Real Drums, Real Amps... rough mix

[Metaltastic]

Yo dude, listening to the most updated mix, I gotta say, I have no trouble believing these are real drums, and in this case that's not really a good thing :/ Cymbals sound small and a bit harsh (and just very lo-fi), and the kick has that annoying sound I know all too well from absurd boosting of the attack frequencies in a muffled mic'ed track (I will admit this is one of the better examples, but it still pokes out like crazy IMO) Best word I can use to describe the snare is "dirty", either from distortion or harmonic excitement or something; I dunno, it just all sounds extremely raw (a big reason being it doesn't sound like there's nearly enough compression, cuz of the aforementioned poking out of stuff).

I don't really hear the cymbals being particularly mono at least, so the stereo spread is good. And make no mistake, I know how hard it is to record real drums and get 'em to sound good, but I really really really really really think you should just bite the bullet, buy SSD 3.5 EX or S2.0, and replace 100% on this. But if you're dead set on keeping 'em natural, then I'd get some fast attack compression and/or limiting on the drum bus post haste, and maybe the kick itself too.

Guitars sound good for what they are, though while I wouldn't call them thin, I'd really like a hearty increase in lows/low-mids (I hear very little growl and practially zero chunk), and I certainly recognize that metallic quality, so no need to ask what you used Cool song and playing though man (I like the drummer's ghost notes on the snare), keep it up!

 

[Masticore]

Good song, good mix! Fuck the samples, keep trying with the real deal! Wish I even had the chance to try mixing real drums. Id imagine if you got better at mixing real drums, come time IF you need samples that shit would be a BREEZE~~~~~~

 

[arv_foh]

Why don't you use samples from the actual kit to augment your sounds and see if that helps out with the "thinness"

Other than that I don't really have anything to add, I pretty much agree with what has already been said

 

[Arrowed Lung Studios]

The drum sound isnt that bad, but it sounds a tad lo-fi as others have said. The guitars and bass sound really beefy. What kind of mics are using here? That may be part of the problem.

 

[Felix Neumann]

Fuck me..there lacks frequency!! You need more in the area 125 - 300 hz.

 

[darthjujuu]

Fuck me..there lacks frequency!! You need more in the area 125 - 300 hz.

totally... it sounds like a really low bitrate mp3 because it just doesn't have an even frequency spread. what i would do (or would have done if it's too late...probably too late) is take a buncha samples of each drum and just use apTrigga with the samples to clean everything up. gives you limitless mix flexibility as far as rooms/overheads, and because it's the actual drums used, if there's a part that is triggering shitty for some reason (fast rolls/ghost notey stuff) just leave the natural track.

but yea, frequency spread is just weird..i can't put my finger on it. if i knew nothing about you i'd say you were a victim of low-end gear. maybe monitoring environment?

 

[AudioPhile777]

maybe monitoring environment?

There is that too... hence the thread...

 

[GarethSE]

Mathew, would it be possible to get an mp3 mixdown of those guitars and then wavs of the drums? I'd quite like to hear how the raws sound and have a crack at mixing them

 

[Ganks]

On that latest mix, the stereo image is fixed for me, at least.

What I would do on the drums:

High Shelf your cymbals around 8K 2-3 dBs.
Send your OH's out to a drum bus and add a decent amount of plate verb?
Mix that in with your original track.

Completely reEQ your toms. They kind of sound like GarageBand tom samples. They have too much artificial taste for me. They definitely need more meat.

Snare actually sounds pretty good. I might add some more reverb to it, and add a little boost around 200Hz. (4-5 db).

It's a very poppy snare, but it still needs some meat.

Your kick drum.. I would say sample replace. :/

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

 

[AudioPhile777]

Mathew, would it be possible to get an mp3 mixdown of those guitars and then wavs of the drums? I'd quite like to hear how the raws sound and have a crack at mixing them

I will do this after the rest of the song is tracked as I was planning to offer up the DIs and raw tracks for mix practice to those who want them...

This is the last rough revision until everything is tracked... feel free to critique it... I'm always interested to hear what you're hearing.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1190954/FFF-Inst_rough6_part.mp3

 

[SomeGuy3]

Looks like they lost interest...

 

[AudioPhile777]

this version has the kick replaced 50% and the snare replaced by 80%...

I also tried a new mastering chain... I might be compressing it too hard. My ears are toast after messing with this thing all day... a few different version worth of experimenting and this is it... for now.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1190954/FFF-Inst_rough9_part.mp3

 

[LethalShredder]

I will do this after the rest of the song is tracked as I was planning to offer up the DIs and raw tracks for mix practice to those who want them...

This is the last rough revision until everything is tracked... feel free to critique it... I'm always interested to hear what you're hearing.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1190954/FFF-Inst_rough6_part.mp3

Yes please! I'm digging this song a lot. It sounds great right now in my opinion, but I'm not very picky.

 

[El_Gato]

Killer tune. I'd only bring down the OHs cause there's too much cymbal and drum bleeding, it will make it more IYF. Also some eq, and why not, comp to the OHs as they're not very good cymabls IMO. Maybe some gate if still drums bleed. I like the (good) OHs to fill and feel, not to stand in front all of the time.

You can also create a room track with IRs if you don't have tracked 'em or the room is not very good. That would fatten the whole thing too.

hope that helps

 

[SomeGuy3]

I played the drums here and made my own mix as well. Feedback welcome.

http://drop.io/ufu8ofp/asset/fff-clip1-ogg