Feedback for upcoming album greatly appreciated!

[rapucore]

Hi guys!

I'm mixing my bands album which is due to release by summer. We're a melodic metalcore group from Helsinki, Finland called Of Illusions. We've released a few singles which weren't done by me.

I handle the screaming vox with occational cleans on some songs, only a line or two in this one though.
Here's a link to a song that's 90-95% ready (missing some effects and stuff like that).



-----EDIT: HERE IS THE NEW IMPROVED VERSION:-----


Let me know what you think. I'd greatly appreciate your oppinions on what sucks and what doesn't! It would help me a lot to hear if I'm in the right direction with this one (I feel it's pretty solid but need some unbiased oppinions) as the release isn't scorching my ass hairs yet.

If you want any details, just ask!

Cheers guys,
- Aleksi/rapucore

 

[rapucore]

Anyone?

 

[Mago]

I dunno man...overall the mix is just not as exciting as it could be...
guitars sound pretty flat in the low mids, and pretty stiff in the hi mids.
Bass is not really distinguishable
Drums also sound flat and lack dimension...same for the vocals...
I think overall the problem is that every element is mixed in pretty much the same way, and theres no real seperation going on...kinda weird to explain.

But with a bit of tweaking you should be able to get it in nice shape pretty fast

 

[rapucore]

I dunno man...overall the mix is just not as exciting as it could be...
guitars sound pretty flat in the low mids, and pretty stiff in the hi mids.
Bass is not really distinguishable
Drums also sound flat and lack dimension...same for the vocals...
I think overall the problem is that every element is mixed in pretty much the same way, and theres no real seperation going on...kinda weird to explain.

But with a bit of tweaking you should be able to get it in nice shape pretty fast

Thanks for the reply! Good that I asked then.
I'll try to fix all the problematics you mentioned.

EDIT: Fuck you tired ears.

 

[Mago]

take it with a grain of salt man, I'm actually not 100% sure where which issue comes from...I think overall it's more of a balancing than a tone thing!

 

[rapucore]

take it with a grain of salt man, I'm actually not 100% sure where which issue comes from...I think overall it's more of a balancing than a tone thing!

I'll work on it tomorrow. cheers!

 

[ArthurD]

Bass and kick relation is not good IMO. Also the cymbals are too distracting, maybe too loud on some parts. I suggest riding them. I suggest fader riding the whole mix, some dbs off on guitars when vocals come you can get them a little quiter and less distracting, add some db on chorus, etc; Ride the bass dist to show it a little more on some parts.
Also, I feel almost no attack on drums.
The toms aren't clear too, just some clicks, no body, maybe you scooped too much low mids?
I think that the mix elements are overcompressed. You can hear everything, but its not clear, its cloudy, with no attack.
Tonewise is sounding good, mixing wise is a bit lifeless, IMO. How hard are you pushing those compressors and the limiter in the end?

I've changed the way I mixed a lot this year. I'm not using compression on every track now, just when it needs. For exemple, on drums I just use parallel comp on each track. If toms needs more sustain I would insert it, otherwise, just parallel comp to even the levels. And transient designer.
Those are tips from Brendan O'Brien and Michael Wagener I found on the internet and works wonders. =)
Looking forward to the next version. Cheers!

 

[rapucore]

Thanks for the reply ArthudD!

Now I'm hearing everything you guys have mentioned, damn these fresh ears lol.
I'm gonna start this one from scratch in a few hours after doing some graphic stuff and take all into consideration.

Thanks for the input!

 

[rapucore]

Hey guys, here's the updated version. I won't delete/replace the original one so you can hear the differences and if it's in fact any better.
I'll automate this a bit more when I add the missing effects and stuff but here's an improved version still.



Let me know!

 

[Harley Barley]

drums need more punch, over all its need a bit more mid range/highs, guitars are a bit muddy in low mid area.

 

[rapucore]

Alrighty. You did listen to the second version I posted a little above though?

 

[ArthurD]

I liked the second version more. But I think you could still improve it. Specially on kick and snare (another samples, maybe? The kick has too much click, and snare has too much highs to cut in the mix I presume?). The drums needs more ambience too.
The vocals could be lower in lots of parts, IMO (f. exemple at 2:02, 2:36, 3:05). My suggestion: low them the maximum you can, eq softly to cut trhough the mix, than add back some volume.
Toms have punch now, but no sustain and no ambience. Attack is better.
The bass is better in this version. Guitar is sounding good.

I think a good mix reference for balance would be this song (just reference A and B with yours and make a rough fader mix:


Cheers!

 

[rapucore]

Thanks Arthur, very helpful once again!

Haha it's funny how much more difficult it is to do your own band. Much easier to loose focus and etc since you still know what's in the song, even when you can't register it fully. It's 1000x "easier" to get unbiased material to sound good versus your own project.

Cheers to all!