Metal foundry test, and question about cymbal swells

[HandsOfDespair]

I'm composing/recording/mixing a new song, but I don't know how to program cymbal swells . Right now I put tons of crash notes with a crescendo velocity curve, but it doesnt sound realistic at all...

I'd like to know too what you think about the drums...Guitar playing is not tight, I only did one take, I want to rerecord the song in a lower tuning anyway...Here's the sample, it's only 2 minutes off the 10 minutes song:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/MILIEU-COMPO3.mp3

The cymbal swell is at 2:15.

Thanks!

Version 2: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/MILIEU-COMPO3-v2.mp3


Version 3: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/Milieu-compo3-v3.mp3

 

[Morgan C]

Tbh I prefer 'slow' cymbal swells, and they're probably gonna turn out a lot more realistic. See 5;20ish in this song


or
4;45ish in this


Sound much rawer and kewler imo.

Anyway, try with less hits, and you gotta randomise it on top of making it a crescendo otherwise its gonna sound weird. And try it on a crash instead of a ride (or is this a crash? :/)

Not my favourite drums. Snare is kinda plasticky and gets lost in the mix (sounds alright in the fills at the start tho). Kick is splatty, and hats are pretty loud (or snare is too soft).

Bass tone could use some subs and guitars could use some more lows/lowmids too.

 

[HandsOfDespair]

Thanks man, I'll try your tips!

Yeah sorry it was a ride :S. There was a lot more reverb on the snare after the fills at the start, I automated it but I just removed the automation and there was definetly too much reverb, I think thats why it got lost in the mix.

I have a pretty hard time with my low end. I used too put way too much low end in my mixes so now I'm kind of afraid of turning my bass too loud or having too much lows in my guitars.

 

[HandsOfDespair]

Version 2: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/MILIEU-COMPO3-v2.mp3

I changed the kick, there's more bass, less hi-hat, clearer snare.

I'll try to fix that cymbal swell tomorrow, it's 3:30 am and I'm dead .

 

[Forceps]

Yeah, that's more like it!
It sounds on my speakers there could be some clipping just before the swell, but it also might be my crappy laptop speaker :/

 

[Plankis]

Listening to version 2:
Very haunting theme. Not a fan of that guitar tone, it's a bit unfocused perhaps. There's just alot of fizz and little tone imo.
That cymbal swell at the end is very robotic, too much hits at the moment. To solve this lower every other hit with about 10-30 vel. Think that might help it alot.

 

[lolzgreg]

The guitars hurt, sorry. The snare needs more low mids. When people say "judge this mix, it's not the final tone, etc," what's the point? A mix changes drastically upon the changing of a major instrument such as guitar, especially one that is so up-front. The drums may sound good, but they're obscured by the staticy guitar tracks. Why don't you get it closer to the sound in your head, post it and we'll all give it a shot then?

 

[supermother]

try playing with the envelope filter in s2.0, remove a little of the attack on the cymbal swell, that could make it a little bi more realistic

 

[HandsOfDespair]

The guitars hurt, sorry. The snare needs more low mids. When people say "judge this mix, it's not the final tone, etc," what's the point? A mix changes drastically upon the changing of a major instrument such as guitar, especially one that is so up-front. The drums may sound good, but they're obscured by the staticy guitar tracks. Why don't you get it closer to the sound in your head, post it and we'll all give it a shot then?

Yeah I agree the guitar tone sucks, but it seems I never get a tone I like with my guitar. When I'll mix a song for someone and use his DI's I'll get a sound I like in maybe 5 minutes, but when it's my own DIs it always seems fizzy even if I always do cut in the upper mid areas and lo-pass at 12 khz.

I'll work on it, thanks

 

[GarethSE]

I think if you low-pass these guitars a bit lower, they'll sound great. They've got a nice, overgained grind to them. That bass sound is fucking SICK too man, I love it! Sounds filthy

As for the cymbal swell, slow it right down. Sit in your chair and do a cymbal swell on an invisible cymbal, then program what you do with your hands onto the midi. Don't do like a perfect upwards gradient with the velocities, keep them really really REALLY fucking low (like 10-20) and then just have them quickly swell up to full pelt right at the end of the swell.

Check this mix, right at the very end of the track there's a cymbal swell on there. If I were to revist that mix I'd probably slow the hits down even more, thinking about it. But that's a fairly decent one IMO.
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/631208/Robbie Final.mp3

 

[HandsOfDespair]

Version 3: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/Milieu-compo3-v3.mp3

What do you think of the new cymbal swell?

The guitar tone is completely different, I miced up my Cube 30 with my sm58 haha, and I think I prefer it to Gearbox. -_-

 

[ahjteam]

try using mallet samples, they usually sound better for cymbal rolls

 

[lolzgreg]

Version 3: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/317666/Milieu-compo3-v3.mp3

What do you think of the new cymbal swell?

The guitar tone is completely different, I miced up my Cube 30 with my sm58 haha, and I think I prefer it to Gearbox. -_-

I SECOND THAT MOTION!

I think I kinda of like the distortion. It's definitely different. It sounds like you need to lose some 400hz on those guitars though. The high end doesn't hurt now though.

 

[mrbean667]

Cube 30? Cool.
It sounds better than the Gearbox.