What "mix problems" do you see in the majority of metal today?

[fungwabus117]

For more clarification: if there was one issue you could identify across a number of different bands in the metal world today, such as "the bass is always subdued/masked by the kick" or "everything is too compressed" or anything at all that you've thought of while listening to music, what would it be?

I was thinking about this the other day as I was floating between Gojira, AAL, Meshuggah, vildhjarta, and other metal bands and was trying to identify commonalities between the various mixes.

 

[Whammy]

I'm not going to point out mix issues by seasoned mixing engineers.
What I will say is that every mix regardless of the engineer is different.

You could have two different metal bands of the same genre with completely different mixes.

A lot of the differences are completely subjectable too. One man's meat is another man's poison.

 

[spaghettipomodoro]

The biggest issue with musical mixes in general these days is crushing the dynamics to make everything louder... though everybody knows that one.

 

[fps]

They don't sound like a live band playing music. Increasingly just not even close.

 

[spaghettipomodoro]

^That's a subjective problem though. Personally I love to hear new and innovative stuff even if it's extremely digitalized/over produced. If it sounds cool/interesting, I'm game.

 

[Given To Fly]

There is a lot of "Quantize to Grid" going on which isn't necessarily bad, except humans don't play perfectly together...down to the sample...for an entire album. Quantizing is great if you run into latency issues or simply mess up the timing in a part which can be quickly and easily fixed without re-recording anything.

Meshuggah is a bit of an exception though. They are one tight music ensemble. But they've also been playing together for longer than the average SSrg member has been alive. (I wonder if this is actually true? )

 

[Alphanumeric]

Dj.... bands who hi pass their guitars upto like 200hz/ and think to dime their mids coupled with their BKP aftermaths is a wise thing to do because you get dat definition and clarity, right? This coupled with a certain "Metal 4x12" cab on the axe fx or for pods running about 50 tubescreamers, compressors and gates into a mesa model.

leaving lot of bands with rhythm tones that sound like a permenant telephone/bandpass eq is applied.

Honk.

 

[neoclassical85]

The biggest issue with musical mixes in general these days is crushing the dynamics to make everything louder... though everybody knows that one.

I agree man.. Its pointless to crush dynamics for volume yet everyone does it because the music has to be loud at the source these days to compete with each other... If the listener wants it to be louder then they should turn up their speakers!! lol

 

[pushpull7]

I agree with the "crushing dynamics" issue. See here:



ALSO, I agree with the idea of HP'ing to a fault. There is a difference between HP'ing for headroom vs RUINING the guitar tone.

Now, I don't do the same thing as most player here but when you HP every low note, it's not necessarily a good thing. In fact, 90% of what I hear on here is EXCELLENT playing, but HP'ed to a fault.

It's just my 2 cents.

 

[Leuchty]

Overly compressed snares.

 

[ghost_of_karelia]

Guitars with scooped mids. That's my own personal taste though, I hate hearing midless guitars, to me it's like a flat-chested woman.

 

[Leveebreaks]

Dynamics-free white noise volume wars is what I hear from most of the new stuff I listen to.
Oh and making even natural drums sound like Metal Foundry.

 

[PlumbTheDerps]

Too prominent bass drums. I can understand wanting a punchy kick, but when it's the loudest single piece in a song, I find it quite obnoxious.

Periphery is unbelievably guilty of this, and it's very annoying to listen to.

 

[Sean Conklin]

One HUGELY MASSIVE problem I hear in metal mixes today is that most of them sound better than mine.

(sobs uncontrollably)

 

[Daybreak]

Thin drums. Yeah, I think in many recent metal mixes the drums, especially the kick lacks some weight. But that's probably just my preference, haha. Also, drums that aren't triggered properly so it becomes obvious that it is.

 

[Experimorph]

While I'm a fan of various modern production styles, I hate the loss of low end as a byproduct of modern mastering. Seriously, I think the bass is half the mix.

Another one's poorly EQ'd or otherwise not well produced vocals.

 

[ZachK]

Too prominent bass drums. I can understand wanting a punchy kick, but when it's the loudest single piece in a song, I find it quite obnoxious.

Periphery is unbelievably guilty of this, and it's very annoying to listen to.

I'll have to disagree with this. I really like that they have that in their mixes. Too often I'm finding a total lack off bass drum, I love super present bass drum. Of course, this is personal preference.

I hate when there is a total lack of high end or higher mids in a mix. Everything just sounds so washed out.



That is the one mix I absolutely hate with every inch of my being. It sounds super washed out. Especially the guitars

 

[MrMcSick]

I was listening to my sub the other day while listening to the newest meshuggah cd, the only thing coming through was bass drum. Turned up my filter from around 100hz to full and still had no guitars or bass present just all bass drum. They have to have a high pass set at like 200 hz or so for bass and guitar and they are tuned to what f#??? baffling.

The overcompressed loudness war is annoying to. Most drums sound like they are a drum sample app even if they are real acoustic drums these days too.

I do love the very defined click of most bass drums these days though so you can actually pick it out without even listening to a source that produces much bass like an ipod ect. I also love the clear tight guitar tone of most stuff these days but it to can get excessive with 903434 noisegates and such.

 

[Alphanumeric]

Contrary to what others have said

I like the kick to be very loud, as long as its amazing sounding. I hate clicky clicky clickiddy clicks that sound like a tap dancers shoes and have no thump, I prefer the characteristically "slappy" kicks, boosting 2-3khz instead of 5-8.

I also like distorted bass that sounds like its been played with a pick, for modern metal atleast. Its just so amazing, the kind of rounded tone fingered bass is just like, adding nothing but the low end, also doesn't work well with guitars.