Looking for constructive criticism on my test track, (brutal tech death)

[Gmork]

just got my first interface the other day.been working on a little test track, its really just one riff, nothing fancy. brutal (not so tech) tech death.
2 tracks of my actual mic'd peavey jsx panned hard L/R, 2 tracks using amp sims/cab sims, 1 direct bass track with plugins/cab sim, and simple programmed drums. tell me what you think and/or how it can improve. hope i can share my soundcloud track by pasting the "thingy" here lol
https://soundcloud.com/steven-winger-221857034/xenosong-10-05-2016

 

[KailM]

That sounded pretty good to me! And nice playing.

The only critique I have regards the mix, and you should take this as a compliment -- I felt like the mix as a whole was just a tad on the bright side. You could definitely bump up the bass a bit more and/or reduce some of the high end on the guitars and drums. Most of the time, metal musicians have the opposite problem -- they try to get way too much low-end into the mix. You mix sounds very clear for death metal, perhaps a bit too clear for my tastes. I think the instruments would lock together and blend a bit more if you allowed a little more low-end to come through.

 

[PhilT]

Overall very good mix. Just a feel things about the drums really pulled my attention.

I don't know much about Brutal Death so maybe this is normal in this style, but this snare sounds really StAnger-ish and it's standing out so much it's a bit off-putting in my opinion.

Also, I think it would be important to vary the velocity of snare and kick specially when they're doing 1/16 notes. At the moment it's really sounding robotic... but again, maybe that's the effect you wanted, I'm not sure.

I liked your guitar tone by the way

 

[RUSH_Of_Excitement]

I liked it a lot actually. But my sentiments echo those of PhilT idk how the snares should sound in tech death, but imho, it sounds like you're using a tin can. Idk, they sound hollow and lifeless if that makes sense, but like I said, over all

 

[Ajaydizzle]

It sounds good! Kind of piggy backing off of what everyone else has been saying though, sounds a little robotic. Lots of DAWs have "Humanize" functions for midi programing that will slightly vary the velocity and placement of the midi notes on the grid. That would give your tracks a more natural feel. What do you use as a DAW?

Also, that snare has some High Frequency top end on it that is kind of distracting and it is present through out the mix. To me it sounds like the decay of the snare. Half the time it just ends up sounding like a solid note. Maybe try an EQ to bring that down a bit! Best advice though? Keep recording, good mixes don't just happen, it's all about spending time in the trenches

 

[Gmork]

thanks for the compliments guys, means a lot to hear it. to address whats been said. its funny, im not surprised at all that you say its too bright. my first few mixes had WAY too much low end so i guess ive over compensated. unfortunately for the time being i dont have monitors or even studio headphones, just normal crappy headphones so the final mix never sounds the way i meant [facepalm]. hopefully my next one is JUST RIGHT
as far as the guitar tone i was going for that kinda thick but scooped defeated sanity/decrepit birth/sickening/suffocatioin kinda thing,. and yeah....the drums...ugh. i dont like em either lol. but i will definately use humanize on them, they are just hand picked free single hit samples i grabbed here and there. not ideal.
im thinking of getting ezdrummer/metal machine on pay day, any other suggestions on ezdrummer pack?. it was the only kind of decent piccolo snare i could find. not sure if its just the fact its a piccolo thats not agreeing with you. some people just dont like them, i love them. but yeah, not the best sample of one. oh and i use REAPER as my DAW. thanks again.

 

[KailM]

^^To me, the snare sounded pretty typical for the genre. That's never been my favorite snare tone, but it's pretty common in tech-death. It was just a bit bright.

The brightness/low-end balance is difficult to achieve. There's also the fact that Soundcloud and Youtube tend to eat some of your high-end information, so you almost need to brighten it up artificially for those applications. I've got a few mixes right now that sounded perfect when burnt to a CD and played in my car, but they sound a bit more "dull" on Soundcloud.

 

[Gmork]

I think it sounds ok but just doesnt sound "pro". Just something thats missing. Also i noticed its SO much quieter than any "real" music. My track was already to its max vol without peaking. How do i get the vol up to match "real" music?

 

[PhilT]

Gmork:

Did you try this VST http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...ck-metal-drum-vst-how-get-br00talz-tones.html ? It's pretty good