new mix (8-string, instrumental)-feedback appreciated

[Santuzzo]

I re-recorded an old song and changed some bits.

I'm having a very hard time mixing this, so any kind of constructive criticism on the mix but also on the song and playing would be highly appreciated.



EDIT:
I did a new version with different drums (Slate):


Which version do you think sounds better?
Apart from the drums I also put some gate on the guitars and used Ozone 5 on the master bus.

Thanks,
Lars

 

[ShamStalin]

Sounds like Addictive drums....

 

[Nikolas Quemtri]

Hear some of the async doubletracked guitars, that making the mix sound noisy,
Drums are really like AD. Cymbals were distorted by master-comp somewhere.

 

[Plankis]

Did you triple track this and have you panned the overheads closer to the center? The stereo field is so narrow. Try to sort this out.

 

[Santuzzo]

Thanks a lot guys.

Yes, drums are done with Addictive Drums, is that a bad thing?
I thought they sound good.

No triple tracking, only two guitar tracks. I guess I need to play and tighter when tracking.

 

[Santuzzo]

what do you guys think of the drums?

Someone just said it sounds like AD, yes, well, it IS AD.

 

[Santuzzo]

edit: I added a new version with different drums in the OP.
Which version do you think sounds better?

 

[KBMoser]

man... first of all, i cant hear anything but crashes in the overheads, they will help drive your song, try parrallel comping. aside from that the guitars arent bad, but they are not played tight enough to give you a tight punchy mix, there seems to be too much gain as well. turn the gain down a little and really dig into those strings. And speaking of strings, the beginning is not that flattering, it sounds like your trying to play drop A# on a 24" scale. This is in reference to the second mix. Maybe add some punch or stick ie compression, to your snare top mic. i think what im hearing through the second play through is an out of tune bass, or at least the bass and guitars are not tuned to eachother. It could help if you really dug into those strings, and try to get the same out of the bass.

kick isnt bad, could use some bottom, less attack.

 

[Santuzzo]

man... first of all, i cant hear anything but crashes in the overheads, they will help drive your song, try parrallel comping. aside from that the guitars arent bad, but they are not played tight enough to give you a tight punchy mix, there seems to be too much gain as well. turn the gain down a little and really dig into those strings. And speaking of strings, the beginning is not that flattering, it sounds like your trying to play drop A# on a 24" scale. This is in reference to the second mix. Maybe add some punch or stick ie compression, to your snare top mic. i think what im hearing through the second play through is an out of tune bass, or at least the bass and guitars are not tuned to eachother. It could help if you really dug into those strings, and try to get the same out of the bass.

kick isnt bad, could use some bottom, less attack.

Thanks a lot, man, much appreciated!

I had some problems with the intonation of the 8th string, maybe that is why bass and guitar are not in tune (but honesty, I did not even notice that).
Also, the 8th string i tuned to F and scale is 27" and string gauge is .065, not too much tension, I guess a 072 would also sound better, maybe.
But, yeah, I guess most of all I gotta play tighter and more precise.

On which version do the drums sound better? AD or SDD?

Thanks again!!
Lars

 

[JohnTheRipper]

The ssd track definetly sounds better, but you won't get much mixing experience from using ssd, they're pre-mixed. AD can be made to sound as good as ssd, and you're half way there. Just distort the top end of the kick (from 2khz to about 4khz, there a distortion filter built in AD). Also, like others said, compress the shiznit out of that snare drum (50-60ms attack, 30-40 ms release, use mostly the top mix of the snare, and bring up the 3.5-4khz region).

 

[Santuzzo]

The ssd track definetly sounds better, but you won't get much mixing experience from using ssd, they're pre-mixed. AD can be made to sound as good as ssd, and you're half way there. Just distort the top end of the kick (from 2khz to about 4khz, there a distortion filter built in AD). Also, like others said, compress the shiznit out of that snare drum (50-60ms attack, 30-40 ms release, use mostly the top mix of the snare, and bring up the 3.5-4khz region).

Thanks a lot!
I will work on my AD drum-mix.