need a few mixtips (instrumental inside)

[FIXXXER]

hey guys,

i could use a few tips on this one.
basically i need to know where i have to work on
and what parts i can leave so far, if there are even any...

i tried to get a moody but yet clear and punchy sound,
not sure if i came anywhere close to this...

TRACK@DROPBOX

MIX_2

thanks in advance!

 

[FIXXXER]

haha, i've expected at least one reply, is it that bad!?

 

[tghRF]

A couple of quick impressions: I would lower the toms (rolls), overheads (big crashes seem too loud) and snare some. And I would try to layer another snare sample with that real dry one that you have and maybe make it a bit more "splashy" and less "snappy".

Overall it sounds good. Guitar tones are pretty sweet.

 

[Plankis]

I took a different approach in reviewing your song:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/933491/Soultrash indiv.wav

Sorry for the wav, didn't want to ruin it more by exporting it to mp3 again.
Your songs heavy parts aren't powerfull enough, so I lowered the clean parts with about 6 dB. I'd probably lower it even more if I had the separate tracks.
Your song is also a bit too dry, so I added a (very) ambient sounding guitar and two leads to add a little depth.
The solo is so stiff. Add a vibrato once in a while, play around with the picking dynamics, repetitions don't have to be exactly like each other etc.
The distorted could probably be a bit louder.

Hope you don't mind my different approach haha. It's just that I've heard this song a couple of times before and it feels like I had the same thoughts then as now. My solo isn't perfect either, the 2nd repetition could've been played much better for example, with a day or two to process it maybe... I just wanted to show that the repeated part doesn't have to be a exact replica.

 

[FIXXXER]

@tghRF
thanks!
yeah the toms were abit to loud, lovered them arleady. i also compressed the OH track but a few hits always stick out.
i'll try to lover the velocities on the crashes., hope this helps to get a more constant OH sound.
i tried a few reverbs on the snare (i really like the raw sound of it) but i couldn't make the reverb come through,
especially in the clean parts. i'll try to add another sample to it.

@Plankis
thanks!
the ambient guitar is really cool, haha believe it or not but i recorded a very similar guitar
part but then erased it afain because i thought thar it was a bit "too much"
listening to your sample it sounds really cool, guess i will add something like that again!

the solo is not really good i know, i can't play leads for shit!
i'll try to rerecord it with a bit more variation and vibrato but i doubt that it will sound better, maybe if i practice a bit.
i always end up playing things randomly and then take the best part, i never really tried to write a lead and practice to make it sound good, i always think, ey man you can't play it anyway
your sample is really nice, damn in the first part you basically played it as i did but it sounds so much better!

cheers
S.

 

[FIXXXER]

MIX_2

here's a new mix, i tried to implement your guys ideas!
i think it sound mor epowerful now, i celaned up the guitars a
bit but i am not sure if these sound a bit too sharp now.

i'll try to retrack the lead parts in a few days, i will post results then, if i get any...

cheers
S.

 

[MetalMiller]

I´d love to hear the clean guitars doubled. Pan´ed left right with a nice sounding delay. Rythm guitars can come up a bit. Maybe add some topend around 6-8k. Drums are toontrack stuff? To much room for my taste. Would put some compression on the room mics and suck some mud around 300-500hz. Bass sounds good though.
Don´t get me wrong, it isn´t bad sounding. Thinks the mix needs some kinda glue.

 

[Doctor Gay]

i'm listenin to this on a bose and great job takin out the low frequencies.
the drums don't sound very rock, but actually sound quite classic prog.
the guitars high end is a little scary on the bose and not loud anough (go figure) in the mix.
i say go figure because on headphones they sound pretty balanced!
add vocals you plan to do?

 

[FIXXXER]

@MetalMiller
thanks!
i was too lazy to double the clean guitars. i had it doubled on prevoius versions
(this one is like the fourth) but it always sounded phasey as i couldn't play it properly
i can't get the rythm guitars to ist, it's too loud or too low, maybe i can balance it with a light reverb!?

drums are toontrack allaire kit mixed with slate and LSD samples on kick and snare, i love this kit!
i didn't use any room mics/samples added a softube reverb on the drum bus,
maybe some parallel compreion would be nice, need to try it out.

glue...i have VCC on every channel but it just seems to add some noise in this case.
i don't like compressors on the master bus, anything else i could try?

@Doctor Gay
thanks!
i premixed it on headphones and it's a huge difference listening to the mix on my speakers, i always try to
leave the headphone mix untouched as possible as it seems to be better balanced, my room is just shit.
i can't get the high guitar frequencies right. as soon as i hi pass anywhere about 12000 itstarts to sound dull and lifeles,
i'll try a MB com on the guitar bus, any more ideas?

it's an old song, vocal melodies and lyrics are done, i just need to learn how to sing again, a few years ago
i could sing good actually, now i can't get anywhere close, out of practise i guess

cheers
S.

 

[MetalMiller]

Well, i think it´s not a saturation thing. Clean guitars, bass and drums are nice sounding together. It seems that kinda drum verb don´t work with your rythm tone.
Would try to remove the verb from drum group. Than giving snare and toms it´s own verb (long plate with long pre-delay, 45ms or so) and OH, kick and jazz it´s room verb.
It´s sounding like the drums are palying in their own, well "room" when rythm guitar starts playing. Sounds like that annyoing ezdrummer room. A short verb on rythm guit. shouldn´t be bad. But be careful, 5-10% (as insert) are enough usually (for me).
Are you using ampsims?

 

[FIXXXER]

ok, i'll try it out, i built up everything on the drum sound,i really like the overall sound, as a drum kit it sounds
great but yeah it doesn't work with the rythm guitars. i used an axe-fx standard for guitars