My latest mix - Dark Rock (Goddamn Guitars, Panic Room Master, Nebula SSL)

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I put anything up here. Figure it's about time.

The last project I mixed (and reamped parts of) just came back from mastering. It's a bit of a different one, and I'm fairly certain not all of you will like it. It's most definitely not metal, and not intended to be, and as a result was a great test for me to see how far I could diversify.

An added challenge was some less than ideal source tracks, that I won't dwell on too much.

It's a dark, industrial rock type track so I tried to do a bit of a darker, muddier mix that is heavier on lows and mids than highs. Plec did a fantastic job aiding in this goal with his mastering.

Ola played most of the guitars as you might discern from the title.

=------=

The artist asked me not to directly link to the file, so if you'd like to listen to it please go here: http://www.myspace.com/ermin_h

Stop the Kammarheit track from auto-playing in the top left corner. Then scroll down and you will find 'Memnoir - Soundtrack For A Nightmare' in the samples player.

To hear the entire EP you can stream it in lesser quality from here: http://www.myspace.com/memnoir


Cheers, and I hope at least some of you dig it!

 

[Melb_shredder]

I love it man!

That's fucking awesome, I actually really like this music too!
You definitely captured the vibe of this kind of band! Only complaint, that snare is just SO loud on my speakers, don't know if its just me, it just seems to way way out in front of the mix. But apart from that, I like it

Good stuff dude

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Nice mix. I dont like the sound of the Hit Hat but that it´s just a minor thing. But the kick sometimes is really hard to hear because of the synths.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Damn, a killer song AND mix right there.
Although the intention was for a darker mix, a tiny bit more air on the guitars would have been cooler, but apart from that no real criticism to give.

 

[MarkG]

I love the vibe that track has! Very very cool

 

[ScootBaloo]

It sounds fantastic, mix , playing, vox , everything !!
For my tastes, I like more bass in the guitars but I am not complaining.

 

[Morgan C]

Sounds reaaaaaaaaaaally really good.

Personally I would have raised the OHs a bit, and I can't say I'm a fan of the guitars.. they're kinda lifeless and 2d, and a bit scratchy.. I would probably attribute that to the DI's tho, I had quite a similar problem when messing around with Ola's tracks (not sure if its his playing, guitar, pickups or DI box or what :/ ). But when they're 'in the mix', along with all the synths and vox, they work well, its just when they become the focus that they detract from the overall mix.

Also v good job at the transitions between the heavy bits and the more ambient bits.. that's something that a lot of people seem to struggle with. Here it doesn't sound like a massive change, it feels very natural and the frequency balance is pretty similar.

 

[Mago]

the song takes a bit until it comes to the interesting points, but the 2nd half is really nice.
guitars, kick and snare sound nice, vox too...
i like the synths now and then they sound cool...
but there something strange on the overheads? dunno, cant point my finger on it...maybe some strange thing on the room sound?

good work anyway!

edit: lol i just saw you did a track for "Good will out"?
never heard of them before, even if our country isnt that big^^
we have too much of those poprock-bands...bla...but the mix sounds good too haha

 

[Ola Englund]

cheers ermz, sounds awesome I bet jeremy is satisfied...

 

[Trevor Marks]

Loving every second of this. Great mix and vocals guys!

 

[lolzgreg]

Nice cohesiveness. I liked the way you sat the vocals. Wonderful job on the atmospheric portion.

The snare is pretty stiff sounding and I would have prefered a bit of a meatier guitar tone with a bit more saturation.

Drums don't line up with the guitars on that little return snare hit at 3:23; it distracted me a bit.

 

[Ermz]

Cheers guys.

@Morgan: The OHs thing is my fault. I turned them down only for this song. I can't quite remember way, but my thinking may have been that the crashes got obnoxious near the end. I should've just automated them down instead. Yep the guitars are all those things. The DI tracks were fairly difficult to work with, and even Ola's great technique unfortunately didn't circumvent that. I think it's the DI/Pre combo, as we've established before you just can't do it with relatively budget gear otherwise it just causes a loss in clarity. His direct to amp tracks in comparison are stellar, so it's just a gear thing. I also made the mistake of reamping them through a faulty Dual Rec, through a 2x12 at very low levels. Not one of my better moments, haha.

@Mago: OHs are one of those things that are totally tracking oriented. Chances are you weren't digging the positioning, room, or the sound of some of the cymbals. From what I gleaned it sounded like a fairly small room, and made things somewhat interesting.

@Greg: There are a fair few 'loose' performance parts on there. It's on our priority list to not let that happen on the next set of tracks. I think in ways I agree with you on the snare, but I could never quite tell whether it worked one way or the other. The 'stiffness' is largely coming from the direct track, room mics and OHs. There is a lot of real snare in there, and it's the part of the sound giving the woody 'kah!'. So for better or worse, I guess that's just how it sounded! I wanted something more natural, perhaps even at the expense of fidelity, but next time around I might look at some different approaches. I know the artist didn't necessarily want a Top 40 style mix, so I had to really reign myself in and focus on the vibe rather than a technically 'perfect' mix.

Thanks to everyone else who commented too. It's really appreciated. I just don't have anything specific to say! I hope this project works well for the artist, and if you like the music as always please show your support.

 

[Plec]

The mix was already ace when I got it. Ermz have a way of mixing that makes mastering much simpler than usual.

 

[Nebulous]

Nice work Ermz. Took me untill the end of the song to realise that the Vocalist reminds me of the old Amorphis chap. I like that.

 

[musikman1]

Great mix man!

 

[El_Gato]

good work, but I can't listen to that snare, I'm listening on in-ear phones but sounds like the old drum machines snares to me (maybe good for the style, IDK) just a thought if that helps in the future.

 

[Dollarosa]

awesome!!!

 

[Soundlurker]

Sounds great. The synths are a bit overwhelming, imo. And the OHs are pumping here and there. Other than that it's very cool, nice atmosphere and nice bass.

 

[Felix Neumann]

Awesome work, guys!

 

[Nebulous]

Sounds great. The synths are a bit overwhelming, imo. And the OHs are pumping here and there. Other than that it's very cool, nice atmosphere and nice bass.

I'd agree on the synths comment to a point, but it still works.
They are pretty overwhelming on ear buds at work.