Help me finalize this mix! Mix vs. (first ever) master samples

[JEngelking]

Hey guys! So I just finished writing and recording my first album, which is just a little over an hour of music I'm proud to have created. With everything recorded now, save for some vocals and layers here and there, I've now just gotta work on the mixing and mastering of all the songs before I release the thing.

Tonight I've been working on a first draft of a mix and feel like I've gotten to a pretty good point to have it at before mastering. I think that maaaybe the guitars could use some EQ'ing, but I think they're in the ballpark. Otherwise I'm pretty happy ATM with how the bass and drums are meshing.

Here's the two versions, first just the mixed version and then my first ever master of a song version.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/oceansbuiltonsinkingships/rotting-frame-pre-master[/SC]

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/oceansbuiltonsinkingships/rotting-frame-master[/SC]

Let me know what you guys think I can improve, and thanks for checking it out!

 

[col]

Low end of the bass and kick is pretty hard to make out. I'd sidechain compress the bass more heavily and maybe even do the "infamous" sine wave generator trick on the kick track to give it some chest thumping heft. Now it's really wimpy in terms of low end. It's more of a tap-tap-tap when it needs to be THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.

Nice guitar tone!

 

[pkgitar]

To me, the bass is muddying up a lot of the lower mids and low end. There are spikes everywhere and it's coloring the sound in a bad way. I think the guitars sound kinda dull as well and are lacking some bite. Work on the bass first, maybe the guitars will come more to life that way

 

[Chokey Chicken]

col is pretty much spot on. The bass sounds a little too prominent, and the kick drum not thumpy enough. You almost can't even hear it and it sounds more implied than anything. I think, at the very least, you could sink the bass back into the mix a little bit. I really like the track though, and with some tweaks I think you have a great thing going on.

 

[JEngelking]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Listening back to it now I totally see what you guys mean, the bass was definitely overpowering. I've now adjusted the EQ'ing of the guitars to give them a little more high end and bite, more drastic changes to the EQ of the kick and bass (I have a notch boost at 70 Hz on the kick and a cut there in the bass), and I've lowered the volume of the bass track as well as adding sidechain compression to the bass, which I've never known how to do before, but I think it's mending the issue that needed to be addressed with the first mix, and it's a useful thing to know how to do for sure. I may need to mess with the settings more though to clean up any excessive pumping.

Here's my revised version ("mastered"), let me know what you think now!
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/oceansbuiltonsinkingships/rotting-frame-master[/SC]

 

[col]

Much better. Sounds great, great song too.

 

[JEngelking]

Good to hear, and thank you very much! I really appreciate that, that's awesome to hear. I'm really excited to wrap this album out and be able to put it out there.

How's the guitar tone sound now that everything is less bass heavy? I think the source tone is fitting to the style of the song/album, but I might be getting too ear blind at this point to know if it has any EQ work to be done.

 

[JEngelking]

One bump. Does the sidechaining on the bass make the mix pump at all? I can't tell if it sounds fine or if I just think that it's pumping because I'm listening to deeply and know what to listen for.

 

[col]

I'm not hearing any pumping. But if you're worried about that you can create a submix where you route the kick and bass tracks, the compress that slightly to get rid of any unevenness. Not too much so you don't lose punch from the kick.

 

[JEngelking]

I'm not hearing any pumping. But if you're worried about that you can create a submix where you route the kick and bass tracks, the compress that slightly to get rid of any unevenness. Not too much so you don't lose punch from the kick.

Alright, good to hear. I think I could just be making things up in my head as I listen, although I may still alter the amount that the bass ducks when the kick hits. I may also try what you said. Thanks!