"Wasteland" comments on mix/master wanted

[katano]

Hi all

This is one song of a project i work on these days. I know it's not that
kind of music most of planetZ users generally listen to. Nevertheless i'd
like to have some comments about the mix and master.

And if someone has a nice idea to freshen up the sound with some
additional scope synths, don't hold back your ideas

Cheers
Roman

[astroman]

well, I probably couldn't do it half as good as you did, but you're from Switzerland - craftsmenship and precision count and only the best will be just sufficient...
you also commented on Voidar's 'death/punk/trash', this one is right the opposite, but imho the mix drives it over the top.

first of all it's an excellent rock tune (I could listen 3 times in a row...)
you're a really good singer, crucial for the genre (imho), respect
nice guitar/arpeg themes, very organic from composition

the drums are not so organic, to be honest for me it's 3 kits playing around 'a bit lost' in space.
I find the guitar panorama (and some other) positioning very annoying (for my taste), it's too much fx for fx sake, so to say. There's too much coming in and getting out again - less would be more.

I think if you mix THAT stuff you want it top10 compatible, so I just share a couple of observations. I know you have a good toolbox, probably no big deal to fix it (in case you agree on some items) - it would be worse if you'd written a boring tune...
my bottomline - great song, just a bit disordered

cheers, Tom

[katano]

hey astrotom

thanx for your feedback! I can't believe that the swiss population still has this reputation anyway, thank you for the flowers

I'm not quite shure if I got you right on some points, what do you mean exactly concerning the drums? It doesn't sound like one drum kit, is it that what you mean? i may have to route it to one stereo bus and glue it together. I also had the thought to use shroomz's new valve1242 mixer for the drums

Yes, yes, the guitars... there are 2 different guitars playing, each of them has 3 channels (2 miked, 1 DI -> Dynatube), makes a total of 6 channels for the guitars. it really doesn't make it easier to mix, damn, but it gives a nice wall. nevertheless, maybe it's too much...

which are the other annoying panorama things?

btw. why do you think that's me singing?

anyone else who'd like to comment?

thanx again
Roman

[astroman]

yeah, it's a pity - a handful of clockmakers in the Jura woods spoil the reputation of a whole country...
but you got some crazy pilots, too (if I may add...), recently I saw a video of a fighter jet making it up Hörnligrat in just a few seconds, looked like 15m over the blocks or so ...unfortunately they left out Eiger Wall, the heroic book from 53 is one of my favourite lectures if I need a break 'for something completely different'

the drum instruments are strangely separated, that made the impression of more than one kit, 'glueing together' will most likely do it and add some 'rock' presence as well.

the 'panorama thing' may in fact be due to slight oversensitivity to details. Obviously I'm the only one to suffer from mixer designs with dozens of knobs in narrow rows - it would drive me nuts in front of the screen.
I would notice a tick (zecke) of 1mm moving over a rock or a leaf within a distance of up to 2.5 m - they have a very special movement.

The stuff to 'broaden' soundstage usually results in fairly unpleasant irritation, any phase alteration seems over-obvious.

for me the guitars are very unbalanced and asymetrically placed, both from positioning and spectral content.
I absolutely agree on the pain of choice for 3 channels per instrument - since my amp has a record out including the end transformer I spare the mics, but still could play endlessly with the setup
on the other hand it's amazing what Scope can do on the guitar front...

...btw. why do you think that's me singing?

you once posted a picture with a mic in front of you

cheers, Tom

[hubird]

I would definitely put the drums more upfront, and try to get rid of the 'ringing' sound of the kick (I can hear it at the very start of the song).
the mix as a whole sound too thin, even for radio aims.
the bass guitar has it's main frequency in the boming range (say 120-150), I would give 'm more lows instead.
You agree with calling the style 'melodic rock'?
If so, the sound should rock more, therefor my drum advise
Graham Parker comes in mind, I bet the drums have more power in his songs.

I'm not convinced by the reverb on the voice, it puts the voice too much back (a bit).
Maybe a longer pre-delay will help, or work with delays to get the ambience.

Don't like this kind of music (all that content...), so I can't sound excited, sorry
But that doesn't matterso much for my comments above (I hope)

[katano]

@astroman

hehe, i had to laugh out lout when i read your fighter jet hörnligrat story

i'll try your suggestions mentioned above, unfortunately not this weekend, have
another band in the studio for recording a 3 song demo...

wow, i didn't remember that i posted such a pic once. finally, you're right, it's me.
and here comes the swiss precision again, i'm not happy with my voice. the sound,
the technique, intonation and the mix is not yet satisfiying me


@huuuuub

thanks for your feedback. yes, it seems all my mixes lacks bass. must be my bad
sounding and bad treatened control room

about the bass guitar, it's only the clean DI signal of an old fender at the moment,
i think i also have to try dynatube bass on this... i'll also try to give the drums
more power, vm1242, i'm coming!

I don't know how i would call this music, maybe melodic rock fits best... no prob
that you don't like that kind of music


@all

more comments needed


Cheers
Roman

[hubird]

forgot to say there's a lot which is done very well

[astroman]

@astroman
hehe, i had to laugh out lout when i read your fighter jet hörnligrat story
...
and here comes the swiss precision again, i'm not happy with my voice. the sound,
the technique, intonation and the mix is not yet satisfiying me

well, it's the usual youtube stuff
I don't exactly like what these things are built for, but I cannot deny the fascination the technology has on me - and the mountain flight is just gorgeous
Matterhorn and the Grat are around minute 3 ...

your voice is an instrument - so constant learning applies
at least you have a solid base, while I've ruined mine as a teenage soccer fan, sh*t

cheers, Tom

[bassdude]

Well you can keep posting this stuff up. Seems that there has been a bit of a surge in live instrument recordings lately and I love it! I must be an opposite because I don't listen to much electronic stuff as a lot of it sounds the same to me (no offence intended) and it is much more challenging I think when recording and mixing live instruments. I find it more interesting.
Anyway, I'm listening on shitty headphones (I'll listen moer critically at home) and the thing that jumps out the most is the snare sounds like it is miles away (maybe what astro was talking about). Gate that reverb on the snare. The toms sound great. Am I hearing a little reverb tail on them as well? You could gate that as well. If you don't want to do gated reverb you could also do a compressed overhead trick that you can blend back in as well. The bass sounds good and I can't here the ringing on the kick that Hubird mentions unless he's talking about the sound of shell (could be these shitty headphones)? For the guitars, have you just tried double tracking?

Anyway, I like it. Good stuff!

[katano]

hey stu,

thanx for the feedback! of course i'll keep posting, more to follow

yes, the snare... well, it was intended to keep the snare a bit in the
background, but for shure not miles away

I recorded the kick with two mics, shure beta 91 and sennheiser e-602.
On the e-602 channel i applied some distortion, maybe that's what hub ment.

Unfortunately, we didn't yet try to double track guitars, what you hear now
is one guitar recorded in stereo direct from a podxt pro and a clean DI
signal and the other guitar is recorded with a sennheiser e-609 and a sm57
and a DI signal... i'll talk to the gitarreros

Cheers
Roman

[paulrmartin]

Nice song to say the least.

Of course, you know that if you want this to reach the Top-10 you'll have to bring the drums nore "In-your-face". The guitars need to move back to leave room for the voice, specially the right panned one. I have a hard time making out the words because that guitar is too loud.

[AudioIrony]

Really enjoyed this one.
Well executed - killerz stylee - although not as over produced

Agree with what others have said regarding fixing the mix - drums more upfront for sure.
It's all a little thin at the moment as other have said. The panned guitar didn't bother me at all - just sounds a little thin and out there on it's own at the moment.

I'd just add that the intro seems a little too long - OR - the intro kick could just use a little extra energy for it to work.

Anyway - VERY cool

cheers

[katano]

@paulrmartin,
thanks for the feedback, glad to hear you like it a bit hmm, i hate to
hear my own voice, that's the reason i tried to cover it a bit with the
guitars

btw, i'll come to canada in september, first toronto, then some bits of the
country side, and finally some days in montreal. i love the music from
montreal, especially Arcade Fire

@AudioIrony,
thanks to you, too. i'll have a look at the intro, too... i think one problem
we have regarding the thin sound is that our bass player isn't a bass
player but a guitar player. he tends to do to much solos instead of
simply grooving with the drums.

cheers
Roman

[paulrmartin]

@paulrmartin,

btw, i'll come to canada in september, first toronto, then some bits of the
country side, and finally some days in montreal. i love the music from
montreal, especially Arcade Fire


cheers
Roman

Drop me a note when you get to Montreal so we can meet.