My band's full raws with clean vocals (What's wrong with my DIs?)

[anotherpaul]

Recently I've recorded and mixed my band's re-release of several songs from our 5-year old LP. We went for all-digital sound with amp-sims and slate drums on purpose.

In preparation for recording I've been experimenting with ampsims and impulses using DIs from this forum like Jeff's Rose of sharyn and many others to get the sound I wanted and decided that X50v2 and LePou's sims gave me great results and were fitting for the project. But then after we recorded DIs I have found myself struggling to make them sound good with aforementioned plugins, when other people's DIs took a lot less effort.

Guitars were Fender Tele Scorpion with some DiMarzio pickup and Gibson Voodoo LP.
I was recording into Focusrite Saffire LE through an ART X-direct DI-box which I would have skipped if Saffire would not be clipping as fuck in INSTR mode even at zero knob position.

In the end I made them sound ok, but I'm not entirely satisfied. Here's my mix of one of the songs:


So my question is, can anybody take my DIs and try to make them sound good with ampsims? What do I need to change? My hands, my ears, guitars, DI-box or sound interface?

TL;DR reamp my guitars better than I did

Here's a link to the raw files (midi drums, DI guitars and bass, several vocal and synth tracks):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/107089785/chatoyment_for_export.rar

 

[Donovan S.]

I really enjoy this song. The DIs sound fine.

 

[MetalMiller]

Hi, your DI´s maybe have a little too much lowend. Otherwise they sound fine to me. Will post a mix later, nice track and thanks for sharing!

 

[inertia]

The amp sims are really good but they are not quite perfect, especially for this kind of music. I haven't downloaded your stuff (at the office) so I can't comment on the recording but if you haven't already then maybe quad tracking would help. Also check out the Nick Crow sims and Recabinet. Often I find that the ability to load impulses only further hinders finding a great sound. With recabinet you can test their cabs and play with the eq and mix them to achieve a really good sound. It supports IRs if you must use them.

 

[Deadstar]

It sounds like a preamp issue. It's adding noise and mud!
I gave it a quick try and i was really struggling with those guitars

 

[Triscore]

I´ll do a try to this, great song to mix, but I´ve problem with the sync. I´ve load midi file on to Cubase. I´ve set tempo to 8/8 and 105. It´s correct?. putting all the tracks at the beginning, at the 00, all DI´s are sync but the drums not. What do u put in the session guys?.

Cheers

 

[MetalMiller]

Like i said, all fine here:

 

[MartijnPaauwe]

Awesome song! Feels very Sybreed-ish to me What did you used for the synths? I'm liking those a lot. I wasn't having any weird issues with the DI's really, a bit junky in the low-end and somewhat noisy, but that isn't even hearable in the end. My version is without vocals, still work in progress, but thought i shared the result thus far

https://copy.com/nXI3i7AZ9Hn0xsJf

I´ll do a try to this, great song to mix, but I´ve problem with the sync. I´ve load midi file on to Cubase. I´ve set tempo to 8/8 and 105. It´s correct?. putting all the tracks at the beginning, at the 00, all DI´s are sync but the drums not. What do u put in the session guys?.

Cheers

Is your project set to 48khz? Because the multitracks are in that rate, so it would make sense that your drums aren't synced up

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

Is it just me or has stuff from DROPBOX been taking a LONG time download lately.

 

[anotherpaul]

@MartijnPaauwe Thanks! I used freeware synths like Tyrell, Kairatune and Synth1.

 

[VasDim]

Hi, this is my Mix:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/70048273/UltimatMetal/Chatoyment (VasDim`s Mix).wav

 

[sinquestsound]

Hi,
Killer Song! Killer DI!

This time Bugera 6262 sm57 Heil PR20 MXR Zakk Wylde!



Stay Metal!

 

[anotherpaul]

Thanks for response! I'm sorry for not putting rendered electro drums in the pack, guys. Nice to see some of you experimented with those.

@sinquestsound
Dude, guitars sound really good, however I still have this feeling that they shine on chugs, but kinda get lost in the hiss on straight power chords. I guess it is a preamp or guitar issue.

 

[sinquestsound]

Dude, guitars sound really good, however I still have this feeling that they shine on chugs, but kinda get lost in the hiss on straight power chords. I guess it is a preamp or guitar issue.

propably mic pos 2 guitars - sm57, 2 on Heil PR20.

Stay Metal!

 

[WoodenCube]

Hey,

Could you upload the Drum .wavs?

 

[majso]

 

[Christian WUFU]

OP, you mentioned that you were clipping the pres in your Saffire while tracking straight into the interface, was this with or without the pad engaged?

I've never had any issues with my pro 40, either with my RedEye 3D, or going direct into the built in pres.

 

[anotherpaul]

@Christian
Saffire LE doesn't have a pad as far as I know, just two modes - LINE and INST. I clip in INST mode even with the gain knob at minimum. I've read most of saffires have this issue (confirmed with saffire 6 usb) as well as scarlett devices. So I got a separate active DI box with a pad and use it with LINE mode on Saffire.

 

[Alex_M]

@anotherpaul
Hey, really cool song, man! Unfortunately can't try your DI's right now but when I come back from vacation I'll have a look.
Anyway, I think your mix sounds very good, not overcompressed and lifeless, even considering I'm not a big fan of electronic drums
BTW, if you would like to try some other DI-boxes I can give you to try a couple of them (Radial and Little Labs).
Cheers!

 

[WoodenCube]

I´ve done something in my kitchen... without acoustic treatment...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7752833/Chatoyment.mp3