Looking for advice on taking my mixes to the next level.

[kilo73]

What can I do to take my mixes to the next level? I like the over all tone, but something seems off. I don't expect to become a pro overnight, but does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do better?

I experimented with all of them but in general I did the following.

Guitars: 2 tracks panned L/R > tse x50 amp sim w/impulse > Eq (HP at ~80Hz, LP at ~10 kHz, 2dB cut at ~ 500 Hz w/ wide Q. 1dB narrow boost at ~2.4 kHz)

Bass: 1 track panned center > Compression > tse BOD plugin.
Copied bass track for grit is the same with some distortion and a LP at ~500 Hz and both sent to a bass bus. Bass buss Eq: HP at ~70 Hz, LP at ~8 kHz, 2-3 dB cit at 300 Hz, 1-2 dB cut at 800 Hz.

Drums are Superior Drummer. Kick, Snare, Toms, OH, etc have their own channel. I Eq them and do some light compression on the bus.

Master: Compression and limiting.


I like the over all sound, but when I compare it to commercial stuff it sucks. I'm not good enough to pin point why though. I also can't get any higher that -12db RMS.

Any tips/advice/resources that can help me out with the tone/volume? I know it's gonna take time, just looking for a starting point.

 

[Andrew S]

Keep practicing. Use reference tracks. -12RMS is fine but if you must, get KClip by Kazrog. That will get you to -8 and beyond. Use that after your limiter or even before it.

 

[Kevin Hawke]

Sounds pretty good to my ears.

 

[Golmont]

Great guitar tones! but sounds too dry, use send reverb and filter them well, and it will produce depths and spreads to your mix.

 

[DIYistkrieg]

First of all I'd suggest you not to compare to "commercial stuff", in this way you can give each production its unique sound without trying to copy someone else's, and that what's missing in metal these days...I mean, it's right and useful to have references, but all this "I wanna sound like xxxx" thing has gone too far and should stop, but that's my own opinion, and I know I'm on the minority side about it, so...
Anyway, I'd give just a little more "air" to the guitars (try boosting around 7 Khz) and cut some mids, giving a little more space to the bass overdrived sound, plus I think a good step forward could be using actual mic'ed amps rather than ampsims, but I see this could be just a matter of not having equipment or a room where crank your amps...with that been said, I think your productions are very good, so the only thing worth saying here is: try something different, different genres and sounds, different approaches, go out of your "comfort zone", that's the only way to improve IMHO.
Cheers!

 

[DIYistkrieg]

First of all I'd suggest you not to compare to "commercial stuff", in this way you can give each production its unique sound without trying to copy someone else's, and that what's missing in metal these days...I mean, it's right and useful to have references, but all this "I wanna sound like xxxx" thing has gone too far and should stop, but that's my own opinion, and I know I'm on the minority side about it, so...
Anyway, I'd give just a little more "air" to the guitars (try boosting around 7 Khz) and cut some mids, giving a little more space to the bass overdrived sound, plus I think a good step forward could be using actual mic'ed amps rather than ampsims, but I see this could be just a matter of not having equipment or a room where crank your amps...with that been said, I think your productions are very good, so the only thing worth saying here is: try something different, different genres and sounds, different approaches, go out of your "comfort zone", that's the only way to improve IMHO.
Cheers!

I forgot: real drums should be the first step anyway

 

[alquimistas1212]

I think that is a good tone!!!!!!