Melodic hardcore/djent/groove metal? mix!

[kool98769]

Hey, I recorded my buddies band!
We spent a lot of time tracking stuff, but time constraints were really hard, so I only had 1 night to mix the whole thing, so I'm a little unhappy, but I think it turned out fine!

Let me know what you guys think I should have done differently, and such.
And yes, they wanted the bass drops that loud :\ oh well

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16665737/04 Empathy.mp3

 

[oroinvictus]

Writing is fairly cool, very, VERY volumes. I would call this more groove metal/prog metalcore than melodic hardcore, personally, but we're not here to talk genres. The guitars sound pretty overgained, and have a LOT of high-end that could be cut out of them. It sounds like they were low-passed at 12khz or so, and they have no warmth, the tone sounds very impulse-driven. Cut out that high end and 2k, and get some 400-800hz warmth in there. Drums tend to get a little buried by the higher frequencies of the guitars but it's not too bad. Those sub-drops cause a bit of clipping. The band may have wanted them that loud, but if you're recording them, it's your job as an audio engineer to give them a good (read: not clipping) sound, so pardon my french, but FUCK them if they want it so loud it causes clipping or artifacting. There are ways to get them sounding loud and punchy without increasing actual volume, i.e. freq. enhancement ala maxxbass, etc. A very good counter-example to what I just said is the album 'Divided By' by Structures, the band literally said "we want it to be loud and clip and artifact", but that's another story.

 

[kool98769]

Writing is fairly cool, very, VERY volumes. I would call this more groove metal/prog metalcore than melodic hardcore, personally, but we're not here to talk genres. The guitars sound pretty overgained, and have a LOT of high-end that could be cut out of them. It sounds like they were low-passed at 12khz or so, and they have no warmth, the tone sounds very impulse-driven. Cut out that high end and 2k, and get some 400-800hz warmth in there. Drums tend to get a little buried by the higher frequencies of the guitars but it's not too bad. Those sub-drops cause a bit of clipping. The band may have wanted them that loud, but if you're recording them, it's your job as an audio engineer to give them a good (read: not clipping) sound, so pardon my french, but FUCK them if they want it so loud it causes clipping or artifacting. There are ways to get them sounding loud and punchy without increasing actual volume, i.e. freq. enhancement ala maxxbass, etc. A very good counter-example to what I just said is the album 'Divided By' by Structures, the band literally said "we want it to be loud and clip and artifact", but that's another story.

Thanks for the feedback bruddah!
And yeah, they're pretty volumes influenced. I honestly didn't notice that the sub drops caused clipping when I did it. Again, I feel like I could have corrected that if I would have had more than 1 night to mix/master it. Although, that's a poor excuse, and should have realized that off the start.
I highpassed the guitars at about 10k, and after listening to it again, the guitars are WAY overgained.

Do you think if the guitars ate up less high frequencies that the drums would shine through a little better?

 

[xx|fiend|xx]

Do you think if the guitars ate up less high frequencies that the drums would shine through a little better?

I like the mix man, sounds like a bit is missing through the lows/low mids IMO. But yea the guitars sound super gained. It wouldn't hurt to try some serious lpf to 7-8k or more to get those cymbals meaty and more air to the vocals. Nice balance though everything can be heard and sounds awesome for 1 nite's work though

 

[MisSigsFan]

Too much high end on the guitars and too much gain.

 

[oroinvictus]

Do you think if the guitars ate up less high frequencies that the drums would shine through a little better?

Definitely, once those guitars are sitting right the mix will be solid.

 

[kool98769]

Definitely, once those guitars are sitting right the mix will be solid.

I overlooked it because how I had the ampsims set up...
Both of them are run tubescreamer sim->lecto->god's cab.

But the tubescreamer gain is set to about 1, and lecto is on vintage mode with the gain below halfway.

 

[born_dead]

yes, biggest problem in guitars. very nice melodic song! please post tracking, i would like to mixing practice )