Metalcore/Full Band Mix! Come help me out!

[Ice Man]

All right, so, I'm struggling to get this mix to sound right. It's a demo for a friend's band and it was tracked shoddily and I'm trying to polish it up. The drums were done in my living room (untreated and huge, not good), guitars were tracked way too dark, and with my monitoring conditions, I have a hard time even hearing bass until it's too loud.

Here's what I have so far:
http://www.sneapforum.celtiaproductions.co.uk/Iceman/testmix.mp3

-The snare is "Slate'd" with the dynamics off, which is why it sounds robotic.
-I'm having trouble diagnosing whether or not the guitars have an abrasive upper frequency
-Bass is a shot in the dark.

Keep in mind that there was no beat correction and the playing has its faults, but beyond that, come tear it apart!

 

[Erik Monsonis]

I'd reduce bass guitars, and compression in guitars.

Besides from that, I like the overall sound, esp if it's for a demo

 

[Ice Man]

I'd reduce bass guitars, and compression in guitars.

Besides from that, I like the overall sound, esp if it's for a demo

See, the hardest part is that between my monitors and the room they are in, bass guitar's nearly impossible to tell whether or not I'm even in the right volume range or if the eq'ing is how I want it.

Compression on guitars? Do you mean reduce it or add it? Because at this point there is no compression on the guitars. The guitarist plays very soft so the guitars don't have a lot of chunk and they weren't tracked greatly either, so...


Thanks for the input!

 

[caelin]

hejjj iceman

i think it sound pretty good ....
but a c4 on the guitars made it better i think ...thighter as well
like the snare haha thrash metal !

 

[Ice Man]

Thanks for the reply, man. I'll try C4 to crunch up the guitars a little. Do the toms seem too blocky to anyone? Maybe too much upper mid and not enough low? That and any other views on the bass?

Thanks.

 

[Rob Logic]

Not bad for a demo at all. im gonna take a guess that this wasn't tracked with a click?? the playing is probably the sketchiest thing about it, with that said I've recorded way worse playing (i'm sure everyone has). I'm listening on a laptop so I can't comment on any freq stuff but everything in my opinion is very workable. Good job dude!

 

[Ice Man]

Not bad for a demo at all. im gonna take a guess that this wasn't tracked with a click?? the playing is probably the sketchiest thing about it, with that said I've recorded way worse playing (i'm sure everyone has). I'm listening on a laptop so I can't comment on any freq stuff but everything in my opinion is very workable. Good job dude!

Thanks for the feedback, man! Actually, there was a click involved, but the kids were nervous and the stuff they are playing is just outside of being tight all the time, so it falls apart when jittery. That and they didn't have tons of time and money to waste, so some corners were cut. Thanks for listening!

 

[fistula]

what amp is this?

nice tone...

 

[Ice Man]

what amp is this?

nice tone...

If I recall correctly, the left side if Triple Rec mixed with 6505 and the right side is boosted Marshall JMP and 6505. Thanks for listening!

 

[broken81]

Yea toms could use a little beef to them..... But overall good sound i Think it sounds pretty thick

 

[Ice Man]

Yea toms could use a little beef to them..... But overall good sound i Think it sounds pretty thick

Cool, man. Thanks for the kind words! I'll work on the toms after I get back from vacation.

Regards,
Daniel

 

[colonel kurtz]

i'm listening right now, and it sounds fairly good...like someone else said, the toms could use a little more beef

the bass could come down a smidge, and i would personally probably take a little bit of low end out of the kick - if not throughout, then at least during the double bass beats, which is where it seems to be coming across a little muddy/tubby

 

[Ice Man]

i'm listening right now, and it sounds fairly good...like someone else said, the toms could use a little more beef

the bass could come down a smidge, and i would personally probably take a little bit of low end out of the kick - if not throughout, then at least during the double bass beats, which is where it seems to be coming across a little muddy/tubby

Thanks for the insight! This is the area I need the most help in because my bass translation blows.

Regards,
Daniel

 

[Ice Man]

bump

 

[doc_backmask]

Hey man, great mix. I like the song too. I'm a huge fan of a nice, present bass, and I'd say that it sits nicely. It has its own room, a lot of people in metal like to hide the bass. If you listen to any of our music (link in sig) you'll see the bass is nice and present. That said, if you bring it down a bit, and remove a small notch between 60-80 Hz, the kick and bass won't fight each other and there will be less low end mud. Combine that eq with a high-pass on the kick set to about 45-50 Hz and steep, the bass will have its room and there will be no compressor pushing issues.