : Okay, just spent the last hour or so on this new mix - the guitars have been given more of a growl and brought forward in the mix, the kicks are louder, the snare is still horrible but quieter, and I've boosted the highs to give the cymbals more presence. Let me know what you think!

http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/dillthedevil/riff-mix-08-11-04c.mp3