Hi fellas, I need your ears and valued opinions on this. First off, it is the first track I master that feel that works, but it is loud. I've gone from recording to mastering here. RMS average level must be over -9 dB, with peaks at -0.1 dB. I'm using the meters in the FG-X processor. By all means, it is agreed that anything over -12-ish dB RMS could be considered squashed in these post-loudness-wars times, but my point is I keep testing it and I don't feel it overboard. What do you think?

Of course, any criticism in any regard is kindly appreciated. The song is not mine.

https://soundcloud.com/mercurysoto/elemut-banda-dejame-en-paz/s-LEHI3

 

Sounds like loundness without any of the benefits of snappiness/compression :P
The mix sounds off to me which makes the track sound overly washy, drums arent well defined, snare has an irritating pitch going on and lacks punch. The bass sounds very loose as well. Vocals also sound loose. The splashes sounds too bright.

 

Hello or Hola!
I don't want to offend you but to me the mix lacks of dynamics and transparency.
It sounds rather muddy. Regarding its loudness: yes it sounds loud but not really compact.
I use other meters to check loudness; such as IK-Multimedia Meter, or RND (Roger Nichols) meter, etc...
By own experience I know it's not so easy to mix Rock music.

 

Thanks, guys for your immediate feedback. I'll go back to the chopping board and revise the mix. A quick question. The band wants this boomy sound (the guitars tuned to low D is a thing with them and they want a dark sound), but of course muddy is not it. Any pointers?

 

I would start with the drums first, it appears that the base recording isnt up to par with an actual release, i doubt you would have modded the snare that much that is sound like that. If you can retrack the drums and get them sounding nice alone, would be a good start. I would mono the bass guitar too if it isnt already and get that sounding tight with the drums, then add the rest of the layers on top of that. Currently in the mix all i can hear in terms of the kick is the click from the beater, and not the rest of the kick. I would suggest trying to pull that through the mix through sidechain compression. The solo guitar is also really overpowering on the R channel too when it comes in and is too muddy, lower the volume and the effects you have used on it (post processing). The voice seems to fit nicely, apart from panning the main vocal to the right and having the backing vocals on the left? Slightly weird. You could try monoing the main vocals, and use a plugin like nugen's steroizer or any other stereo making plugin for the side vocals. The bass guitar seems quite nice on its own, you can really hear the pluck when that part comes in on the track, see if you can bring out that definition of the higher harmonics + pluck of the guitar in the main parts of the track.

 

Thanks a lot, Synth. I'll revise and get back with results. very kind of you.

 

no problem, would like to hear it :P

 

sounds good overall, enjoyed listening to it!

it isn't to loud in my opinion, the low end could be a little more solid in terms of the bass guitar collaborating with the kick but that might be just taste.

 

i think it sounds very good. i'd drop the lead-kinda guitar 3-5db.
there is too much reverb overall. i'd use shorter reverbs on auxes.
the guitars are not fully panned, i'd use aggressive high pass at 110hz on both sides and some cut from highs, and narrow cut around 250 and 400hz.
i'd distort the bass more with sonimus barnley and compress it more to sound more forward.

kick drum has nice click but no sub. snare is too quiet and not punchy enough, again too long reverb on it. cimbals/high hats are too loud.

but good job overall.

 

Try tinkering with different EQ settings/filters on different reverbs. The right tone on the reverb in the right amount will get you some "darkness". How much of each instrument you send to it has some sontrol of that too. Push the lower mids a little more in the verb than you might normally.

 

Nice tune. That said, try to re-evaluate the high frequency domain you have etched out by starting out by concentrating on gluing the kick and bass together a bit tighter. As you go ahead tie in those cymbals with the guitars separating both in frequency and physical space by maybe panning guitars a bit more and low passing a little on the metal. It was for my ears a constant barrage of sssssssss noise. And like El Rythmatist chimed in, "Try tinkering with different EQ settings/filters on different reverbs. The right tone on the reverb in the right amount will get you some "darkness". How much of each instrument you send to it has some control of that too. Push the lower mids a little more in the verb than you might normally."

 

When i mix, i first make a mix-down of the drums, it's much better to have bassdrums, snares, hi-hats etc...
isolated on separate tracks (if possible)! On this way one can obtain solid sounding drums.
I often notice that drum tracks rehearsed alone sound much better than together with all other instruments.
So the ART consists of having the ability +ears to create an overall good sounding mix.
Of course the quality of each single sound is very important.
Many sound engineers use indeed reverbs to "give some air" to muddy sounding material,
but one has to select the right one and not put too much.

A happy mixing!