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As heard in the recent BoO album TWDA, low-tuned guitars with the low-end cut out. The tone is 99% pick-noise, and it's up to the bass guitar and your own imagination to figure out what low note is being played half the time. Oh, and the tuning is too low for you to hear the bass guitar.
That album gives me a headache.
I liked that, but I'm not sure about "laziness"
More like "inexperience" imho.
As heard in the recent BoO album TWDA, low-tuned guitars with the low-end cut out. The tone is 99% pick-noise, and it's up to the bass guitar and your own imagination to figure out what low note is being played half the time. Oh, and the tuning is too low for you to hear the bass guitar.
That album gives me a headache.
JohnIce said:If your mix is so dense that your snare drum has to sound like a ping-pong ball served by Thor, then you probably have something left to learn about either mixing or about arranging.
^Good point from Drew about being a songwriter and not a producer/mixer. Trying to get great at both at the same time is probably not a great idea. It's like trying to learn spanish and french at the same time, it's just gonna take longer to get any good at either.
^Good point from Drew about being a songwriter and not a producer/mixer. Trying to get great at both at the same time is probably not a great idea. It's like trying to learn spanish and french at the same time, it's just gonna take longer to get any good at either.
On the subject of mixing, although it's really an arrangement issue a lot of the time: Overly transient-enhanced drums (snare drums in particular). If your mix is so dense that your snare drum has to sound like a ping-pong ball served by Thor, then you probably have something left to learn about either mixing or about arranging. With hard-limiting you lose dynamics period, so quad-tracking the verse and octo-tracking the chorus AND tracking 5 layers of synth pads still isn't gonna help one bit. It's only gonna make everything else (for example drums) disappear. Many people try to fix that with transient designers and it just sounds bad to my ears. Kill your darlings and start muting shit and that snare is gonna start filling out into a proper drum again![]()
Ι believe that for some years now,songwritters kinda have to learn the basics of mixing and producing (even more), home studios and home releases are more common and due the way the record companies are now it is,most of the times, a one way street for most musicians in order to get their music heard.![]()
AbsolutelyBut songwriting demos and commercial releases are different beasts, and my opinion is that if you can spend $5000 on guitar gear, but not be willing to pay a cent to get help to make a great sounding record, you might be shooting yourself in the foot. Especially if, like I said, you're new to both songwriting AND mixing.
Moreover, I think it takes immense natural multi-talent to become a successful DIY musician. Anyone can become a decent jack-of-all-trades but if you think about it, most of the truly great songwriters (Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan, Mozart, you name it) were allowed to focus on writing great songs. I think that's something to keep in mind in this DIY-hubris age, personally. Good songs and good artistry always win over budget-mindedness![]()
Wow some people just don't get it. Modern metal without sample replaced drums if like most drummers the kit sucks, super tight editing and lots of stages of compression would sound absolutely hilarious.
Wow some people just don't get it. Modern metal without sample replaced drums if like most drummers the kit sucks, super tight editing and lots of stages of compression would sound absolutely hilarious.
An easy way to fix the need for "super tight editing" would be for bands to rehearse more and stop writing shit that they can't play; I'll be the first to concede that probably won't happen any time soon.
A skilled engineer can get great results from a less than optimal source as long as the performance is up to par, be it drums, various pieces of guitar and bass gear, other string instruments etc. So ultimately it comes back to rehearsal again, if you can't walk in to the studio and lay down a performance that is at least serviceable without needing to stop every other riff then you aren't ready to record. Period.
Sample replacement should be an option, a tool, not something that is compulsory.
All massive amounts of compression does is make the parts that are supposed to hit hard equally as loud as the lighter parts of a song.
A band building up a song to a huge heavy riff only to have it only to have it be completely neutered because it hits no harder and is effectively no louder than the clean guitars in the intro is actually hilarious, embarrassing even.
...which is fine, if you're a songwriter and just aren't that interested in production. Throw together a bunch of presets that work together, maybe get a buddy to lend a hand, and get to the point where you can churn out decent sounding demos without having to worry about the mix.
But, all the "check out my mixtest!" threads where people are trying a new preset and then specifically asking people for comments on the mix, and presenting themselves as mix engineers? I mean, stating the obvious (or maybe not, or we wouldn't be here) but a song where the riff is in G# below the low B is going to have a different fundamental and different harmonic content than one in, say, drop-D, for both the bass and the guitars. Different harmonic content = different amp settings, EQ curves, and in turn ways of getting things to "gel" in the mix. If you want to churn out serviceable demos, then sure, fire up EzMix and get to work. But if you really want to learn to mix, and if you really want to get a reputation as a guy who does great mixes, you are absolutely shooting yourself in the foot if your mixes are all template and preset based. Even if they sound "good" that doesn't mean you "know how to mix," and you're going to struggle if you ever try to mix someone else's project.
If mixing interests you, why wouldn't you take the time to learn to do it right?
EDIT - and I'm just wrapping up an album that I'll be posting here, and I'm SURE there will be no shortage of people telling me I don't know how to mix either, so whatever.![]()
Wow some people just don't get it. Modern metal without sample replaced drums if like most drummers the kit sucks, super tight editing and lots of stages of compression would sound absolutely hilarious.
Mostly djent though some other stuff is guilty of it too, sorry I wasn't specific.I disagree with this, unless you are qualifying it by only referencing the djent movement because the majority of bands I listen to use plenty of gain.
ThisI'm all for low-end clarity but there gets to be a point where I'm not sure whether or not people are serious.