Mix for Critique, death metal

[deathtotaliban]

OK, this is the beginning of a project I am working on for a local band here name Ananiah. The mix has all the guitars recorded and mixed and all the drums recorded and mixed. I would love to get any feedback because I am still at the stage in the process were things could be fixed. Thanks!!

http://www.freewebs.com/triggerstudios/song4.mp3 (2.7 mb, right click-save as)

Jordan

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

IMHO two biggest quick-fix issues: snare could use more snap (try compression) and high hat seems a little too loud, even for so-called death metal.

 

[deathtotaliban]

thanks for listening, i tried a lot of differenct variations to give the snare more crack but i couldnt find anything i liked. I used a 57 on top and a condensor on the bottom so i may just need to mix in more bottom mic.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

INAB if that doesn't work you may want to try taking a clean snare sample of the kit (if you can find one) and compress the absolute hell out of it so it's literally just a "snap". then trigger it on top of your snare. sometimes that can work.

 

[deathtotaliban]

alright i will do, the band was really happy with the guitar tone. Ha man it was a beast, it was a crappy Ibanez 100 watt half stack that mustve had the shit beat out of it. We layered it 4 times each side and got something they were really happy with (along the lines of gorgut, nile, ect. their tone) But thnx snare always seems to be my major problem.

Jordan

 

[deathtotaliban]

bumb

 

[NathanSoulfracture]

the kit sounds nice except the snares a bit too loud, maybe take it down a little bit and like GGI said, compress it to give it more 'Snap' so it stands out more. so basically compress the Snare, bring the Snare and Hi-Hat's down a tad and it should be fine, also maybe add a bit more 'open' reverb to the snare after its been compressed that is.

 

[deathtotaliban]

thanks for listening, yea the snare has def been the hardest part to get right. Any input on guitars?

 

[Nitronium Blood]

OK, this is the beginning of a project I am working on for a local band here name Ananiah. The mix has all the guitars recorded and mixed and all the drums recorded and mixed. I would love to get any feedback because I am still at the stage in the process were things could be fixed. Thanks!!

http://www.freewebs.com/triggerstudios/song4.mp3 (2.7 mb, right click-save as)

Jordan

That sure is Taliban metal.

 

[NathanSoulfracture]

thanks for listening, yea the snare has def been the hardest part to get right. Any input on guitars?

Ive just listened to the mix on a decent set of speakers, have you tried compressing around 250Hz on the guitars? they sound a little bit muddy (but thats probably cos one of my ears is blocked from flu) the snare definately is a bit off putting, doesnt seem to sit right when listening its a bit annoying, have you tried sampling it with a tighter snare? Death Metal usually needs a tight snare to fit in and stand out because of the fast drum patterns, if you have any sampling/drum replacing software then id be happy to have a go at tweaking a few snare hits from the recording for you that you can then use to replace the original snare hits, sorry if i sound pretentious there im just bored and need something to do

 

[deathtotaliban]

Thanks for listening again man, i reall appreciate it. As far as the guitars they have no eq but i did at the C4 with andy's preset, I didnt really find it muddy but more "thick" and the band really liked it, but if you think its muddy Ill give it a try cutting those or compressing them more. I am at school so i cant do anything right now.yea I ahve drumagog4, if you wanted to give a go at tweaking the snare that would be awesome. Send me a pm and we could get that going. Thanks again!

Jordan

 

[hourglass]

It seems to me I'm only hearing the snare from the overhead (or some other far away mic...) setup... You need a lot more of the direct snare mic.

A tip to try, if the track with the snare mic still isn't doing anything for you after you crush the shit out of it:

Take a 1x12 speaker - like a small stage monitor or something. Plug it into the guitar head's output

Now - set the speaker ON TOP OF the snare drum. Put a mic UNDER the snare drum.

Play just the recorded snare track thru the guitar amp (ON CLEAN CHANNEL) until the speaker makes the snares snap against the bottom head. Record this and mix it in with your original snare track.

This way, you keep your own tones rather than drumagogged stuff (which seems to me like it would stick out like a sore thumb in this track...)

ryan

 

[deathtotaliban]

Thanks for the input man, its soo nice that everyone is noticing what i myself have noticed, and telling me how I may be able to fix it! thanks a lot, i dont know what it is but it seems like snare drums are really hard for me to get right. Thanks for the input

Jordan

 

[hourglass]

Thanks for the input man, its soo nice that everyone is noticing what i myself have noticed, and telling me how I may be able to fix it! thanks a lot, i dont know what it is but it seems like snare drums are really hard for me to get right. Thanks for the input

Jordan

I was playing around with some multiband compression on your mix - the snare sound is in there. You just have to dig it out.

I'd recommend dropping the RenComp (or something similar) onto your track and starting with its "Drums" preset.

The meter will show you what your input and output levels are. Get an idea for how high your input is peaking, then pull the threshold down into that area - a lot lower than where it peaks. Like halfway between the peaks and the bottom. (this is a starting point, you probably don't really need that much...)

Doing this will cause your output to drop.

Now - push the output fader back up so you get the same volume you were getting before.

Now, play with the threshold until the thing cracks as much as (or more than) it bonks and that should be the sound you're after. Just remember - you have to constantly ride the output level to keep the level constant. Your ear naturally likes a louder sound, so when you adjust the threshold for more compression you'll likely get a better snare sound, but the first thing your ear thinks is, "hey... that's too quiet. I like the other one better."

ryan

 

[deathtotaliban]

ok, i used the rencomp and did what i could, i think it def. sounds better but not sure if its too much or too little. check it out, same link as before... http://www.freewebs.com/triggerstudios/song4.mp3

Thanks
Jordan