Need an opinion on mix/tone/master (Prog Deathcore)

[MaellaJohn]

Hey guys, I'm recording, mixing, and editing my band's new album. I'm sending the files to Jamie King (BTBAM, A Different Breed of Killer, etc) for more mixing, editing, and mastering but I want to keep rates as low as possible by doing as much as I can that's possible.

The-Fourth-Kind_MASTER.mp3

I'm a real noob when it comes to music production, but I'm learning, hah.

I'm in Cubase 5.
Guitars recorded in POD Farm through a Guitar Port [lol].
Drums are programmed.
Bass is all .midi. I can't find a good bass tone in POD Farm [if anybody would like to make me one, I'd be grateful and give credit when the album is released]

Mastering sends:
Multiband Compressor > Stereo Enhancer > PSP Vintage Warmer 2 > Maximizer

Vocals will be added when we track them for the whole album on the weekend of the 18th. I just wanted an opinion as of right now.

I know this isn't really all that prog but most of the songs on the record are prog as balls. The vocals will be mainly screams/growls/gutturals and we're making good use of a nifty vocoder vst I found on the web.

Any opinions on that mix, or general tips for a noob would be awesome. Constructive criticism is nice, too.

 

[taylorshreds]

Listening through my ipod headphones it sounds really good! Could you give more info on the POD/guitar bus settings and eq?

 

[dcb]

dont really get it. you will send that stuff over for "more" editing, mixing and mastering??
i dont think anyone will charge less because you premixed and mastered that stuff.
maybe if you did the editing (if you know how to)...
but if you send over a mastered track, whats that guy supposed to do then ? ;-)
also : youll be asked to send the raw tracks anyhow, if you choose to work with a pro....

so why bother with that mix?

 

[MaellaJohn]

Listening through my ipod headphones it sounds really good! Could you give more info on the POD/guitar bus settings and eq?

I didn't add any effects through Cubase, on guitars. It's straight from the POD--the chain is:
Tube Screamer [drive, gain, and tone are all set at half] > Line 6 Treadplate [drive 60%, Bass 65%, Middle 77%, Treble 80%, Presence 75%, Volume 100%] > 4x12 Treadplate [57 off axis, 30% room] > Console [minor tweaks] > 4 Band EQ [4.0 kHz = -1.7 dB]

I did no EQ'ing on the general mix. It sounded pretty well-rounded to me and I didn't want to push it.

 

[MaellaJohn]

dont really get it. you will send that stuff over for "more" editing, mixing and mastering??
i dont think anyone will charge less because you premixed and mastered that stuff.
maybe if you did the editing (if you know how to)...
but if you send over a mastered track, whats that guy supposed to do then ? ;-)
also : youll be asked to send the raw tracks anyhow, if you choose to work with a pro....

so why bother with that mix?

I've been talking to Jamie back and forth for quite a while. I'm not really worried about the mix on this stuff. I'm particularly interested that I'm getting mixing and mastering down, really. So I can do more peripheral stuff with confidence.

The reason I'm sending the stuff to him is because he knows how to get it loud without clipping and he can give it all a bigger sound, really.
I'll be sending him the raw tracks as well as the unmastered edited tracks.

 

[MaellaJohn]

Bamp.