I hate impulses (aka. my best mix ever)

[Ermz]

So this is the very first mix I've done on the Event Opals I got not long ago. It was very hard to get the low-end right because they are not playing nice with my room at all.

Okay so basically this was my attempt at Bergstrand-style drum/bass mixing. Very low in the subs, roomy snare.

Guitars were sort of modeled off EOH, though that whole thing was a nightmare. I had them reamped through a real amp but the tone didn't work at all in the mix, so I had to basically use a 6505 direct into Catharsis impulses and EQ the living turd out of them and sink em back in the mix. I really need a way to reamp guitars myself, desperately!

Anyway I guess you guys can decide for yourselves what you think, here it is: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/possessing-teaser.mp3

Cheers!

 

[Skaldir]

Sounds very very pro! Like it a lot.
The only thing that could be a bit more in your face would be the snare for me. I like room in general, but maybe a different room would sound better

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Sounds really good, Ermin

 

[Harry Hughes]

Despite what issues you may have had in the process of things, it sounds really awesome dude.

 

[Morgan C]

Definitely your best mix yet. Sounds awesome. The guitars are a touch buried perhaps but I think thats what happens with that style (Come Clarity has the same), they're still they're but not very defined. I don't think you can raise them much more without overpowering everything else. But fuck it, the mix rules.

When you say EQ the living turd out of them, are you doing broad-range cuts/boosts or really surgical ones and use the amp for the broader changes?

 

[Wild Hades]

Great mix, although I'm hearing it with shitty headphones...
The drum/bass section is really crushing, and I see where you're coming from about the guitar tone... is pretty flat compared to the rest (also because I think the guitars are a little bit lower than how they should be), expecially the palm muted parts are kinda dead...
You've made an awesome job anyway...

What about this Bergstrand technique? I've just been reading the thread you've opened about him... is the whole process basically to let the bass taking care of 80% of the lows of the whole mix, leaving guitars kinda thinnish and fizzy? But what about drums? Sorry if this has already been discussed in other threads too...

 

[Ola Englund]

Sounds really good man!!

 

[Ermz]

I don't suppose you have a reamp box yet, Ola?

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@Unicorn: I hear you on the snare. I think it's too much brickwalling on the master bus doing it. The Ozone Maximizer is so damn good I was always gonna go overboard with it, haha.

@Morgoe: I'll probably have the raise the rhythm guitars a bit, I think. Will have to find some way to make it work without clouding the vox and leads. I meant basically throwing everything including the kitchen sink at them. I EQ'd broad, fine, CurveEQd, limited, C4'd everything. Anything that was going to hide their turdness a little better. Given how I've ranted in the past, you probably know that using impulses was a very last resort for me, so it's just really crap that the guitars don't match up to everything else.

@Will Hades: Yeah, basically as you said. Kick and bass are the only things holding down the low-end. Bass is strong in the subs but rather scooped in the lower mids. Lots of saturation/drive to give grit to fill up the mids. Guitars are high passed at 150 or something. They sound thin as hell on their own. I got put onto this method after I realized it was basically the best low-end I've heard from metal releases, and Bernhard kept talking about it and trying to emulate it, so I figured why not.

 

[Soundlurker]

Sound very nice, Ermz! I'm not a fan of the whole roomy snare thing but it seems you've done a good job at getting that sound.

The mix overall is a bit too forward in the 0,8-2,5khz area for my taste and I would've prefered the kick and snare to be a bit more punchy but all of this is down to preference I guess.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

sounds great ermz!
I like the pretty raw/open "swedish" kinda sound it's got.
I tried to get something like that myself but my stuff always comes out sounding more polished somehow...even with fuck all processing, so I gave up,lol.

I like the drumsound (cymbals are perhaps a cunthair too bright/fizzy for my taste), raw aggressive, bass is great also. guitars work in the mix aren't my favorites though

 

[Ermz]

Unfortunately all these guitars *can* do is 'work' in the mix. It's a pretty flat, lifeless, impulse tone so there's no way around it sadly. I agree about the cymbals I think, but it's something inherent to the Rode NT5 mics. They don't capture a lot of body so you're left with thin cymbals no matter what. I can live with it for an EP I think. The thing was tracked on a bit of a budget so all things considered it isn't too bad. It's just those damned guitars argh, if i had a chance to reamp this myself it would be so much better!

 

[Lasse Lammert]

Unfortunately all these guitars *can* do is 'work' in the mix. It's a pretty flat, lifeless, impulse tone so there's no way around it sadly. I agree about the cymbals I think, but it's something inherent to the Rode NT5 mics. They don't capture a lot of body so you're left with thin cymbals no matter what. I can live with it for an EP I think. The thing was tracked on a bit of a budget so all things considered it isn't too bad. It's just those damned guitars argh, if i had a chance to reamp this myself it would be so much better!

don't sweat it, it's great overall, I just wanted to say "something"

 

[Ermz]

Haha, yeah that's cool man. I appreciate your insight, I'm just still bitter over the guitars. It has the potential to be the best thing I've done and the guitars alone hold it back. I'm as you'd say, a cunthair away from financing some studio time myself and dragging a 5150 down with a mesa cab and doing it properly. Anyway, thanks for having a listen.

@Shadow_Walker: I think I kinda get what you're saying, though I need more time with the Opals to be able to intuitively tell where things lack. They give a great overall picture, but you always have to fine tune your senses to new monitors. The snare might be a bit overly roomy but I guess we'll see what the band think.

 

[GuitarHack]

....... I had them reamped through a real amp but the tone didn't work at all in the mix, so I had to basically use a 6505 direct into Catharsis impulses and EQ the living turd out of them and sink em back in the mix. I really need a way to reamp guitars myself, desperately!.....[/url]

Cheers!

Well, pay for some studio time, hire/borrow the amps(s) and cab(s) and do it yourself. It's not that hard of a decision really if that is the only way you will be satisfied with the end result without being so traumatized by it all. In all seriousness and not being an ass . Make the band pay for the studio time.

Cheers for bagging me without mentioning my name again also. Without mentioning other names, I wasn't the only one to fail, so I am not bitter about it.

All the best with the release.

 

[Soundlurker]

Yeah new monitors definitely take time to get used to even if they are that much better.

I'm listening to the sample again it seems to me the bass' lows build up too much every now end then and also there's a slight gap between the mids and the lows probably due to the seperation between guitars and bass. Maybe leave something inbetween to glue things together.
I'm still getting used to the Sub, btw, so take that in mind.

 

[Ermz]

Cheers for bagging me without mentioning my name again also. Without mentioning other names, I wasn't the only one to fail, so I am not bitter about it.

Dude I wasn't referring to your reamps!

I had a bunch of people do a great many of them as you saw in that thread, and I picked a set that sounded like they would almost surely work. Got them in the mix and it all fell apart there. Couldn't believe my ears.

Yeah, Shadow_Walker, I feel you regarding that gap. It's a bit hard, as you said, there isn't much usable frequency content on the guitars to plug it with. The bass I might leave for Plec to sort out from here because quite honestly the low-end in my room is a clusterfuck currently, I can barely hear anything with definition.

 

[Ola Englund]

I don't suppose you have a reamp box yet, Ola?

how do reamp?

 

[GarethSE]

Ermz, I'm really not feeling much in the way of subs D:
if youre going for that epic Clayman style subbyness, then that sort of shit should make my speakers start flubbing out, and this sounds even thinner than the origin album im listening to right now, which sounds fairly thin to me.

edit: great fucking mix though, lest there be any doubt, its still sick

 

[lolzgreg]

Dude I wasn't referring to your reamps!

I had a bunch of people do a great many of them as you saw in that thread, and I picked a set that sounded like they would almost surely work. Got them in the mix and it all fell apart there. Couldn't believe my ears.

I'd love to reamp this again Ermin, can you send me DI's and backing tracks? I don't want you to regret the guitar tone on your finished product. On that note, I don't really think it sounds bad at all!

Also, do you want me to buy you and mail you a reamp box and you can reimburse me? That sounds like it would REALLY help you out.

 

[Ermz]

I'll have to re-package the guide tracks and original DI files, but yeah man I'm more than happy to do that. Thanks for the offer. Unfortunately I've already paid and won't be able to financially reimburse you for the effort. I will make every effort for the band to add an extra line on the CD credits if I do end up using the tones though!

What I might do is give you this current mix without rhythm guitars as the guide track to dial the tone to, then the rest can just work off that template. I'll need a little while to get it sorted though. Cheers.