Jotun (In Flames Cover)

[theNeologist]

Just finished up a cover of In Flames' Jotun. Want to see where I'm at with the mix...so if you get a chance give it a listen and throw out some feedback!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3422116/MP3s/Covers/Final Masters/Jotun (In Flames Cover) .mp3

 

[P-E]

Vocals are kind of out of time (they seem to be lagging behind a bit especially in the beginning). Really digging it anyway, though, one of my favourite songs.

Mix-wise it's sounding a bit squashed, try to set your levels straight (start with setting the bass's volume, then kick, then OH and room, then guitars, then snare, then vocals; this might make it sound better), ease up on the mastering, and post the mix again.

Digging the guitar tone btw, sounds like old school IF, and the vocals are cool too.

Now could you upload the tracks (DIs and MIDI and all)? If you feel like it, I'd love to try out my own vocals on this!

 

[22km Tombstone]

First of all, awesome playing & vocals - love this song, one of my all-time favorites (see username )

As far as the mix goes, my biggest issue is the rhythm guitars aren't sitting in the mix too well, and are conflicting with the lead/melody guitar (especially during the intro).
Unfortunately I'm not sure exactly what to suggest, I'm pretty new at mixing myself. Maybe you could try automating the rhythm/lead guitars to allow the lead parts a bit more space.

Awesome job though, there's a LOT going on in this song (rhythm guitars, lead guitar melody, vocals all at the same time during verse AND chorus).

Sorry I can't be of more help, I'm very much a noob, lol.

EDIT: How did you record the "whispery" vocals in the verses? I tried doing a cover of this actually, and even with a metric fuckton of compression on the vocal part, the whisper/talking part is completely indistinct. Just wondering how you did it

 

[Kavar216]

Cool vocals and guitar tone!
I'd agree with the guy above. The drumkit sounds a bit too...roomy?

If you could upload the DI tracks, I'd like to try my hand at mixing it! I'm still learning, I need mixing practice haha!

Overall, sweet cover, I like it. Cheers!

 

[LeSedna]

Just a quick thought : isn't the right guitar louder than the left one ?

 

[Wohma]

Turn down the kick a bit, back the gain on the guitars a tiny bit and the reverb on the snare a LOT, turn up the vocals and do something with the bass! BTW, the bass seems to me to be tonally off most of the song
My comment might give the impression that the mix is bad, but contrariwise! It's actually quite close to the original. Keep up the good work!

 

[JeffTD]

This has a TON of vibe but is really messy in a lot of parts, mix wise. Kick is destroying everything, snare is drowned in verb, vocals are a bit out of time, guitars overgained. Otherwise, pretty damn cool!

 

[AllanD]

Too much slate for the genre IMO, try using different samples, In Flames has a huge sounding snare, you gotta make it stick out as opposed to being a thud with reverb.

 

[theNeologist]

a lot of good suggestions in here guys. Thanks for taking the time to listen and post.

I did realize after the fact that the kicks were just slaughtering everything.....the problem is...and I know its terrible mixing practice....but I pretty much mixed and mastered all in a sequence of days without letting my ears rest...and definitely...a lot of the flaws start to disappear after the 30,000th time of listening!! haha. Even bringing down the kicks gave me the headroom I needed so that I didn't have to squash the shit out of the mix with compression. So I hope that cleared up some of the issues.

22km tombstone: For the whispery vocals I recorded the spoken parts 2 times. de-essed both of them, then I actually used TLSSaturated driver on the vocal to give them some punch and a touch of raspyness. I found the saturator gave me a better result than just a standard compressor would. Then I threw on a fast delay. Both tracks I aux sent to a buss and then compressed that and mixed it in just enough to let the vocals stand out from the music....well.....that was my intention anyways. I guess you can hear the mix to see whether I achieved it or not haha.