My best mix yet...

[Aaron Smith]

http://www.sneapforum.celtiaproductions.co.uk/Aaron Smith/2_variations.mp3

After a lot of serious discipline and time invested, last night I finally achieved the final mix/master for the band Across The Sun. I will never go so far as to call my work "perfect", but at this point I'm having a hard time really finding anything about it that I'm significantly unhappy with. Everything sounds clear and balanced to me, the mastering level is right up there where I want it (without audible clipping), and I'm especially happy with the low end balance I finally got...the kick has it's own low end definition against a full sounding bass guitar, and it doesn't get boomy in double kick parts.

As always, I welcome your critique

 

[colonel kurtz]

definitely good shit...the keys in the breakdown totally kill it for me, but that's their fuck-up, not yours

actually...the keyboards throughout most of the song sound pretty gay, but at least they're clearly audible in their gayness. i don't even know how many bands there are where i have no idea that there's a keyboard player, until i see them live, or see a picture and am like "who the hell is that other guy?"

 

[F.E.T]

I think it sounds great, really like the vocals!

 

[nwright]

I agree with Kurtz. Absolutely killer mix.

In terms of the song itself...
the keys hurt that song 10 fold, IMO.

Completely unnecessary and almost distracting to how good everything else is.

 

[Unavailable]

Great work dude!

Following the bandwagon about the keys though. uke:

 

[JonWormwood]

Holy shit, this sounds superb on so many levels. I personally think the synths give it some character typical metal styles don't have.

I'm digging the music a lot, especially his singing vocals. They remind me of death by stereo.

 

[dreamcatcher]

kickass work, man


Yeah, they keys are gay. Maybe I'm just used to less percussive-organ-y sounding keys.

 

[broken81]

Dam dude this is a great mix! Fuck man i feel like i really suck listening to this and having near the same equipment

Good job though....

 

[chuck1703]

Awesome work Aaron, what did you use for the drums. plugins/hardware/samples etc? the vox production sound nice to, any details what was used there??
Cheers

 

[KTShannon]

Sounds great man, really good. Nice clear vocals meaty guitars. Drums sound stellar. Good work.

 

[benversluis]

really nice mix! im a huge fan of the drum sound...id like to know what you used on them too!

the keys and the singing are shit though. they sound good in the recording, but i think they're awful. nothing you can do about that though!

 

[ScottCash]

Great work man! Their singer definitely has a "Killswitch" sound to him. All in all a great mix though. The vocals sounded just a tad loud to me but hell, it's probably my crap-ass speakers. Cheers man.

 

[Nostalia]

i think it sounds great!!! What are you using for a host (pro tools, logic, etc...) What mastering plugins/hardware did you use. My favorite part of the mix is definitely the vocals. very present. What mic did you use on the vox?

 

[C_F_H_13]

Sounds good man! I really like the vocal sound too...came out really good!


did anyone mention the keys yet? ahahahaha....

 

[KeithRT99]

great mix, but i agree with everyone on the keys (not that you can really do anything about that).

 

[nuclearass]

Excellent! I really love the mix. Everything is perfectly balanced and very clear. I don't like the keyboard melodies either... they sound really cheap. What reverbs did you use on drums? They sound sooo good!

 

[gabriel g.]

realy nice mic!!!It has for me alot of an Adam D. production and please see this as an complement
But this synth are the worst shit ever!!!they sounding like backround music from my first nintendo. They play a total different melody then the guitars.
(and nintendo sounds are cool when you use them like horse the band but this band doesnt)

And I hate the vocalist. This mix of creed and new killswitch engage is like uke:

but this are all problems of the band. You did an fantastic job!!!

 

[Djabthrash]

realy nice mic!!!It has for me alot of an Adam D. production and please see this as an complement
But this synth are the worst shit ever!!!they sounding like backround music from my first nintendo. They play a total different melody then the guitars.
(and nintendo sounds are cool when you use them like horse the band but this band doesnt)

And I hate the vocalist. This mix of creed and new killswitch engage is like uke:

but this are all problems of the band. You did an fantastic job!!!

+1

Great production for this kind of metalcore band... but i definitely can't stand this kind of metalcore anymore
Keyboards reminds me of COB and give the song a very cheesy/cheap feel. I like keyboards when used occasionnaly but not through the entire song, and it can kick ass (cf Soilwork's Natural born chaos)

 

[MegaMustaine]

Awesome. The song is cool, the singer's voice kind of annoys me, as it sounds like he's trying to be way to operatic maybe, and they keys get annoying.

But anyways, it was totally great production, and the singers screams are great.

What'd you use to record vox?

 

[Wibben]

Sounds fantastic, dude =) Great In-Your-Face sound!