Mix feedback, can someone donate a lead part ;)

[ShadowAMD]

Hi Guys,

Looking for some feedback on this mix, also looking for someone to donate a shred.. The lead guitarist is away for a long while..

Will give full credits and a featuring on the video..

http://soundcloud.com/theshadowkind/alivetests

Lead part starts 1:50 - 2:50 quite a long one..

Sorry right link now up

 

[airr]

I'd love to try and put a lead over it, but it would be helpful if you could make the track downloadable!!

 

[Narrillnezzurh]

There's a lot of potential for this, it just feels a bit weak at the moment. First and foremost, the guitars need to be quad tracked, and they need to have more bite. Past that, they sound a little too forward in the mix, try bringing down their volume a touch.

The vocals are also too forward in the mix, bring them down a touch and give them either more reverb or more delay, whichever sounds better. For the chorus I'd suggest double tracking the main line.

The bass tone could use some work as well. You'll want to have the bass track in two channels. In one, low pass at 250, and put in a narrow notch filter at your kick drum's primary resonating frequency. The second channel, high pass at 350, and boost the hell out of the mids. The result is a two-level bass tone that a gritty upper half to complement the guitar tones, and a sub-bass half to fill out the mix's low end.

I'm not great at critiquing drum mixes, the only thing that really stands out to me is the snare. It's got a lot of body, it could use more "crack." I'd try a notch filter somewhere between 400-600.

And as airr said, making the track downloadable would help immensely with regard to the solo. If you don't want the whole world having access to a free download, just PM a dropbox link to those interested, or something.

 

[Enselmis]

There's a lot of potential for this, it just feels a bit weak at the moment. First and foremost, the guitars need to be quad tracked, and they need to have more bite. Past that, they sound a little too forward in the mix, try bringing down their volume a touch.

The vocals are also too forward in the mix, bring them down a touch and give them either more reverb or more delay, whichever sounds better. For the chorus I'd suggest double tracking the main line.

The bass tone could use some work as well. You'll want to have the bass track in two channels. In one, low pass at 250, and put in a narrow notch filter at your kick drum's primary resonating frequency. The second channel, high pass at 350, and boost the hell out of the mids. The result is a two-level bass tone that a gritty upper half to complement the guitar tones, and a sub-bass half to fill out the mix's low end.

I'm not great at critiquing drum mixes, the only thing that really stands out to me is the snare. It's got a lot of body, it could use more "crack." I'd try a notch filter somewhere between 400-600.

And as airr said, making the track downloadable would help immensely with regard to the solo. If you don't want the whole world having access to a free download, just PM a dropbox link to those interested, or something.

First, quad tracking is not going to add more bite. Going in with an EQ and hacking out some mid frequencies that aren't necessary is what will add more bite. Quad tracking does the exact opposite of add bite.

Second, boosting the hell out of the mids for the bass is not a good idea. Using two channels, one clean and one distorted, will work just fine however boosting the mids on the distorted channel is a definite no. low passing and high passing is a good idea but boosting will add absolutely nothing. Stay away from boosting frequencies with your EQ as much as possible. Things like kicks and snares are a little bit of an exception as they aren't sustained notes but even then you should be able to find a good sound by just subtracting frequencies.

Finally, crack in the snare is more easily achieved with a compressor. Pulling a little bit of the mids out can help but compressing the snare properly is what will really do it. Splitting it into a lightly compressed track and a track you really hammer is a great way to get that sound. Also, the snare in this tune is really dry and could use some kind of reverb.

 

[ShadowAMD]

Thanks Guys really appreciate the feedback, I opened pro tools tonight and compared to mixes I do for other bands and boy does it sound limp and lifeless compared to them.. Been mixing for 10 years and when it comes to my own stuff it just goes to hell * Incessant tweaking* Sure I'm not alone on this..

So, when solo'd the Bass and drums it has no OOMPH..

I havn't LPF'd the bass (*Oops*) and it sounds rubbish anyway, I double mic'd a cab and it seems there is quite a bit of phase hanging about with the guitars.. Seems a bit limp and lifeless Also I used a CLA 76 and on the guitars which I have never done before??

I've just really overthought everything... and wrecked it a little.. I have a kemper an engl and a new bass on it's way.. So I'm just going to start from scratch on it..

If you would be so kind to donate a lead, my e-mail is theshadowkind@googlemail.com I'll send you the MP3..

Actually I smacked my hand with a hammer, cause I'm a dumbass so my hands way too stiff to play any decent lead.. It would be cool to have a community shred more of the songs.. It's free promo for you guys and I get some sweet sounding solo's

 

[newamerikangospel]

Where do you want the lead? And any specific style? I would love to donate something.

 

[ShadowAMD]

Where do you want the lead? And any specific style? I would love to donate something.

1:50 - 2:50.. I have Terminus1993 doing one for me THANKYOU!, but please feel free to.. It's whatever fit's with the song best really.

P.S there is another 4 tracks for this band, I am also doing a more *Metal* project on the side which needs a 4 track demo too.. So there is plenty.

I'm a melodic death metal singer / guitarist originally, so I do a bit of low grows and sing.. What I always wanted to do was a Scar Symmetry style band, I was really into alvestam and recon I could pull it off *When I stop smoking heh".. But trying to find people to work with was a headache so I gave up on that dream.

 

[VacantPlanet]

I'd like to give it a go as well, but I can't download it

 

[ShadowAMD]

Enabled downloads ...

Sorry, as it's unfinished I didn't want to get it out there too much.. Keep it on the downlow

On styles, I like catchy bits and other bits that sound like fruit machines

 

[VacantPlanet]

PM'd.

 

[Narrillnezzurh]

First, quad tracking is not going to add more bite. Going in with an EQ and hacking out some mid frequencies that aren't necessary is what will add more bite. Quad tracking does the exact opposite of add bite.

Second, boosting the hell out of the mids for the bass is not a good idea. Using two channels, one clean and one distorted, will work just fine however boosting the mids on the distorted channel is a definite no. low passing and high passing is a good idea but boosting will add absolutely nothing. Stay away from boosting frequencies with your EQ as much as possible. Things like kicks and snares are a little bit of an exception as they aren't sustained notes but even then you should be able to find a good sound by just subtracting frequencies.

Finally, crack in the snare is more easily achieved with a compressor. Pulling a little bit of the mids out can help but compressing the snare properly is what will really do it. Splitting it into a lightly compressed track and a track you really hammer is a great way to get that sound. Also, the snare in this tune is really dry and could use some kind of reverb.

Perhaps I should have been more specific. I feel the guitar tone needs to have more bite, and I feel they should be quad tracked. I wasn't recommending quad tracking as a way to give the guitars more bite.

For the bass, by boosting the mids I really just meant getting the distortion channel to squawk. Unfortunately, I don't have a bass lying around to play with, and I figured the principle would be similar to how you get a guitar to "sqwauk," which involves a mid boost of some sort before the dry signal reaches the amp. I guess I was a bit presumptuous to assume he was working with a DI, and I probably should have specified that the idea was to bring out the clankiness in the fret noise.

I'm by no means an expert in bass production, so the correction is much appreciated

As for the snare, a notch filter between 400-600 will reduce the natural resonating frequency of the snare, accentuating the "crack." Parallel compression is another way to do it, but if your objective is just to make the "crack" more prominent parallel compression isn't necessarily the best option, as it still leaves you with a lot of body in the hit. Another way to do it is to run the snare through a 4:1 compressor with an attack time of ~30ms, depending on the snare and the drummer. You'll let the transient through, but you'll compress the hell out of the body.

Really though, you're at the mercy of your sample as to which method works best.