New Song - Rate my mix!

[mshabooboo]

Hey all -

My band, the Lords of the Trident (www.LordsOfTheTrident.com), is working on our new album. We've decided that we'd make one "scratch track" as if we were recording it for real, and submit it to you folks for feedback. We're doing this before sitting down to record the whole album - if there's a fundamental issue in the way we're doing things, we can rectify it before we have ALL the tracks recorded.

Please let us know what you think! Here's the track, entitled "Legions of Hypocrisy":

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3106634/LOH_Try7_M.mp3

Bear in mind, this song has no solos recorded yet (they'd go at the 3:38 mark)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INFO ABOUT THE TRACK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recording:

• 2 Guitars, each Double-tracked with a 57 straight on the dustcap, about 0.5" away from the grill
• Original amp tone (i.e. no impulses) on the guitars
• Bass was recorded through a behringer DI, uses Ampeg SVX for amp sim
• Vocals recorded through a Neumann TLM 103
• Drums recorded with Audix fusion 7 piece drum mic kit, then everything was replaced with Drumagog samples except for the overheads

Mixing:
(I'm at work now, so I don't remember all the details, but if you'd like, I can post more later)

• Guitars were HPF around 150, LPF around 16k
• Vocals have delay, a smidge of plate reverb, and are using the stereo maximizer on Izotope oZone 3 to pull them out a bit.
• Bass tone created with Ampeg SVX
• Some quantizing done on drums and guitars here and there
• Did a quick "master" with T-Racks 3 "master 2" preset.

Thanks for all your help! You guys rock!

 

[mshabooboo]

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

*Crickets*

 

[mephisto_loh]

I liked the song, good structure maybe you have to tight up a bit. so it soudn more agressive to make more contrast with the vocals.
Keep it going guys you are going well!.

 

[mshabooboo]

Any mixing tips? Or have I made the world's best mix?

 

[mshabooboo]

Nothing? Anyone? Please, some feedback?

Off topic - has anyone ever seen the "Gold Medal in Metal" DVD by Dream Evil? In half the shots, the singer has a wireless mic, and in half, he has a wired mic. I can't seem to find any explanation for this....obviously, they're using footage from two different nights, but both have crowds, the band's wearing the same clothes....and they didn't mention anything about "2 nights" or anything. WEIRD

 

[mephisto_loh]

well, as you told is not a professional take (scratch take). and obviously doesn't sound like one. i've listened again the song,and the drums are for my opinion like far away. the overheads are in good level. but the snare (more reverb), toms and kick drum need more presence. Guitars are too upfront, that level is ok but you should level up the drums and the vocals as well to balance the mix.

the drummer needs to hit consistent and there are some parts out of time, also edit the guitar to avoid the string rub harshy sound (minute 1 aprox)

 

[mshabooboo]

Well, actually, we were trying to record it as if we were doing it for real....so although we may not end up using it for the album (and it would be a "scratch" take), we didn't rush through it.

What parts do you find out of time?

Anyone else have any comments?

 

[mshabooboo]

I've updated the mix a bit with mephisto's suggestions - higher drum level, more reverb on the snare, and more vocals:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3106634/LOH_Try8_M.mp3

What do you think?

 

[mshabooboo]

Bumpity Bump Bump

 

[christopher ridley]

Are the vocals panned left the whole time?

 

[mshabooboo]

Are the vocals panned left the whole time?

They're not panned left...(?)

I used the iZotope oZone stereo maximizer to "pull out" the vocals a bit in the stereo field, but they're dead center in the pan.

 

[christopher ridley]

Sounds like maybe you applied a mono instance instead of a stereo instance of the plugin. Total sounds like it's like 60% to the left.

 

[KillDivision]

The guitars sound too boxy compared to the rest of the music and the vocals.

 

[mshabooboo]

The guitars sound too boxy compared to the rest of the music and the vocals.

What would be causing that? Is it my micing technique, or the way I mixed it? Any tips on fixing the issue?

Thanks!

 

[KillDivision]

It's the way of mixing.
A good mix should make the listener believe everything is recorded in the same room. The guitars sound too direkt, I think. Dipping some mids around 500 Hrz would put the guitars more further away. This way there will also be more room for the vocals.

My humble 2 cents.

Cheers.

Edit: Some stereo plugins tend to spread the sound to 1 direction, although the panning is in the middle.

 

[zackpennington]

It sounds like it was recorded well, but mixed poorly. I'd suggest having someone else mix/edit it.

I'm putting my hat in the ring for that...?