Two metalcore song clips - mixing critique welcome!

[austinhue]

These are clips from two different demos my band is throwing together. They haven't been taken into a proper studio yet so the drums are programmed, guitar is modeled, etc. In fact the only mic used is an SM-7 for the vocals.

Obviously everything won't sound as good as if we actually had gear, and took the time to track well. But these are demos so we'll save that for the studio. I also can't afford all the Waves and UAD and crap that I would like, but I'm trying to make the most of what I have (which is mostly Logic's built-in plugins, haha). I'm trying to get better at mixing though, so your comments on the mixing are welcome!

Oh, and the screams aren't in yet... The first clip doesn't have any screams anyway, but the second one will eventually.


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6920288/Heaven Knows Preview.mp3

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6920288/Straight Forward Preview.mp3

 

[austinhue]

BUMP.

I fell to page two with no comments... Can anyone help? I know these mixes aren't quite professional-quality, but my objectivity is zero and I'm not sure what to work on from here.

 

[Robert Landrum]

I'll be honest. It needs a good bit of work. Where to start? Snare is almost non existent. Kick drum is WAY to clicky sounding. Vocals are not loud enough. Guitars are too loud. Guitar tone has too much high end going on, too much fizz. Bass is there.......I think? With some work I could see a really good track here, even though I despise singing type vocals with my metal but that's me. Just practice and play around with different things. A/B your song next to a mix that you like and try to dial in something that is workable at least. Good luck.

 

[austinhue]

I'll be honest. It needs a good bit of work. Where to start? Snare is almost non existent. Kick drum is WAY to clicky sounding. Vocals are not loud enough. Guitars are too loud. Guitar tone has too much high end going on, too much fizz. Bass is there.......I think? With some work I could see a really good track here, even though I despise singing type vocals with my metal but that's me. Just practice and play around with different things. A/B your song next to a mix that you like and try to dial in something that is workable at least. Good luck.

Thanks man! Yeah, I realize there is a lot to work on. I've gotten so used to the procedure of mixing like this that I just didn't know what to work on, but I'm not happy with how it sounds compared to my favorite records. I've been mixing for about a year and a half so I know there's a lot to learn but I think I can be doing better than this. I will work on the things you pointed out and repost soon. Thanks