Please have a listen and tell me what to improve on this mix..

[Black neon bob]

Hey guys...

I did a mix, wanted to improve a bit here and there on bastard breed.. but i am not so sure if i did..

I wanted a bit more agression in the guitars, so i tracked them 4 times.. all seperate.. no copies..

The bass is a pitched normal guitar string...

Synths.. is well... you know, synth.. same goes for orchestra..

But i would like to know what you guys think of the whole mix/song structure.. i am worried i strained my ears a bit for the last couple of days, so im not really in a state where i can hear a good mix and a bad one..

I feel however, the mix is a bit muddy.. any suggestion, tips, hints are FREAKIN welcome!!

It's called "the remains"

link:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283678

Take care,

Bobby.

 

[prizo]

Page won't load for me.

 

[Black neon bob]

Ah yes.. the famous downtime on soundclick seems to be back.. wont load for me as well...

Sorry guys.. i think it will be back online soon...

 

[KillDivision]

Okay, let me help you out here.
I've put both "The Remains" and "Bastardbreed" on my webspace to compare.

Enjoy.

http://members.home.nl/thomas.dijk/toxicgrindmachine+theremains.mp3

http://members.home.nl/thomas.dijk/toxicgrindmachine+bastardbreed.mp3

 

[James Murphy]

a few things stand out to me..kicks are a bit "typewriter", snare is kind of smaller than it should perhaps be and too quiet. the biggest problem is that the keys are too loud, overpowering really though I thnk filtering is more the issue than volume... but even if you filter them they will likely need to be down a bit. cool song.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

What can I say, I don't know enough about mixing to tell you what could make it better but I'm obsessed with your music. I listen to it all the time. Thanks alot for making it!

 

[Black neon bob]

Thanks Killdivision! these are the two mixes that need comparison.. which is better..

James:

Cheers man... excellent point you make on the volume settings.. i mixed it on headphones again.. did that with bastard breed as well, but this time, i think i kinda oversaw/heard some things.. you just pointed them out... thanks..

Now i need to look up the process of filtering.. have not really done that before.. haha..

Wow.. thanks Memphisto! i am glad you enjoy the songs...

Now as for me after a day of unstraining the ears for a day.. i have noticed that the mix is more "dirty" then the bastard breed mix.. might be a couple of things.. first is the bass.. this time i did not use the reason MIDI bass.. but the pitchshifter..
I made the MIDI track for the reason bass allready.. so will post up a mix tonight without the pitchshifter, and replace that with the reason distorted bass.. which seems to be more accurate (a bit too much, i.m.o.) and see if that sounds better.. it should clean up things more...

Then i will mix the song through my speakers instead.. should help me notice volume levels gone wrong more..
Might even replace the guitars as well.. use another patch.. less high EQ's on it...

These guitars were a bomber uber patch on the POD XT.. Andy's C4 on it.. and freefilter with the EQ settings of korn... might leave freefilter off this time.. just C4 on the guitars..

James.. what would you suggest for the kick and snare? the kick is Andy's as well.. i use it with aptrigga 2... should i perhaps put some more compression on the snare to make it come more alive in the mix? or just put it more up in volume?

Guys.. the overall idea for me would be to hear from you all what you like more.. what mix is better.. the "bastard breed" mix, or the "the remains" mix..
I will go with one for in the end that sounds better.. clean it up, improve it a bit, and use it as a template for the songs..

Please let me know, ok?

Take care,

Bobby.

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

That solo'd out left panned guitar at 1:05 is tits again - just great fucking work with the POD dude.

On my first listen all I am focusing on are the guitars. So far, so good man!

Another simple yet great groove at 2:19.

When you prog your drums, do you mouse click them in, use a controller, step record?

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

The only thing, as other have said, the snare needs more POP, and to be more present in the mix... to my ears at least. I think the kick sounds find, typewriter is kinda how it needs to be for this, imo.

Guitars just sound great as usual.

 

[Black neon bob]

Thank Etherforbreakfast!

Thanks for the comment on the guitars... i hear you guys on the snare needing more presence.. i am on it!

Ether.. i mouseclick each hit manually.. offcourse a lot of copy/paste and then some editing.. i could not be more happy with DFHS for what it does..

 

[Black neon bob]

Allright.. left out the pitchshifter this time.. replaced it with a reason bass simulator..

Took James's advice, tempered down some synth.. upped the snare a bit (will probably end up replacing it though)...

Let me know what you think:


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283678

there's the normal version, and the reason bass version.. not a big difference, but i gotta start somewhere..

 

[JeffTD]

I think it sounds a bit better, but the synth could be tempered down even more. The snare sounds really metallic to me, but it sounds great on blastbeats. Hell... how do you get the blastbeats to sound so damned good? LOL

Also, do you have the patch for that Uber setting available for download?

 

[marcust]

hi,
your music (if it's your music) sounds awesome
that chorus is amazing
good work no complaints here

 

[neverpurify]

Great song! I agree with others about taming the keys a bit. Especially right after it breaks into the 1st all synth part. Your songs are so killer you don't need all of those synths dominating the mix. Do you plan to add vox to the song?

 

[Kenny Lee]

Allright.. left out the pitchshifter this time.. replaced it with a reason bass simulator..

Took James's advice, tempered down some synth.. upped the snare a bit (will probably end up replacing it though)...

Let me know what you think:


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=283678

there's the normal version, and the reason bass version.. not a big difference, but i gotta start somewhere..

Nice Bobby!!! When hearing this--- man I can't wait to finally finish our newer material too (Still awaiting our re-locating).
Good work man, you still mixin' with cans on? The piano kicks ass, a killer piece of the tune. Is it the piano off the 'Silver edition'? Once you get vocals in the mix, things will fall into place!

Great work Bro.!!!

 

[Black neon bob]

Thanks for listening!

DSS3:

Yeah man.. i got the patch right here.. will get to work in 5 minutes, but if i remember, i could post it tonight.. it's again, someone's tone, i adjusted it a bit to my own liking.. and even though it's a great tone, i did put freefilter on the guitars.. that makes the tone as well.. for about 40% it's freefilter.. the rest is the source...

Thanks Marcust.. and yes, the music is my own...

Kenny!:

Thanks Kenny... glad you liked it... i can't wait to hear your new stuff as well..

Yeah.. still mixing with cans on.. mainly due to people sleeping when im creating/mixing at night.. is anyone else having problems having no inspiritation during the day, but at night, all comes out? very weird...

The piano is the one from edirol orchestra.. i think it's a cool piano sound, bit i might replace it with east west's piano VST.. the bösendorfer... might need some more piano variations, since i use the piano on 90% of the songs done so far...

Vocals will be put on as soon as i am done with the songs and the mixes... that's why i am looking for a lot of feedback on what mix is better.. and what the minor points are on the newest mix.. i hope to find nice mix and sound for the final mixes...

Killdivision will do the vocals when theyre done... think of the band "skyfire" and i think you might get the vibe i am shooting for with these songs...

Cheers eveyone!!

 

[Lord Lurion]

Uhm... About the synths... Man, I'm a keyboardist, and I absolutely LOVE what you've got here. I would not turn them down a single bit LOL. Some of those piano lines are magical. And I dig the overall sound of the song. Excellent tune man. Really like it. Mixing on cans, eh? That's pretty impresive! Thanks for sharing.

 

[James Murphy]

Uhm... About the synths... Man, I'm a keyboardist, and I absolutely LOVE what you've got here. I would not turn them down a single bit LOL. Some of those piano lines are magical. And I dig the overall sound of the song. Excellent tune man. Really like it. Mixing on cans, eh? That's pretty impresive! Thanks for sharing.

Rule #5: never, ever... ever. listen to a keyboardist about how to set keyboard levels in a mix.

rules 1-4 being:

1. never listen a vocalist about what level to set vocals
2. never listen to a bassist about what level to set bass
3. never listen to a lead guitarist about what level to set solos
4.. never listen to a drummer about what level to set his kit.


lol... keyboards a especially problematic when they have not been filtered correctly, and to be honest Lurion i was not suggesting that he should make them less audible... just that he should lower the level and make them fit in and be heard with filtering/eq. they are too full bandwidth as of the last example i heard, and are so disproportionately "big" that they step on the rest of the mix.

 

[~BURNY~]

Hehe, so true...

 

[Lord Lurion]

Haha! Yeah, I know all about it. Keyboards are actually a problem instrument for me for that very reason. I tend to indulge in the greateness of atmospheres and forget that we are doing METAL here. I understood what you meant, James, and I agree. It's just that I dig the keyboards on these particular tunes very much!