NEWEST PRODUCTION: ABIOTIC - TECH/DEATH - CJ!

Charles J

New Metal Member
Oct 12, 2008
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Florida
YOW FOLKS!

EDIT: UPDATED MIX with a WILDLY different mastering chain than I would normally use. I used Aborted C.R. EP that Murphy did as a general reference for the freq spectrum. When doing an A/B, you guys were spot on... that shit was WAY to scooped and brighter than fuck.

This revision is much more present in the mids and not quite as slammed but I managed to still retain the violence, I THINK.

UPDATED:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/786150/Sonic%20Assault%20Studios/ABIOTIC%20-%20UNIVERSAL%20PLAGUE/ABIOTIC%20-%20LOCUSTS%20-%20NEW%20MASTER%20-%20REV3%20-%20mp3.mp3

DISCLAIMER: You'll either absolutely LOVE IT or HATE IT. Either way, I just do what I do, yoooooooooo! =D

The band is called ABIOTIC from Miami, FL and they're some of the coolest dudes you'd ever want to meet. TOO MUCH RAMBLING!

This mix is in it's final form but I thought I'd share it with all my Sneap forum friends!

THE LOWDOWN: (I forgot the mic setup I used on the drums.... oops, haha)

DRUMS: 7-piece X7 kit with a ton of cymbals.
Kick: Tons of layered samples
SNR: 50/50 (top mic/sample)
Toms: All natural babe!
OHs: ATM450's and spot mics on the hats, ride and china

I did setup the royer as a mono room mic but it didn't make the mix.

GTR's were QUAD TRACKED w/ an Ibanez Prestige w/EMG's...
Bass: Finger player using a Warwick directly into our Neve clone
Vox: SM7 > dbx160a on the way in!

The reamp chain was: Maxon808 > JSX (red channel) > Mesa OS > i5 > Neve clone

LD's and everything else is all ITB shite...

ENJOY TEH SHREDZZZZZZ.
 
what josh said. the mastering is fucking LOUD! typical Charles mix ;) but if it were me, i would throw some mids in there, as guitars are made for mids. vocals could be a little fuller in the mid range as well. but aside from that, THIS IS TITS.
 
what josh said. the mastering is fucking LOUD! typical Charles mix ;) but if it were me, i would throw some mids in there, as guitars are made for mids. vocals could be a little fuller in the mid range as well. but aside from that, THIS IS TITS.

that's just my style bro.... =D most know that, hahaha...

i agree it is a bit bright for my liking and I've worked my balls off trying to rectify it in mastering but it's a mix issue and I know exactly what's causing it.

as far as sounding scooped, well... i tried added those 600-800hz mids to the mix and I fucking hated it. It ruins all the brutality and doesn't do the song justice. THE SONG IS KING! =D

and about the loudness thing, I never even LOOK at rms meters.... i just mix/master it until it's crushing my skull BUT still retaining transients, etc. etc... I'm SLOWLY starting to back down on that but it just wasnt working for these songs. they're crafted to be as brutal, clear and violent as possible.
 
Vocals are fucking KILLING me, I love it!

They sound squashed and saturated to fuck, any info?

thanks bro!

i actually didn't use any additional compression in the mix, the vox were tracked with an SM7 > dbx160a (hitting 15-20dB) and totally slamming the carnhill tranny's in our neve pre. I wasn't sure how it would work out in the end but I couldn't be happier. Just adds to the chaos =D

analog FTW
 
Aw man, lately it seems you're treating your mixes like they are your s&m bitch :D
There's about 3dB of 2kHz-6kHz that's killing it for me and a big chunk of the mids from 200Hz to 1000Hz is missing.

Can't it be uber brutal AND enjoyable to listen like the good old GiftOfRuin - Walking Over Your Sea mix?


Nevermind... that's just my view and it's important that you have a vision of your mixes and stick by it. Good luck with it :headbang:
 
Hey man, I came in here with the intention of being uber-supportive, but I think this mix is a bit too extreme for me, much like Soundlurker.

It feels like there's a massive hole in the mids that's taking away all the meat and body from the track. I feel it's so heavily cut that it's taking brutality away from the music rather than adding it.

There's got to be a way to get more of that 300 to 500hz meat back into it.

If you were able to find a happy medium between this new style and your old mixes like Gift of Ruin - 'Walking Over Your Sea' and 'Remote Floods' I think you'd really be in business. The new style I'm sure works great on super-layered music like Martyrs, but as soon as the track counts get sparse, it ends up quite hollow.
 
Agreed.. it's loud though! Love that, balance overall is good and yes, it's really brutal.
But i miss mids, i don't hate it or love it, i just think the mix and music would benefit from a less scooped sound since this fatigues and strains the ears quite a bit.
 
thanks so much, guys!!! this is why I post my mixes occasionally to see how far off the mark I may or may not be.

i havent been using reference mixes in AGES while mixing so I have no constant to go back to.

I'm going to rectify this today and post up a new version, PLEASE let me know if it's improved!

Thanks for all the help because to be honest, I too think it's too scooped and I fucking HATE the high-end. I'll report back!!! =D

@ERMZ: you're dead on in saying it works for super textured stuff like Martyrs but in this case, I'm working with maybe only 30 tracks or so (mostly vox)

EDIT: funny thing, theres nothing in the mix that I intentionally scooped as far as the individ elements go.. I think I know exactly what the culprit is and it's living on my 2BUSS and has been so for quite a while. Time to dump it or tweak it... =D
 
I'm listening to it at home atm and I'm pretty tired but what I can tell for sure is that it's tons better!
 
Yeah, dude, for sure better with the update! Comparing the old, EP verson on facebook to the new mix you updated is night and day. Much more meat to it and much more balanced. The only thing that sticks out to me are the clean(ish) parts. Their volume and relative frequencies make them jump out all abrupt-like. That and I think the delay/modulation might be a little much on the solos. Under different circumstances, it'd be totally fine, but in this case it might cloud how monstrous and clean John and Matt are shred-wise. Just my take, though. Heavy as balls! Expect nothing less from your mixes. :Smokin:

Daniel
 
Yeah, dude, for sure better with the update! Comparing the old, EP verson on facebook to the new mix you updated is night and day. Much more meat to it and much more balanced. The only thing that sticks out to me are the clean(ish) parts. Their volume and relative frequencies make them jump out all abrupt-like. That and I think the delay/modulation might be a little much on the solos. Under different circumstances, it'd be totally fine, but in this case it might cloud how monstrous and clean John and Matt are shred-wise. Just my take, though. Heavy as balls! Expect nothing less from your mixes. :Smokin:

Daniel

Thanks so much Daniel! I'm glad I posted this or I wouldn't have noticed. I've heard the mixes so many times my ears just got used to the scooped sound but I always despised the high-end. Took about 5 mintues to rectify that.

Regarding the solo's, I'm a fucking SUCKER for over the top 80's shred (even though I'm not a huge fun of the 80s in general) so that explains that.... I think it's fucking awesome.