RAW & REAL - Brutal Death

ok, this took me quite a while, but if finally got around to actually MIXING the damn thing :D

here's a different song, same reamp as the updated version earlier in this thread, but mixed this time, not just a quick guitar reamp test.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1296348/Andy Sneap Forum Files/Candero - Controlled Observation.mp3

vocals need more automation, but i'll do that once i get the OK from the band....there's no point in doing lotsa vocal tweaks if they decide that they're not happy with guitars or drums or whatever.

still a blend of engl fireball and 5150 (mostly 5150 though), sansamp on bass (blended with pod farm), kick is mainly slate kick 5 blended with yamaha subkick and some of the natural kick, snare is like 70% real with some sample augmentation to get the blasts to cut through.
SSL all over the place btw....probably the best plugins i ever got. e channel on vocals and drums, 2bus comp for mastering and drum group compression.
 
ok, this took me quite a while, but if finally got around to actually MIXING the damn thing :D

here's a different song, same reamp as the updated version earlier in this thread, but mixed this time, not just a quick guitar reamp test.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1296348/Andy Sneap Forum Files/Candero - Controlled Observation.mp3

vocals need more automation, but i'll do that once i get the OK from the band....there's no point in doing lotsa vocal tweaks if they decide that they're not happy with guitars or drums or whatever.

still a blend of engl fireball and 5150 (mostly 5150 though), sansamp on bass (blended with pod farm), kick is mainly slate kick 5 blended with yamaha subkick and some of the natural kick, snare is like 70% real with some sample augmentation to get the blasts to cut through.
SSL all over the place btw....probably the best plugins i ever got. e channel on vocals and drums, 2bus comp for mastering and drum group compression.

Diggin this mix dude! When the whole band is playing sounds the least muddy out of all the mixes. When it is just the guitar alone for a few seconds, they sound HUGE!!!

Not a fan of the vocals at all, the vocals and not the mix of them.
 
this thing is really causing me headaches....

well, i need a little help here.
the band called me and said "dude, we got to talk about that mix. it's just not happening. the whole thing is way too tame".
further inquiries as for what exactly they don't like didn't produce any results. it's just too tame.
what i got out of them though is that the guitar sound is fine.
they're hating the gritty bass, which isn't really a problem as it's easy to fix.

so, anyone got an idea what exactly might be too tame about this mix, and any suggestions what to change to make it sound...well...more exciting?

maybe i should make it sound more oldschool.....take off most of the effects (esp reverb), get rid of the 2bus compression, get rid of the snare compression, get rid of the snare sample, back off the kick sample and blend in more natural kick, and THEN go crazy with the multiband comp on the 2bus and make the low end sound huge to satisfy their lust for fat lowend breakdowns.....urgh

i got to start charging for mix revisions.....
 
my initial reaction to this was that it was 'too tame' and then i got down to this last post, haha...

id know exactly how to make this sound if i had it pulled up in my own studio, but it is REALLY hard to verbalize....

we're talking a LOT of EQ'ing, basically everything... compression.... serial/parallel..

basically, over-exaggerate the whole thing dude. ya just gotta do it.

everything needs MORE saturation and more of a smiley face curve.

mastering especially, kick/snare/bass should be punching my face out while the gtrs sit WIDE left and right and just sound gnar as fuck.

then.

vocalist comes in the center, with some slight verb and double...... and his voice is compressed to fuck and back / eq all that fucking mud out and accentuate the high frequency portion of his throat that make the vox sound brutal. right now that shit is way boxy.

and then

............compress the vox again

=D
 
my initial reaction to this was that it was 'too tame' and then i got down to this last post, haha...

id know exactly how to make this sound if i had it pulled up in my own studio, but it is REALLY hard to verbalize....

we're talking a LOT of EQ'ing, basically everything... compression.... serial/parallel..

basically, over-exaggerate the whole thing dude. ya just gotta do it.

everything needs MORE saturation and more of a smiley face curve.

mastering especially, kick/snare/bass should be punching my face out while the gtrs sit WIDE left and right and just sound gnar as fuck.

then.

vocalist comes in the center, with some slight verb and double...... and his voice is compressed to fuck and back / eq all that fucking mud out and accentuate the high frequency portion of his throat that make the vox sound brutal. right now that shit is way boxy.

and then

............compress the vox again

=D


did you listen to the latest mix?
 
I would say what they are looking for is that super mega distorted guitar tone, like almost buzzsaw kind of tone where there are just basically no mids.

I think they need a slap because this mix is how brutal death metal should sound.