I hate impulses (aka. my best mix ever)

Guitar sounds much better now I think (altho Im not comparing it, but I have almost no complaints about it now. Still sounds a bit weird when there's no vocals/lead guitar over it tho, 1:40 and a bit at 2;05). Those toms at the fill at 1;50 are HUGE. How'd you get so much low-end without clipping the master?!

Still think the cymbals are a little harsh. I also think you should have a subtle reverse thing as well as the whispers in the break at 1;30.
 
I agree it sounds a bit weird solo, but I think that's inevitable for some reason. Given the amount of EQing I did on it, I'm surprised it still sounds like a guitar! But all in all I'm happier with this one, and I'm glad you guys are, so it's good. Can't wait till the rest are uploaded and I can get stuck into finishing this damn thing.

Real cab tracks definitely hold up better under heavy EQ.

I agree that the cymbals are harsh, and Plec made that same comment. I might leave that one to him just in case I suck a bit too much life out of them.

As far as those toms go, there's nothing special going on to my knowledge. Each tom just has an SSL E-channel on it, cutting low mids, boosting lows around like 70 to 80hz, and high shelving a bit for cut. The low-end cuts through there because the bass isn't playing, and the izotope loudness maximizer really rocks. Easily the best limiting/clipping tool I've used from Voxengo Elephant to Event Horizon to Gclip to L2 to Timeworks to T-Racks3 to Sonnox.
 
....
and the izotope loudness maximizer really rocks. Easily the best limiting/clipping tool I've used from Voxengo Elephant to Event Horizon to Gclip to L2 to Timeworks to T-Racks3 to Sonnox.
Yeah, I've been using it since Ozotope 2 and it rocks. I remember demoing other plugins because eveyone was saying that Ozone sucks ass yet no other chain sounded as good to me so I continued using it.
 
Listening at work on ear buds but there is definately an improvement there. I'll give it another listen at home.

The more I listen to the song the more the intro vocals give me the irrits. It reminds me of the ANZ add with the band performing for the marketing team and ANZ reps. Nothing to do with the mix though.
 
Fuck yeah. Listening at home I;d definately go with Hack's version!

Nice work yet again boys.

On a second listen, I'd say the only thing I would consider changing is making the lead in the background during the post solo break cut through just a touch more.
 
DAYAM!
Yeh, guitar hack for the win.
I think it just sits better and it's definitely thicker *Through ear buds here* and I'm still happy to say they sound better. What were the main issues overall with the guitars ermz???

Seeing as You've now gone from Preamp --> Cab anyways, what were the problems you experienced???
 
Main issue was untight, soft playing. Guitar and pickup were good (Blackjack with JB), though for this style EMGs would've made my life a much lesser pain in the ass. Gonna take some pointers from Andy on that one and really push further metalcore bands to track with em. I totally see where he was coming from with Trivium and battling a 2k peak the whole way.

The issue with soft playing is that you have to use more gain than you'd like for a tight, clear tone. But there are some things you can't get around when you double-track rhythms for 5 songs in one day.

The cool thing about Possessing is that there are tons of leads hiding the rhythm tone, but on the other tracks I'm really gonna have my work cut out for me because it's much more sparse. GH did a great job here, no doubt but due to not being able to fiddle with mic position and stuff the initial tone was still fairly far from where it needed to be for this project, so about 6 EQ plug-ins, 1 limiter, 1 multi-band and 1 tape saturator went into the tone you here there currently. It's at the breaking point, where any further work just causes them to turn into a phasey, smeary mess. So I'm just hoping the tone will work for the rest of the tracks!

One thing is true though, a real cab tone is a much better basis for a final record tone because it holds up much better under heavy EQ. Impulses just fall apart completely and if they didn't sound lifeless to start with, they certainly do afterward.
 
Ermin, I totally respect the effort you put into your work (mixing) etc, it definitely shows a lot of your character and work ethic. But make things easier for yourself dear god lol. I think maybe from now on, invest or something in studio time to do the guitars (reamps) yourself in the future?? Your results will be tailored to your ear that way!
Heck I'd be MORE than happy to lend you my Mesa cab if it meant you would finally be happy with your guitar tones. You're a great engineer, don't half ass it or get other people to do stuff when I know in YOUR mind, you know exactly the sound you want. Unfortunately, everyone has their OWN interpretation of what you want :)

Cheers
 
.......... GH did a great job here, no doubt but due to not being able to fiddle with mic position and stuff the initial tone was still fairly far from where it needed to be for this project, so about 6 EQ plug-ins, 1 limiter, 1 multi-band and 1 tape saturator went into the tone you here there currently.

Just to elaborate for everybody else, I was in the middle of doing a 10 song album and didn't want to move the Mic position. Anyway, here's what it sounded like when I gave the tracks to Ermz, so you can get an idea of the difference his "treatment" made. This track has just HP/LP on the guitars.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/437070/Possessing V1999 (HP-LP) vocals.mp3
 
what do you like better than the rode nt5? thats what i have now and could see buying new overheads soon and moving the rodes to hats ride mics... killer mix btw. sounds tough.
 
@Chris: I didn't mean for it to come off that way. GH did me a great favor here, and I'm really thankful. It gave me the platform to create a mix where the rhythm guitars are actually listenable and not so much 'hidden' in the mix. As far as reamping everything in-house, I would love to, but I'm simply limited by circumstance. Using 6 EQ plug-ins on guitars is nothing out of the ordinary for me these days.

@SoClose: Well the Mercenary Audio KM69s I used once were really good. The NT5s tend to be a little thin, maybe 'shimmery'. Can make the OHs sound pretty aggressive, as they do here... but of course that has to do with the cymbals and the way the drummer plays them too.

Here's the final version: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/285689/possessing-test26.mp3

If you want to compare to GHs raw clip above, please do so with the latest one, because it got even further treatment on the guitars.

Thanks again for hanging around so long guys.
 
arg, i love this song! haha. not had a chance to listen to it fully yet, but it's sounding really good!
 
@Xes: Yeah, gimmick marketing at its best :D

@theminstrel: Hmm I see your point, but on some level it might even be personal taste. I've done so many iterations of this mix now that I have no idea, and am happy to leave that one for mastering too! Cheers for listening.

@lolzgreg: I believe it would be called overprocessing. I need the tone to be something that it inherently isn't. Combined with the challenges of untight DIs, it's been very hard for anyone to reamp workable tones for this project, as you know! I've done everything I could to get it sounding smoother and less grainy, but it's just too much. I'm on EQ plug-in #7 now, any more EQ and they fall right apart.
 
Is it this particular song that the DI's were strange, or the entire bunch of songs? I have an idea. How about you send me another batch of the final DI's and I'll see if I can do some eqing before it hits the amp to make it rock.

-Greg