I'm more or less stuck in the mud with this mix I'm doing for some friends - listened to it a few hundred times too many, I guess - is it OK in the current form or are there any obvious improvements to be made??? https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6457013/Antagonist%20-%20mix%20candidate%202%20unmastered.mp3 Any input gratefully received! EDIT: this is (as the file name implies) unmastered, so is going to sound a bit low...
Really depends on how you want it to sound; this is (at present) very raw and almost bass-less. But definitely turn that snare down; it's way too loud.
Yup - definitely better with those changes! Will post an updated mix when I have time - paying work calls! :-/
Brought a few different mix versions and played them at the bar where I work - the sound system is basically the ultimate reference monitors: if it sounds good here, it will sound good ANYWHERE - we've even had guys from a big studio nearby drop by to listen to their mixes on our shit system! Anyway, it turns out that some of my first raw attempts are actually quite a bit better than what I ended up with after spending too much time listening to it again and again. Luckily I saved the settings, so I'm able to revert to one of those early versions and polish that a bit.
Add some presence to the vocals to make them a little more crispy. Snare is a little boxy and loud. Keep it up!
Came back to it after spending some days in bed with a cold - the bass tracks on this and the rest of the ep are much worse than I remembered - probably why it's so low in the mix I posted - and will require MAJOR polishing to be of any real use. Almost feeling tempted to re-record it myself. The drum tracks were pure slip editing hell... I really need to make a HUGE sign for when I'm tracking this type of band: "!!! NEVER EVER PLAY ABOVE YOUR LEVEL HERE !!!"
I decided to go back and rebuild the whole mix from the ground up, and thought the drums might be good place to start, as they are generally very busy in all the songs, so here's a fresh submix of the drums: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6457013/Antagonist%20-%20drum%20submix.mp3 Kick is 100% sample replaced, snare is the original sound, tom mics are muted on this version. Overheads are a bit of a problem as he generally goes crazy at everything above tom level - young kid with too many cymbals - but my main concern is finding a snare sound that I can build the mix around, and still keep as much as possible of the original sound and dynamics. He's about as far as you can get from a consistent hitter, but this is the best compromise I've been able to come up with that I think will work for the style...
New attempt at full mix, except tom mics are still muted and again it's unmastered: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6457013/Antagonist%20-%20mix%20candidate%203%20unmastered.mp3 Bass should be audible now...
I prefer with the 1st mix, just that, cut the snare nicely,bring the bass a little bit more... and add some more presence to the vocals... The 2nd mix doesn't sound like Grind anymore...
OK - how's this? Spent a couple of days away from it, but still don't feel I have regained any perspective - but it's probably what I'm going to send to the guy doing the mastering: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6457013/Antagonist%20-%20mix%20candidate%204%20unmastered.mp3 God, how I hate these songs by now...