My mix of a French metalcore band...

[Muttley]

This is my first attempt at this track, and also the first time I've ever tried to mix real drums.

http://www.muttleyville.org/downloads/mp3/mixes/

(grab it direct from the above directory as phpBB doesn't like brackets in filenames for some reason)

I tried to keep a live feel and not get too mechanical with it (must be my punk background coming through ;)).

It was mixed in SONAR with mainly the default plugins (Sonitus:fx Compressor and Gate, and Cakewalk reverb), apart from an instance of Ozone 3 on the master.

The Kick and Snare were gated and compressed (with a little reverb added to the snare), the Vox had a touch of compression and reverb, and the master had some more compression and Ozone 3.  Also had a small bit of EQ on the Kick, Snare, Bass and vox.

I also only used two 5150 w/ SM57 guitar tracks (out of 10 guitar tracks provided 8O), with a bit of EQ to boost the mids a bit and remove some lows.

Oh, and I was limited to working on headphones due to my 9month old son being asleep in the next room.  :(

Cheers

Muttley

[Jarrott]

Coming from someone who has well over 10,000 metalcore, death metal, black metal, hardcore, grindcore, mathcore -- you name it! -- songs on their computer...

That was sweet. Keep up the good work, man.

[Muttley]

Coming from someone who has well over 10,000 metalcore, death metal, black metal, hardcore, grindcore, mathcore -- you name it! -- songs on their computer...

That was sweet. Keep up the good work, man.

Cheers mate.  I'm gonna have another pass at it this weekend as I seem to have lost the toms along the way somehow.  It's a bit boxy too I think, and I feel I overdid the click on the bass drum a bit.

All good fun, and a great learning experience.  :)

Muttley

[HTH AMPS]

I think the click on the kick drum is fine, could maybe do with a bit more low end thud though - try a small boost around 100hZ (depends where you're EQ'ing the bass guitar though really).

I'd try to beef up the snare too - too much 'room' in there for my liking.

Finally, if you have a decent compressor plugin just compress the hell out of the final mix to make it LOUD.

Of course this is all ULTRA critical as it sounds very decent to start with.

 :twisted:

[lepersmeesa]

Sounds good man. I would say that my main problem would be the bass drum. For this type of music you thought about triggering a sample? If not i would say cut around the 250-400 sweep and find where the offending frequencies are, then cut them.

Is this for your work? Awesome work otherwise. The guitar tone is pretty for this type of music, i think they used slightly too much gain, especially for 5150.

[Muttley]

I think the click on the kick drum is fine, could maybe do with a bit more low end thud though - try a small boost around 100hZ (depends where you're EQ'ing the bass guitar though really).

I'd try to beef up the snare too - too much 'room' in there for my liking.

Yeah, I agree that the kick and snare need a bit of work.  Will have another go at them today or tomorrow.

Of course this is all ULTRA critical as it sounds very decent to start with.

 :twisted:

Thanks mate  :)

Muttley

[Muttley]

Sounds good man. I would say that my main problem would be the bass drum. For this type of music you thought about triggering a sample? If not i would say cut around the 250-400 sweep and find where the offending frequencies are, then cut them.

I'd like to avoid using samples if I can.  Mainly because this is my first ever attempt at mixing live drums and so I want to try and just use the source material if possible.  I might try triggering samples if I'm still not happy with the sound after a few more sessions trying to get them right.  Of course, I'd need to buy a copy of Drumagog or something to trigger samples.

Is this for your work? Awesome work otherwise. The guitar tone is pretty for this type of music, i think they used slightly too much gain, especially for 5150.

This isn't for work, it's just me having a play at home learning how to mix.  I'm trying to have a go at as much material as I can get my hands on for experience.

The guitars are not that great, but I've got a DI recording from both guitarists so I might try reamping through my rig and recording that.  :)

Muttley

[HTH AMPS]

A really decent trick I picked up was to copy the snare drum and put an extreme low cut on it so that you're basically just getting the top end 'crack' out of it.  Compress the hell out of it & put a short, bright reverb on it with a little pre-delay to slightly seperate the reverb from the initial 'hit'.  

The fact that you've took away all of the low end will make it easier to gate as well - this will mean that the snap you want out of the snare will come through and that 'roomy' sound will be minimised (you have enough of that in the overheads already).

You can do similar things with the kick drum too using this method.

For the toms, try a 3dB cut at 150Hz, this will stop them from sounding too 'tubby' and really bring out the skin 'slap'.  Remember that most of your tom and snare sound will come from the overheads & the close mics should just be used to bring the individual drums into focus.  Because of this you can afford to trim some bass end out of the tom & snare close mics (especially the snare)

 :twisted:

[Muttley]

A really decent trick I picked up was to copy the snare drum and put an extreme low cut on it so that you're basically just getting the top end 'crack' out of it.  Compress the hell out of it & put a short, bright reverb on it with a little pre-delay to slightly seperate the reverb from the initial 'hit'.  

The fact that you've took away all of the low end will make it easier to gate as well - this will mean that the snap you want out of the snare will come through and that 'roomy' sound will be minimised (you have enough of that in the overheads already).

You can do similar things with the kick drum too using this method.

For the toms, try a 3dB cut at 150Hz, this will stop them from sounding too 'tubby' and really bring out the skin 'slap'.  Remember that most of your tom and snare sound will come from the overheads & the close mics should just be used to bring the individual drums into focus.  Because of this you can afford to trim some bass end out of the tom & snare close mics (especially the snare)

 :twisted:

Excellent tips, thanks for that.  I shall give thesse a go.  :)

Cheers

Muttley

[Muttley]

OK, here's my final FINAL mix:

http://www.muttleyville.org/downloads/mp3/mixes/Stillrise-FadeOut-Mix3.mp3

Can you guys let me know what you think (even if you hate the style ;)).

Cheers

Muttley