Mixing opinion... Testament Low recording...

[Ola Englund]

My band has been in my studio for a couple of weeks and after days of mixing you go blind(?) and you need some second opinions, so I thought heck why not the sneapforum.

This is a cover of Testaments Low, tell me what you think!

http://www.midtown.se/images/lowclip.mp3

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Sounds good, especially for mp3. Guitars sound rad, what amp combo are you using? I'm still fairly new to recording but I do have some suggestions.

First, give the guitars a little (more?) reverb to put them farther back in the mix. IMO they are too up front. Obviously keep the decay to a minimum.

Second, through my computer speakers (which suck) I could hear the bass guitar just a tad too much. My guess would be to boost the bass EQ slightly at a lower frequency, then reduce the overall bass volume in the mix.

Like I said, my speakers suck ass, so I can't really hear well enough to comment on the bass drums. The cymbals sound great but I think the snare needs a little tweeking. I don't know if you're triggering it, but if you are using triggers I suggest adding another snare sample to thicken the sound because on the regular hits it sounds a little hollow. Then again, a lot of the hits, especially the very first one, sound really good. But right afterward, the 7-hit snare roll at the beginning definitely sounds a little hollow. Once again, I think a little more reverb on the snare would be nice.

I hope that helps. But your mix definitely is very close. Good luck.

 

[Andy Sneap]

gtr reverb er no!!!!

 

[Ola Englund]

gtr reverb er no!!!!

Hmm that's my opinion aswell... I want punching guitars... I'm pretty cautious with using reverb on any of the instruments, a little on the drums(mostly toms and snare) and on guitars in solos, and vocals then of course...

The guitars are simply mesa triaxis into a 2:90 to celestion vintage 30.
No combination of amps used... No changes in settings just different guitars and pickups.

Thanks genious gone for the input...

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

I think this is very good, but I also have a few suggestions if you allow me to :

- The bass drums really lacks of punch, it's way too high in my opinion, you should either trigger it (Drumagog works great on PC) or add some low end and compress it with not a too long attack time.

- The toms are great, the snare is fine I think also, though I must admit it sounds a little hollow but this is not a very big issue in my opinion. Don't overuse the reverb on it, it won't solve the problem, try eq instead or if it fails try mixing a triggered snare there, not too loud. Is there some phasing on the overheads ?

- The bass guitar sound is cool (when we can hear it in the middle section) too, but maybe lacks of bottom too. Listen to your mix and then switch to another professionnal one and you'll understand what I mean.

- The rhythm guitars are, in my opinion, way too loud. Pull them down a little (especially the one on the right, I find it louder than the other one). Maybe try lowering the middle range too, and boost the bass in that area, it seems to give good results. The lead guitars are good.

Well, this is it, I can't think of anything else for the moment. Of course, these are just my opinions and according to everybody's tastes, it may vary from people to people

Cheers,

Brett

 

[acorredor]

I like it alot ! Great work indeed. Like Brett said, i´d check the balance of the guitars, and their volume...i´d lower a littl each.How did you record Kick/Snare/Toms...i like them alot.
Keep up the good work.

 

[Ola Englund]

I like it alot ! Great work indeed. Like Brett said, i´d check the balance of the guitars, and their volume...i´d lower a littl each.How did you record Kick/Snare/Toms...i like them alot.
Keep up the good work.

The kick is triggered and the snare and toms are all AKG c414 condensor mics. No tricks used, the toms sounded like shit when recorded, heavy eq fixed some of that. The snarehead is heavily damped, merely eliminating the ringing sound. Not much eq done there.

Thanks for the input btw.

Andy do you have any opinions?

 

[Hopkins-WitchfinderGeneral]

gtr reverb er no!!!!

At least not on the fucking rythym guitars!

 

[Impy]

It sounds really good, i'd suggest to do something about the kick tho, like someone said earlier it's a little thin. If you don't want to change the sample then try running an oscillator with a 50-60 Hz tone thru a gate and key it with the kick just to add a bit of low-end.

Other than that i thought it sounded great

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Yaaaaa...my bad regarding rvb on guitars. i've been recording direct lately and usually i add rvb on that. anyway, lower the guitars. totally dig the sound tho