Oh DEAR LORD! My first commercial release! HELP!

[Tallicalad]

Hi there guys,

My name is Archie and I'm the frontman/engineer for my band Seven Deadly.

I'm going to be mixing our debut album and I'm looking for some guidance from my fellow Sneapsters! So I'll be sharing bits and pieces for people to critique.

Clip: https://www.dropbox.com/s/whwrdqpz22snnpn/BLKRDR.mp3

What are the pros/cons of this mix? What could be done to improve it?

Drummer and guitarist are satisfied with the sound however, the other guitarist and I are thinking the mix lacks a bit of weight, separation. My guitarist also feels like the snare doesn't cut enough.

DAW: Logic 9 Pro
Guitars:Quad tracked - DI signal from a Laney IRT - Processed using the Mesa Lepou amp with a tube screamer plugin - bit of room reverb, panned 75 % L&R, bus compression.
Bass: DI bass, processed with a heavy eq and limiting
Drums: Addictive drums with Steven Slate samples on all the solid pieces of the kit, new york on the kick/sniare (also clipped).
Vocals: Vocals recorded through a C100, eq, rvox, bit of room vox, med plate reverb about 1.5 sec.
Output bus: Eq, comp, tape saturation and L2 limiter.

Cheers,

Archie

 

[schismatic]

Hey man, well I think the vocals are really nice on this, as is the tone of the guitars and their blend with the bass. I think the overheads could be high-passed a little more, they need some more air perhaps? Snare feels a bit hidden too - I think your guitarist is right about it not cutting through enough. The drums as a whole are a bit distant (but not a huge a lot!).

 

[Daybreak]

I feel the guitars are kind of overpowering everything. Try lowering it in volume, or drop the quad tracking and just go with two takes panned 100% left/right (I honestly never got why people pan guitars like 75% or 80%, I just feel it makes the mix muddier...). It's true as you say, the snare doesn't really cut, my guess is that the guitars are clouding it. Also, I feel kick needs a tad bit more "OOMPHF", if you know what I mean, haha.

 

[xXxMetalJunkiexXx]

Kick and guitars are a bit overwhelming, snare doesn't cut thorugh(volume and might need a small 15k boost) and there's something really weird going on with the drums at about 0:31-0:32.
Besides that I think everything sounds pretty awesome!

 

[schismatic]

Vocals: Vocals recorded through a C100, eq, rvox, bit of room vox, med plate reverb about 1.5 sec.

Intrigued about the vocal recording - have a couple of questions if you don't mind?

Do you mean the AKG C1000S mic? Also, what was your tracking chain and environment? Did you use a studio / vocal booth / duvets / nothing etc??

Cheers!

 

[Tallicalad]

Intrigued about the vocal recording - have a couple of questions if you don't mind?

Do you mean the AKG C1000S mic? Also, what was your tracking chain and environment? Did you use a studio / vocal booth / duvets / nothing etc??

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply! And no issues!

Yes, the mic I'm using is the AKG C1000. It was recorded in a pretty dead room, there wasn't really any special augmentation, I just made sure there wasn't any particular ringing or unpleasantness happening that might show up on the recording. I've had a lot of surprise from the fact I'm using 'that' microphone. I've used a sm57/58 on all my covers and not had any issues! (that is also usually a surprise to people) http://snd.sc/19gFUca <--- example

 

[Tallicalad]

I feel the guitars are kind of overpowering everything. Try lowering it in volume, or drop the quad tracking and just go with two takes panned 100% left/right (I honestly never got why people pan guitars like 75% or 80%, I just feel it makes the mix muddier...). It's true as you say, the snare doesn't really cut, my guess is that the guitars are clouding it. Also, I feel kick needs a tad bit more "OOMPHF", if you know what I mean, haha.

Good point! I agree. This is just a rough mix I threw together from one of my templates (+ a few hours work) to give to my manager. But yeah, I'll look at panning the guitars all the way. It' nice sometimes to have that little bit in either ear, just to give the guitars a little bit of blend. Haha, yep! Kick definitely could use some more "OOMPHF". I find that with the snare, the L2 is a real snare killer, I'm considering using a different limiter that might let a little bit of the signal through, just to keep the 'pat' of it.

Hey man, well I think the vocals are really nice on this, as is the tone of the guitars and their blend with the bass. I think the overheads could be high-passed a little more, they need some more air perhaps? Snare feels a bit hidden too - I think your guitarist is right about it not cutting through enough. The drums as a whole are a bit distant (but not a huge a lot!).

Cool, thanks for the reply. Perhaps you're right about the drums, I'll have a tweak!

Kick and guitars are a bit overwhelming, snare doesn't cut thorugh(volume and might need a small 15k boost) and there's something really weird going on with the drums at about 0:31-0:32.
Besides that I think everything sounds pretty awesome!

Great! Thanks for the feedback

 

[Tallicalad]

Kick and guitars are a bit overwhelming, snare doesn't cut thorugh(volume and might need a small 15k boost) and there's something really weird going on with the drums at about 0:31-0:32.
Besides that I think everything sounds pretty awesome!

That's because it's a 'clip' of the song, the different parts are crossfaded together.

 

[Tallicalad]

New mix: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u6zvolkzxk32r0n/BlackGayDarMegaMix.wav Thoughts?

 

[kylendm]

Sweet song. The chorus is catchy haha.
It sounds like it's pumping quite a bit. The OHs could use a little more high passing. But yeah, I would turn down the guitars, that alone might help that snare cut through. The more I listen I think that snare sounds kinda dark and maybe boosting 4-6k a little might help it cut through and brighten up.