My first rough metal mix...rip me a new one!

[Colin M. St. Claire]

This is the first rough mix I feel is worth sharing for feedback, comments, criticisms, etc. Everything besides the drums was played and tracked by me. The drums are real but the kick was edited separately from the rest of the kit and replaced 100%. I originally didn't want to totally replace it but I did an awful job setting up the kick mic. Also, the lyrics aren't finished, the 2nd half of the song has zero vocals.
The first thing apparent to me is a lack of brightness. I think this is due to too much high frequency flutter in my room, not enough absorption.
Thanks ahead of time for the feedback guys! If it has any positive quality whatsoever, it's from the info and experience that you all share freely!

http://soundcloud.com/colin-st-claire/my-first-rough-mix

 

[Colin M. St. Claire]

Also, everything but the drums and guitar DI's will be retracked, and the guitars will be quad tracked.

 

[shredder10]

The song itself is quite cool
With a better mixing it could kick some more ass!

 

[Colin M. St. Claire]

The song itself is quite cool
With a better mixing it could kick some more ass!

Thanks man. Any tips? Other than the muddyness and lack of clarity, not sure what else I'm missing.

 

[shredder10]

Well (i'm on a pair of AKG studio cans) i would work on the shells comp and eq a bit more.
So it gives them a bit more of character and punch. I would also bring the overheads a bit more up on the mix.
For example the ride here is doing quite a lot, and should be nice to hear it a bit more. As with the cymbals in gerenal.

I lowered the playback volume, and noticed that the main vocals could go down a couple dbs, Maybe 3?
Don't know, vocals seem a bit over the mix at least for me.

Like i suggested before i'd work a bit more on the drums punch/aggressiveness in general, and from there you'd just maybe have to
adjust simple stuff around; It would kick some ass

 

[Colin M. St. Claire]

Well (i'm on a pair of AKG studio cans) i would work on the shells comp and eq a bit more.
So it gives them a bit more of character and punch. I would also bring the overheads a bit more up on the mix.
For example the ride here is doing quite a lot, and should be nice to hear it a bit more. As with the cymbals in gerenal.

I lowered the playback volume, and noticed that the main vocals could go down a couple dbs, Maybe 3?
Don't know, vocals seem a bit over the mix at least for me.

Like i suggested before i'd work a bit more on the drums punch/aggressiveness in general, and from there you'd just maybe have to
adjust simple stuff around; It would kick some ass

Awesome! Thanks for the tips man.

 

[marios.blythe]

Man its very good! Can u send it to me (di files,drums etc) when u finish it,just for mix practise..

 

[Colin M. St. Claire]

Bump

 

[schoon]

All of your own comments seem to be pretty dead on... I think once you get the guitars layered you'll find the presence in them you're looking for.

 

[The J]

More crash/china accents will make a lot of sense.
China sounds like it's being played far away in a toilet from neighborhood.
Kick clearly lacks body. Hihat is a little bit quieter than it should be. Bass can be thicker.
That's what came to mind first.

You have to choose one instrument (best sounding one), value it's depth/loudness/width/etc as 1, then - value every other instrument's depth/loudness/width/etc comparing to your chosen reference-instrument - then take a banana cocktail and do your job.
Treat each instrument seriously, not like "ah, kick, just have to be clicking" or "bass is for lows" - as long as instrument has the whole range of frequencies - you have to treat all of them.
It's not hard to make a mix, cutting instruments by half. Make a mix, saving as much as much as possible for each instrument - that's when things get serious.