Please crit original Symphonic Death Metal mix

[hkollner]

Hi Guys,

I am finalizing our symphonic death metal album. No matter what I do I am never satisfied with my mixes and always try to improve the "Previous" mix. The result...it never gets done.
Please crit my mix. Below are 2 versions, which sound better to your ears and what can I do to improve the mix?

Improved Mix:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...rbees - Liars Of The Cross (Improved Mix).mp3

Original Mix:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1794391/Suiderbees/Suiderbees - Liars Of The Cross.mp3

 

[MrBongo]

Great song!

The two mixes sounded very similar to me, but I didn´t pay attention to all details, just played them one after the other. You could possibly fool your bandmates by making them listen to a different mix for ten times in a row and they wouldn´t notice
However, the original mix felt slightly more open. Just a tiny bit though, so, basically my opinion goes for both mixes.

Overall it´s very well balanced. The single instruments can be heard clearly throughout the song, and everything´s in its place.
Just with lots of squashing and squeezing

One thing though: The intro toms have a very artificial "whoomping" low end that evolves very slowly, long after the initial attack. Could be artifacts of sidechain compression, mastering comp (it´s louder when the guitars stop) or EQ madness. In any case, I find it irritating.


Personal preference: greater dynamic range.
You were obviously going for total carnage and maximum loudness. But there´s also the density of the arrangement with keys and doublekick all day long, which makes it very exhausting to listen to. This is due to the nature of this kind of music though, and will not vanish when keeping the loudness, since it´s necessary to use heavy compression and distortion to achieve that.
To make it a little less overbearing, I´d ease up on the kickdrum. It is not a dominant part of the song, even though it´s blasting 24/7, but is not playing any interesting patterns or such that need to stand out. I would treat it more like a supportive element. Still loud and powerful, but not that prominent and space-taking. The ducking is quite intense for little benefit. The kick sound itself is massive, but too massive for full-time doublekick.
Maybe same for the snaredrum and toms to keep the balance, I´m not entirely sure though.

 

[hkollner]

Great song!

Personal preference: greater dynamic range.
You were obviously going for total carnage and maximum loudness. But there´s also the density of the arrangement with keys and doublekick all day long, which makes it very exhausting to listen to. This is due to the nature of this kind of music though, and will not vanish when keeping the loudness, since it´s necessary to use heavy compression and distortion to achieve that.
To make it a little less overbearing, I´d ease up on the kickdrum. It is not a dominant part of the song, even though it´s blasting 24/7, but is not playing any interesting patterns or such that need to stand out. I would treat it more like a supportive element. Still loud and powerful, but not that prominent and space-taking. The ducking is quite intense for little benefit. The kick sound itself is massive, but too massive for full-time doublekick.
Maybe same for the snaredrum and toms to keep the balance, I´m not entirely sure though.

Thanks for the advice. This is the type of crit I like to see

I hear what you are saying about the kick drum. I like low end heavy mixes and was going for a more Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia type of mix. But I guess the kick is getting a little boomy in parts and the low end rumble is quite space taking (If that is what you are refering to)?

What do you reccomend I do... Lower the kick volume or try to tame the low end build up with multiband compression?
Does the snare have too much 200hz?

Forgot to mention that I have the flu so my hearing is not as great at the moment.
Thanks again for the crit

 

[MrBongo]

one thing is the huge low-end, but I´d lower the total kick volume as well. Probably doesn´t have to be much more than a dB.

I liked the snare sound as-is. There was just a lot of it, and I´d rather focus on the other instruments, since it is them who are more interesting to listen to


no problem I wish I had enough time to offer my help to more people

 

[Imaeda]

Sounds awesome mate!

Puritanical has always been one of my favorite albums so definitely love the sound that you're going for.

As for the mix, sounds pretty balanced to me (not really noticing any particular over emphasis on the low end personally).