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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Electronic/prog Metal Playthrough
Posted by: thefireball Jun 4 2016, 06:12 PM
Hey guys! My drummer and I did a playthrough of my band's latest track called "Burdens". It's yet to have finished lyrics and recorded vocals. We had a lot of fun recording. Can't wait for the final product!
Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 5 2016, 06:17 PM
Beautiful mate! The whole thing is killer, but the solo from 2:23 to 03:07 gave me chills. It's epic. 
I'm now really anxious to hear this one finished with vocals. All the best with the band mate.
Posted by: Chris S. Jun 5 2016, 09:47 PM
Amazing work as always man! I aspire to produce that kind of quality - keep it up
Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 6 2016, 04:18 AM
You have come a long way my friend!!! Your mixing skills are getting better and better. Your writing is getting better too and the changes/leads are expressive and unexpected which is killer. Can't wait to hear the final!
Todd
Posted by: thefireball Jun 6 2016, 04:31 PM
Thanks guys! I do have a question - I got a comment on YouTube from a fellow GMCer about the mix and I need some feedback from you guys on what was said for clarification on how to fix it. Here's the comment:
I do admit I compressed my drummer's tracks a lot - so should I back off some compression and simply roll back the high pass filter off the bass drum more? I wanted a more balanced mix that wasn't too boomy - as influenced how I have heard Misha Mansor mix before. I'm still learning, but I would like to make sure my ears are not hearing things wrong (because I was actually happy with the mix). Other opinions please? I want to sound good!
Thanks! I trust you guys!Also here are some sound samples of the drums on the Burdens playthrough you watched, versus a song I mixed weeks later. It's a little more clear in my opinion. I am doing parallel processing on the snare - one with hardcore reverb and the other with the hit. Trying to get that big snare sound, but I feel like I may be failing.
Posted by: enlo22 Jun 7 2016, 04:40 AM
very cool stuff man, I like the song and the others on your channel as well!
Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 7 2016, 06:04 AM
It didn't strike me as being to far out there in terms of the genre to be honest. It sounded mixed well for tracks that I've heard along this line. I expect a bit of peripheryish compression to the drums to some degree. Almost like they want the drums to sound non-organic. I thought it was intentional?
But, still there is something to be said for dynamic range in music It's a dying art to be sure. In the end you gotta trust your own ears. Play your tracks on a variety of playback systems, monitors, every headphone/earbud you can get your hands on, friends cars, etc. See how your mix "travels". After that make some adjustments and try again.
If you want more range in it, back off on the compression a bit, like you said and give the drums a bit more high end. I"m assuming here that you are mixing the drums each on their own channel grouped in your daw to a "drum bus", e.g. one slider that controls the overall level of the drums while each element of the drum kit has it's own track in the drum grouping. If your not doing this, I'd suggest it. It gives one wads more control over the drum sound. I would not rely to much on the mixer in your drum program or it's fx. I'd say leave the internal mixer at default values and take the fx off. Then apply the fx in your daw just like you would if mixing a real drum kit. Eq each channel to sound good by itself, then eq the entire bus/group to sound good, then go back and add fx per drum if needed, or to the entire bus such as room reverb and overall compression.
Make sense?
Todd
I do admit I compressed my drummer's tracks a lot - so should I back off some compression and simply roll back the high pass filter off the bass drum more? I wanted a more balanced mix that wasn't too boomy - as influenced how I have heard Misha Mansor mix before. I'm still learning, but I would like to make sure my ears are not hearing things wrong (because I was actually happy with the mix). Other opinions please? I want to sound good!
Thanks! I trust you guys!Also here are some sound samples of the drums on the Burdens playthrough you watched, versus a song I mixed weeks later. It's a little more clear in my opinion. I am doing parallel processing on the snare - one with hardcore reverb and the other with the hit. Trying to get that big snare sound, but I feel like I may be failing.
Posted by: thefireball Jun 7 2016, 04:41 PM
But, still there is something to be said for dynamic range in music
It's a dying art to be sure. In the end you gotta trust your own ears. Play your tracks on a variety of playback systems, monitors, every headphone/earbud you can get your hands on, friends cars, etc. See how your mix "travels". After that make some adjustments and try again. If you want more range in it, back off on the compression a bit, like you said and give the drums a bit more high end. I"m assuming here that you are mixing the drums each on their own channel grouped in your daw to a "drum bus", e.g. one slider that controls the overall level of the drums while each element of the drum kit has it's own track in the drum grouping. If your not doing this, I'd suggest it. It gives one wads more control over the drum sound. I would not rely to much on the mixer in your drum program or it's fx. I'd say leave the internal mixer at default values and take the fx off. Then apply the fx in your daw just like you would if mixing a real drum kit. Eq each channel to sound good by itself, then eq the entire bus/group to sound good, then go back and add fx per drum if needed, or to the entire bus such as room reverb and overall compression.
Make sense?
Todd
Thanks Todd. Yeah it was mostly intentional, and I do try to listen to my mix on multiple systems. I know my car the most - as I have listened to so many commercial mixes in there. After cross referencing my monitor and headphone mixes, I will upload my mix to Dropbox and critically listen on the way to and from work. I usually know immediately what needs to be done because of years of listening to professional mixes as reference in my car, even as bad as my car stereo sounds.
As far as mixing the drums go - the thing is - I am mixing raw drum stems from my drummer. He sends me his stems over Dropbox. Tracks as follows: kick, snare, high tom, low tom, floor tom, left overhead, right overhead. I have attached what his drums sound like with absolutely no effects - all raw as he would send me - only thing I did for this example was adjust the volumes a bit more with the absence of effects. His kick as raw is very warm and dull, so it takes a lot of work to get it to sound punchy and clicky. I never use Superior Drummer drum mixer with his drum tracks, but a blend of stock plugins and EZmix plugins. I mix and match a lot of different settings to get the sound my ears are looking for.
Posted by: Todd Simpson Jun 7 2016, 05:47 PM
Having Raw stems from real drums is a rarity but a good thing I always like having real drums if possible, just because it makes your tune stand out a bit. Here is a handy vid on mixing drums for "Metal" that may help a bit
As far as mixing the drums go - the thing is - I am mixing raw drum stems from my drummer. He sends me his stems over Dropbox. Tracks as follows: kick, snare, high tom, low tom, floor tom, left overhead, right overhead. I have attached what his drums sound like with absolutely no effects - all raw as he would send me - only thing I did for this example was adjust the volumes a bit more with the absence of effects. His kick as raw is very warm and dull, so it takes a lot of work to get it to sound punchy and clicky. I never use Superior Drummer drum mixer with his drum tracks, but a blend of stock plugins and EZmix plugins. I mix and match a lot of different settings to get the sound my ears are looking for.
Posted by: thefireball Jun 8 2016, 01:59 PM
I always like having real drums if possible, just because it makes your tune stand out a bit. Here is a handy vid on mixing drums for "Metal" that may help a bit Thanks. Yeah, I agree. Having a real drummer to mix is awesome because all the little imperfections and variations just make it real.
I have an internet pal who said he is excited to hear the record since we have added a live drummer.
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