Heavy Mixing Thoughts

[Kontra5t]

Worked up a new instrumental,
A tad too core for most potentially idk, just one of those moods this week
Was just curious on some thoughts on how the mix turned out,

Pod Farm, Superior, Reaper
Nothing crazy trying to work with what I got
But as a whole for future reference any points you might touch up or change

http://youtu.be/hasqr8yvrTs

 

[noUser01]

Not bad man, sounding pretty good!

I think the kick is lacking a lot of low end and midrange punch, far too clicky. The whole mix feels a tad compressed too, but a really punchy, lively kick will help fix that for the most part. Try messing with your 2-bus compressor if you have one, I like to go 4:1, with 30ms attack and .1ms release. It seems extreme for mastering compression because it can cause your mix to pump a lot, but if you get just the right amount of gain reduction it gives movement and life without causing noticeable pumping.

I'd work on the room mic as well, as the drums feel like they don't have any glue, it sounds like individual pieces rather than a whole kit in a real space. I usually slap a 76 on it and crush it to the point of distortion, then HP, LP, and cut out any nasty honky or nasally frequencies. It'll bring a lot more life to the mix. Drums could use some more humanization too.

The snare sounds nice and beefy but it sounds too artificial, try bring in more of the bottom snare mic or finding a more natural sounding sample to work with. Same goes for the kick but that might be different once you get the lows and mids fixed up a bit.

Cymbals could use with a bit of high end excitement, the mix is very mid-heavy and could do with a bit of high end shimmer and low end punch and beef, but the kick itself should fix that.

As a general tip for heavier stuff like this, I like to do a 3-way split with the bass. Clean lows, crunchy nasty mids, and distorted more trebly/clanky highs. This really gives you a GRINDY bass tone as opposed to 2-way bass splits which can sound very detached, artificial, and all clank with no grind and beef.

 

[Kontra5t]

Hell yeah thanks!!!
Exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for
Really appreciate it deffinitely mess around with this template a tad for future stuff