Opera Soprano-Fronted prog metal: my most complex mix.. 72 tracks...

[Glenn Fricker]

Hey gang,

Got a new one here, been working on it for quite some time, hence I haven't been on the board much.

Anyway, the song is a 4 minute clip from a 9 minute epic called "Medusa" by the band, "Perpetuate."

You can check it out here:
http://www.spectresound.ca/recordings.shtml
It's the first song on the mp3 stream player.


This one was pretty ambitious, and I wound up using 72 tracks for all the various bits.
A quick rundown:
Real drums
Fretless and Fretted bass
Contrabass
Grand Piano (my first time recording one!)
Synth Orchestra
All bandmembers sang on the 'choir' aaahs....
& the usual wall of guitars


The synth orchestra was written by the singer, and she really worked her ass off on it. We used a combination of a few different sample sets.


Some pics from the sessions...

On location, recording Grand Piano. You can see my SAC rig in the background.

Long scale Ibanez 7 string. I was very impressed with this guitar.

One mistake too many!




Please feel free to comment & question.

-0z-

 

[Felix Neumann]

Much Kudos for the use of real instruments, Oz!!! Drums sounds great as usual. I also like the Piano. Let me guess, it wasn´t easy mixing all these elements...holy shit! Some weak point though...the female singer! Maybe it´s just me, but I think she lacks a bit of power. Nevertheless I like the part around 2:12, Piano shines out great, also dynamically and the singer is in a pleasent range.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Yeah, this one was a bit of a challenge.

As for the singer, she's holding back in the beginning.... and builds the power as the song progresses. Unfortunately, I can't post the entire track, but the end this song literally makes my hair stand on end every time I hear it. Mainly because of the vocals.

I chose this part to post just to show off the insane instrument mix. I'm glad there was only one of these on the record!

 

[Soundlurker]

Sounds good

As usual, my biggest complaint would be the snare. It sounds flat (no distinctive attack) and has a bit too much mids or lowmids depending on your definition.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Thanks for commenting!

I was going for more of a "Steel Panther" (IMHO, the best sounding record in the last 5 years) type of snare sound than anything modern. Not really a huge fan of super-spiky snares, but you already know that.


Anyway, thanks again for checking it out.

 

[Mago]

really cool Oz!
also nice track
is it the same band you posted quite a while back?...don't think so, the singer was a lot weaker on that one
damn the orchestral stuff is impressive
steel panther snare FTW

 

[Glenn Fricker]

is it the same band you posted quite a while back?...don't think so, the singer was a lot weaker on that one

Yes, it is the same band & singer. She took the comments posted here to heart & worked very, very hard to ratchet up the intensity.

I'll mention your post to them, it'll make her day!

 

[Keregioz]

Yes, it is the same band & singer. She took the comments posted here to heart & worked very, very hard to ratchet up the intensity.

I'll mention your post to them, it'll make her day!

Add a +1 to Mago's comment then, because I also thought it was a different band, definitely a better performance.

The mix is great, I also prefer more "modern" sounding snares, but since it's by choice I can't really judge it.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Yeah, I'll take a "British Steel" "Piece of Mind" or "Shout at the Devil" snare any day of the week

Thanks for the comments, guys!

 

[Donovan S.]

I think the kick sticks out too much during the quieter stuff. Not diggin' the snare but that is personal preference. Too much bottom wire and not enough smack for me. I also think the verb has too much of that early reflection sound.

Everything else sounds great. Great singer and composition!

 

[Seizure.]

Allways cool to record some different stuff.
I agree with the too much bottom wire.
Next that cool!

 

[Mago]

Yes, it is the same band & singer. She took the comments posted here to heart & worked very, very hard to ratchet up the intensity.

I'll mention your post to them, it'll make her day!

after I posted I looked again at your player and spotted the song...really sounds a lot more powerful now. Normally I'm spot on in identifying voices (kind of a weird ability of mine lol) and I thought "it sounds like her...but she sings a lot better"
Great to hear!

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Again, thanks very much for the feedback, guys!

This one was very tough to mix, as there was an insane amount of things going on.

Rhythm guitars were Ibanez Prestige 7 string into 5150/ENGL cab, miked "Fredman Style"... and, given my general loathing of the cheaper Ibanez guitars, I was pretty much shocked by how great this one sounded!

Drums were my 6 piece DW collector's maple, snare was DW maple, with a Tama 42 strand high carbon steel wire. I wanted to really hear the snap of the wires, as too much top head sounds 'papery' IMO. 3 mics: Granelli 5790 on top, C4 on the bottom, and M201 on the side shell for more crack.

Oh, and early reflections were turned OFF on the verb.

Definitely going for a retro-80's sound.... the band is into Iron Maiden bigtime! ...we actually did a cover of The Trooper for this disc.

I was also very happy with how the toms turned out.... "cannons!"

 

[Morgan C]

I love the snare drum! It sounds like a snare drum! Not a microphone placed really close to the top head of a snare drum and then compressed by 15db.

Agree that the kick sticks out a little in quiet sections, and that the verb on the snare is a little odd. I also thought the playing was a tad sloppy in places. I think keeping it rather live works really well, but a few sections could be tightened up a bit because they're not at the stage where any mis-timings are on purpose.

Singer sounds good but not great. Maybe she gets better at the end that I didn't hear. I empathise with you, female singers are HARD to get sounding powerful. Maybe some testosterone injections right before recording would help out, get some aggression in them >: D

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I love the snare drum! It sounds like a snare drum! Not a microphone placed really close to the top head of a snare drum and then compressed by 15db.

Thanks, Morgan! You just made my day.

 

[metalfanat1c]

I also love the snare.


And that chick has an epic voice.