Mixing Pratice Heavy/Alternative Rock - The Black Crown - Flames

Eleven:Eleven Studios said:
Ha, I'm an idiot! I was using the MIDI file with Slate drums and the mapping was off. Here is another attempt with correct mapping...



Thoughts?
Click to expand...


No, you're not an idiot, the fact is that I've heard this song a million times so I am able to catch instantly if something is wrong :)
Ok, some thoughts about your mix, take it as a subjective advice, not as something negative:

The order of importance that you have in your mix is as follows (from top to bottom): Vox, drums, guitars, and finally the bass. The first thing I've noticed is that the bass Is quite buried and doesn't give the mix enough meat. This also is important for the guitars because, given the fact that they play most of the time the same riffs, they need to work in tandem, otherwise they will sound a bit thin.
About my vocals: I didn't used an hardware compressor on the way in, so my performance have a huge dynamic range, it goes from whispered to full blast. You need to carefully compress it otherwise it will have so much difference from one part to the other. And beware of not use too much EQ in the highs, because I've noticed some harshness, try to put a De-Esser on if you already have it, use it a bit more aggressively.
Hope this helps :)
 
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Habsburgs said:
What processing did you do to the room stems?

Click to expand...


Really heavy mix, I like it a lot!
Actually on the Rooms I have only some basic eq and compression. I've used a Parallel Drum channel with an 1176 style aggressive compression, and ValhallaRoom for Snare Reverb. In solo they sound really "roomy" but in the mix they are ok.
 
SynFactory said:
No, you're not an idiot, the fact is that I've heard this song a million times so I am able to catch instantly if something is wrong :)
Ok, some thoughts about your mix, take it as a subjective advice, not as something negative:

The order of importance that you have in your mix is as follows (from top to bottom): Vox, drums, guitars, and finally the bass. The first thing I've noticed is that the bass Is quite buried and doesn't give the mix enough meat. This also is important for the guitars because, given the fact that they play most of the time the same riffs, they need to work in tandem, otherwise they will sound a bit thin.
About my vocals: I didn't used an hardware compressor on the way in, so my performance have a huge dynamic range, it goes from whispered to full blast. You need to carefully compress it otherwise it will have so much difference from one part to the other. And beware of not use too much EQ in the highs, because I've noticed some harshness, try to put a De-Esser on if you already have it, use it a bit more aggressively.
Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...

Great advice. Thanks for the feedback.
 
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SynFactory said:
Hi guys, Paolo from Italy here.
I wanted to thank you in some way because I've learned a lot from this forum in the past, but I was more like an "observer" than an active member :)
With The Black Crown, we have released our debut's album in September 2016 and we have just produced our first videoclip, so I tought it would have been a good idea to share with you also the multitrack audio files for the song.
It is called "Flames" and it's taken from the album "Fragments", released in September 2016 and now under Zombie Shark Records, a label from California.
I've personally produced, mixed and mastered the album.

The files are in .aif format so you can use whatever DAW you want.
In the included zipped files you will also find all the technical informations for the song.

So, here there are the dropbox links where you can download the files:

Flames 001: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jw7r5tnki4r2zba/Flames 001.zip?dl=0
Flames 002: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8x9u92a9l18qmr8/Flames 002.zip?dl=0
Flames 003: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lv34wsapunygspl/Flames 003.zip?dl=0
Flames 004: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8lcbw4t9uy64sj/Flames 004.zip?dl=0
Flames 005: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xt6hllq3t5dxdr/Flames 005.zip?dl=0

Flames Midi Drum Files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1pbnwekzg5nv5rv/Flames Drums MIDI.zip?dl=0

This is our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/theblackcrownmusic

Hope you like the song!

Click to expand...



The rendered drum included in the files what Toontrack Library is this? Superior Drummer with Metal Foundry? Metal Machinery?
 
TRUIE said:
@SynFactory grazzie mille for these files.
Song has a pretty cool vibe, love the vocals !
Were the drums played on an e-kit ?

Here is my mix : https://dl.dropbox.com/s/7789c1sed92u092/THE BLACK CROWN Flames 0214 Mix1 (MASTER).mp3
Any feedback is welcome !
Click to expand...

Thanks to you, glad you liked it!
Yes, the drums were played on an e-kit. Roland TD4 or TD6, I don't remember correctly.
Loved your mix, it has a similar approach to mine, especially for the drum "ambience", really big and boomy, loved it :D
I've also liked a lot the filtered/megaphone effects on the vocals in the pre-choruses. Nice touch to add a bit of variation.
The only thing that was a bit odd, but it's really a minor thing, are the added transitions. Maybe they were used too much, almost in every song change and they are a bit too upfront and loud in the mix. What are those, reversed cymbals+shotgun hits?
One question: have you added some additional percussions in the Choruses? It seems to me that there is or a shaker or something similar going on.
 
Thanks a lot for the kind words !
I worked hard to make the mix interesting to listen, doing a lot of automation between different parts of the song.

I did some subtle production things yeah, including some tambourine on all choruses, glad you heard it ! I also played some really subtle synths to enhance some parts : if you listen carefully you'll hear an organ on second half of the intro riff, and some synth pad on choruses n°2 and 3.

I wanted to make each chorus unique sounding while growing intensity (1st one short and minimal with only tambourine, 2nd one twice longer with tambourine + synth pad, last one with all of this + your amb guitar and vocal variations).

I agree with the FX on transitions, I went a bit overboard with this :D
There are some heavily processed reverse floor tom hits, explosions, gunshots, normal and reverse cymbals hits... etc.
I'll make it more subtle and remove some that are not appropriated.

Nice about the drums, definitely helps a lot with the "feel".
Actually I kept your bounced tracks as they were pretty good sounding to me, I only blended some kick/snare samples on top (direct and room).

Will do a v2 ASAP, as I thought the vocals were a bit too dry sounding on verses too, comparing to other parts.
If you have anything else you want to change, just let me know ;)
 
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Hi,
Guitars Diezel Herbert > Custom Audio Amplifiers 4x12 cab loaded with V30 > single sm57. Guitars mixed with orginal reamped tracks. Vocal also reamped with Boss Fuzz :D Mixed with clean vocal track. Drums sounds maybe a bit too "FAT" sorry :D



Stay Metal!
 
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TRUIE said:
Thanks a lot for the kind words !
I worked hard to make the mix interesting to listen, doing a lot of automation between different parts of the song.

I did some subtle production things yeah, including some tambourine on all choruses, glad you heard it ! I also played some really subtle synths to enhance some parts : if you listen carefully you'll hear an organ on second half of the intro riff, and some synth pad on choruses n°2 and 3.

I wanted to make each chorus unique sounding while growing intensity (1st one short and minimal with only tambourine, 2nd one twice longer with tambourine + synth pad, last one with all of this + your amb guitar and vocal variations).

I agree with the FX on transitions, I went a bit overboard with this :D
There are some heavily processed reverse floor tom hits, explosions, gunshots, normal and reverse cymbals hits... etc.
I'll make it more subtle and remove some that are not appropriated.

Nice about the drums, definitely helps a lot with the "feel".
Actually I kept your bounced tracks as they were pretty good sounding to me, I only blended some kick/snare samples on top (direct and room).

Will do a v2 ASAP, as I thought the vocals were a bit too dry sounding on verses too, comparing to other parts.
If you have anything else you want to change, just let me know ;)
Click to expand...

Feel free to do whatever you want/like :)
I like the approach of layering more and more instruments as the song progress, but I have to admit that I wasn't able to catch the added synth/organ parts the first time I heard it, they are more more noticeable in the second chorus because in the third they sound really similar to my ambient guitar. It sound really cool btw, cool trick to enhancing the parts, I really liked your approach to the mix!
 
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sinquestsound said:
Hi,
Guitars Diezel Herbert > Custom Audio Amplifiers 4x12 cab loaded with V30 > single sm57. Guitars mixed with orginal reamped tracks. Vocal also reamped with Boss Fuzz :D Mixed with clean vocal track. Drums sounds maybe a bit too "FAT" sorry :D



Stay Metal!
Click to expand...


Love the Herbert, maybe my favorite amp!
Really aggressive and heavy version of the mix, I would say almost "90's industrial" especially with the fuzz on the vocals, it reminded me of Ministry/NIN. Super cool job! :D
 
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allanqa said:
Here is my "nothing to do at Friday night" attempt :tickled:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nffb3ntcbmmnwv/The Black Crown - Flames (MIxed by AQA).mp3?dl=0

EDIT

Did a reamp today:
Palmer daccapo, EHX East river drive, 6505+, Homemade 2x12 V30, Sm57 + Rode M3, Audient ID14

Hope you like the new tone

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcvxr3q55kd3wo9/The Black Crown - Flames (MIxed by AQA) 6505+ reamped.mp3?dl=0

Listened the album yesterday on Spotitify, liked it
Click to expand...

Thanks man, really appreciated!
Love the new guitar tone and the mix in general. The only thing that I've heard that sounded a bit odd, is that the voice is "too dynamic". For example from 2:00 to 2:00, even in the same sentence there is a drop and then a rise in its volume.
 
Thank you for the feedback

I was thinking about the 6505+ tone will fit nice on more open chords, and I was experimenting with the rode m3 + sm57 combo with very little EQ.

You are right with the vocals, did some automation in volume but it wasn´t right applied , usually in this case I duplicate the main vox and treat it in different ways depending on the section.

Keep on, great work
 
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