My latest mix/mastering attempt

[Salvation 13]

I haven't posted here for over a year I think so it's about time for something new.
It's still a bit unfinished, we haven't recorded vocals yet.

But I'd like pointers on the drums, especially on:

- I'm using aptrigga to replace the snare. Now it's just the Sneap sample before I figure out what to do with it. How do you get it to trigger with 100% wet mix so that every hit doesn't sound equally loud? Now the snare sounds like a machine gun.

- Any ideas on how to widen the stereo image on the drums since we only had one overhead we could use?

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/42-Time V7.mp3

New mix:

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/66-Time V10.mp3

New mix without mastering:

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/50-time prem.mp3

How does my "mastering" sound like? Any pointers on that?

 

[Salvation 13]

Here's a slightly louder master:
(deleted)

 

[onqel]

I usually set the triggerthreshold very high, so high that aptrigga barely captures the weakest hit.. I atleast like to think I get more dynamics from doing that
If you blend a small percentage of the original snare in, you would get some more dynamics if it's shines through enough.. I guess you're already using multiple samples for the snare with the sequence mode selected?

 

[Salvation 13]

Thanks! That did the trick!

Any ideas/tricks on how to make a mono overhead track wider sounding?

 

[onqel]

a very short room-verb/plate is the only thing I can think of that won't give you a big problem with the phase.... the bad way is to duplicate the mono-OH, panning them hard left/right, and delay one of them a few ms EQ them slightly different.. I've never done it with overheads though...

 

[Salvation 13]

Yeah, I used that "bad way" in this mix.

 

[Salvation 13]

Any opinions on the mix? Damn, this place has turned into a graveyard.

 

[dcb]

i don't think mono overheads have to sound bad. it gives a really focused drumsound in the center. you could use a good IR giving the whole a kit a slight amount of ambience.. but i actually dont think thats needed.

i think you should use less compression on the overheads, as its a somehow very fatiguing sound, to much "explosion" for my likings

maybe use parallel compression?

the guitars are a little muddy, how did you record them?
is this Quad or doubletracked?

btw. what did you do in the mastering... maybe try to use a multiband instead (if you haven't already...) to give the low end more punch....

if you like you can upload the single tracks, so i can take a closer look and maybe help you more?

 

[Salvation 13]

i don't think mono overheads have to sound bad. it gives a really focused drumsound in the center. you could use a good IR giving the whole a kit a slight amount of ambience.. but i actually dont think thats needed.

Nah, I kinda prefer this way. If everything is in the middle it makes the kit sound small.

i think you should use less compression on the overheads, as its a somehow very fatiguing sound, to much "explosion" for my likings

maybe use parallel compression?

There's no compression on the overhead track.

the guitars are a little muddy, how did you record them?
is this Quad or doubletracked?

Could it be just that they're tuned to G?

They're quad tracked like this:

Panned to the left, 1 track Framus Cobra with Schecter C7 with lots of mids, 1 track Mako Mak2 with Ran Guitars 7 scooped. Panned to the right Cobra scooped and Mako with mids.

Panned 60% left & right there's Laney Lionheart from 2:10 ->

V30 -> SM57 and a G12T100 -> MD421.

btw. what did you do in the mastering... maybe try to use a multiband instead (if you haven't already...) to give the low end more punch....

Chain:

EQ (boosted around 60 Hz and 4 kHz) -> multiband comp -> GClip x 2 -> bunch of different limiters

if you like you can upload the single tracks, so i can take a closer look and maybe help you more?

Posting the individual tracks would be A LOT of work so I think I'll skip that.

Here's a new mix:

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/66-Time V10.mp3

Here's the mix before mastering:

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/50-time prem.mp3

 

[dcb]

unmastered it sounds wayy better, i think!

maybe dont squash it to death, less limiting.
and if you lower the snare some db in the mix,
the song should sound a lot better.

also you might try to bring up the bass in the 120 hz area.

i tried a "not so extreme" mastering, if you ´like,
i can upload it and tell you my settings?

 

[Salvation 13]

Yeah sure, why not.

I've already boosted the bass tracks around 120Hz to separate them from the kick though.

Like this:

Kick hipassed at 50 Hz, boosted around 80 Hz

Bass hipassed around 80-100 Hz, boosted around 125 Hz

Guitars hipassed around 120 Hz, cut around 300 Hz

About the mastering, I tried going the "less extreme" route but our band members wanted it to be louder.
The snare is so loud because all the limiting at the mastering phase kills the attack from it.

 

[dcb]

the main problem seems to be the lack of punch in a bass that has its fundamental at somewhere around 40 Hz :-D

i tried some experiments with An F-Tuned Bass (23h Hz...)
i bought those Warwick .175 String, extended scale bass... still
all i get is muddiness. maybe i should use passive pickups as they're way tighter...

well back to you mix :-D :
there you go: http://www.sendspace.com/file/9d0rbr

delete link : http://www.sendspace.com/delete/9d0rbr/24a4a12012f1b2d62a7c38ccd1b92523

its a really quick attempt, but still i think you should try to go more into that direction.

used a slight amount of limiting > EQ cutting everything below 30 Hz adding some 120 hz (it got a little warmer that way) also adding 3 db high shelf 8 Khz > Waves C4 only compressing the sublows >> Sony Inflator / Maximizer 60 % Effect Curve 0 >> Sony Oxford Trans Mod to get some of the transients back in there >> Voxengo Elephant Brickwall Limiter EL 2 Mode

its alway important, that you check your mastering section bypassing all fx, listening to your mix at equal levels.
in wavelab you definately should use a leveler, as the louder your recording becomes, the more you will like it. but you will not be able to judge on what you did to your mix in your mastering if you don't a/b with equal levels.
louder always sounds better... psychoacoustics...
so try using a leveler reducing the amount of db's you added during mastering to see, if the transients got clipped too hard, if there is still depth to your recording, has the snare drastically changed its sound etc.

i do it that way, otherwise i would get lost adding dbs without knowing where to stop, hehe . hope that helps

 

[Salvation 13]

Yup, your version breathes a lot more. Some good advice there, thanks!

Could you post the exact settings you used in C4?