Suggestions for a metal mix?

CountedShadows

CountedShadows

New Metal Member
Jun 5, 2009
19
0
1
Boston MA
www.countedshadowsmetal.com
Hey everyone,

I was hoping someone could offer some suggestions for my mix here. The largest problem I have is that it goes "whoomp whoomp" in the car when I test it. Otherwise it seems ok but is lacking polish. Keep in mind I've only just learned about recording within the last 2 years and I've never set foot in a real studio.

My main goal here is to tighten up the guitars ... I seem to lose the emphasis of the palm mutes.

Dominae - By: Counted Shadows
Copyright © 2009 - All Rights Reserved

Here are some details of the mix: (I'm at work so I can't remember everything)

G E A R :
DAW - Cubase SX3 with Waves, URS, PSP, Voxengo plugs)
Guitar - Schecter C1+ w/active EMG Pickups, GHS Boomer 12g Strings for low tune (tuned to C)
Input - Line6 Toneport UX2 (with all sound packs installed) The tones I used here are part of the metal pack. "Much Heavy" for the 100R - 100L (with 30% room sm57 on-axis) I then modified that preset by boosting the mids, panning to 80R-80L (with 10% room sm57 off-axis). Leads are "Prime Crime" with some extra delay.. panned just slightly off center and automated so as not to interupt vocals.
Drums - Toontrack EZ Drummer with the DFH kit set to Roomy (no comp mix) EQ'd and compressed to taste on the mixer in multichannel mode
Bass - ESP 5 String with Active EMG's (playing through the Toneport UX2)
Vocals - Shure SM58 beta through the Toneport - Recorded smack in the middle of my bedroom.

​
That's all I can think of at the moment. This weekend perhaps I can post some screens of my settings within Cubase. But for now some general critique would be fantastic. If the thread gains enough interest we can play with the finer settings at that time.

Thanks in advance for all your considerations

Rock on,
Chris ~ Counted Shadows
 
The vocals sound a bit like they're floating above the song? Maybe lower the volume a bit and add a bit of reverb?
The sound of the guitars is really big, it sounds like the sustain never ends!
 
Yeah I agree about the vocals sitting too high above the rest of the mix. The drums sound really thin too. Maybe try some different samples or eq to bring out some body? The guitars don't sound too bad at all. I kind of like the bass, but it may be a little loud. It could probably use some more low end too.
 
If you want to, post the tracks somewhere like Rapidshare or something like that and I could try my hand at mixing this for you. I'm no Andy Sneap so I can't promise any better results, but I'd be up for giving it a shot anyway. Let me know if you'd be up for that.
 
I'm finding a little hard to hear the kick and snare so it's kind of loosing the impact it could have.

If your chasing a particular sound with your mix,why not load the track up and use it to reference.It will help you understand where and what frequencies to cut or boost.
Your on your way buddy don't be discouraged with your efforts,and having an offer from Matthias to help you out is a great thing.
My main criticism kick and snare.
 
[Matthias]

Would it be terrible to provide you with MP3's instead of waves? The waves are 100megs+ and my server is choking. I think with high quality MP3's we can achieve a method for me to apply to my raw wav's here at home.

[Styvo]

I'm always tweaking drums until I puke. It's definitely not the instrument for OCD's to start tweaking. My listening environment is horrible and that is a limitation I have to live with. So hearing that the kick and snare are weak tells me that my room is amplifying those to a degree. When listening at home i've been told that the kick and snare really slam the track home. Thank you for that bit of feedback. I'll try to make adjustments in the future with that in mind.
 
I think your problem (sounding bad in the car) is the kick. I don't have a massive rig, but i generally view songs in Voxengo SPAN when I listen to them (as weird as it sounds).

Your problem is that the kick is too low frequency wise, change the kick sample or maybe eq it differently and i'm sure it will sound better. Try to highpass the kick at 50hz or so.

Try to analyze your favorite mix in Voxengo SPAN, see how the curve moves especially in the low end and try to imitate that.

Anyway just a suggestion, I'm no professional

Nice song though :)
 
I probably COULD use MP3's, but it wouldn't be ideal to say the least. If you're up for it, try Rapidshare. I believe you can upload 100megs files at a time. What you could do is ZIP or RAR the files up and upload it, then give me the link and I can get them. If it's more than 100megs. You can upload two files just easily. I think this would be the easiest way, and I'd enjoy the chance to see if I could get a good mix.
 
Ok here you go. Everything you need should be in there. These are just raw files with nothing on them... all panned center and levels at 0. The drums are an exception to that. They're exported straight out of DFH as stereo files with panning information.

The only ones that might be a bit strange are the vocals. Basically I compiled like 40 clips of vocals into 4 or 5 tracks.

http://www.countedshadows.net/ugsample/

I definitely look forward to seeing what you can do. If you need me to re-record guitars I can do that. These are processed but I can record a DI track for you for reamping if you want.

Chris
 
I'll check them out and spend some time with them. I'll try the included guitar tracks first. They may work. As far as DI tracks, I'll send you a PM if I start to feel like they would be better.

Incidentally, I recently started the practice of from now on, always recording both at the same time on every project, just so I'm covered. Record into a DI box and then link out to your amp or POD or whatever. That way you have the DI ready to go if you decide to go that way. I'm really glad I started doing that and I wish I had done it all along.

*EDIT* I got all the tracks downloaded and unrar'd, but four rars were corrupt. The hihats, toms, snare B, and EL GTR Left 1.
 
Dude, LOVE the song and how it's written.. the easy going part being my favorite part!

The mix.. it's late, i cant seem to really explain what is lacking and what is not... well okay, at the end (god like part) the ride needs to come up for sure.

- The bass sticks out a bit, maybe filter out the highs and boost it's low a bit more to make it blend in better.
- The guitars.. i think they can use a boost around 4-5Khz.
- Vocals.. yes, they are a bit too much on top of the mix.. and a bit uneven it seems as well, try and compress quite a bit.
- Drums.. EZ drummer is cool.. but i think you should give Addictive Drums a go for music like this.. the samples are fatter, and there are great presets to be found right here on the forum... you can even just try the demo.
EZ snares and kicks are quite thin out of the box, i think AD is better for this, or sampling EZ.

Dont worry dude, you are on your way and im totally getting the vibe you are putting out with this song, it's written very well and it just needs a more polished mix.. keep it up!
 
Wow thanks Bob... that is some great feedback. I just picked up AD actually. Not having luck finding presets on here but there's so much to dig through I'm sure I'll find some soon. As I do this more and more I notice my ears picking up things I missed even just a few months ago. My ears are definitely learning where things sit in frequencies and I can see now why it takes many years for some of these pros to have the ears they do.

Now if I can fix my listening environment.....

Check out some of the other tunes on our myspace. myspace.com/countedshadows
 
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