I agree to everything the other guys said. But hey, it's an interesting song! I wished I could understand the lyrics better.

 

eh?

stems, steeeems

 

Sssssssstems

(not gonna use them, i'm just cooperating with the cause)

 

Seriously, it would be a gas to have the elements of this to see what people came up with. I'd certainly enjoy it. None of the mixes would probably be what you want but hearing what everyone else thinks is "good" would be pretty interesting!

C'mon dude, export that sht

 

youre making progress!

 

sounds like a sm57 that records apple headphone from the next room. drop the stems and i mix you a billboard level pop mix of it

 

Hey, see, you got that going for you now.

 

its a new genre! and all the time we were trying to push our boomer standards over his new physics of sound and sound reproduction systems while this guy is leaving us all behind

 

Filtering and Compressing
many elements have too much High freqs, which makes it difficult to listen to,
specially Guitars and Snare..

Also some elements are like too Dynamic, they Jump out too much..
so if you add too much Highs + too much Jumping = it becomes Hard to listen..

The Bass has a Joe Satriani vibe that I really like,
however I think it needs a bit more Low freqs, and a hair narrower cut of the Highs.
If the Bass was more Bassy it would better fill its place/role..

The electric Guitars have a Mid/Highs boost which is killing me,
I don't know where is it coming from in the signal chain,
but easing those nasty Mid/High freqs, and filtering the Highs could go a long way..

Drums are also a bit problematic..
Snare has again a bit too much High freqs,
I guess the type of snare is very much selected to have this wide splashy sound..
But yeah, it's got so much highs it adds a little bit of confusion,
I'd try to filter it a little bit more..

Bass Drums need to be more Bassy,
The type of bass drums are well selected I guess, they're just not Bassy enough,
try to cut the lows on a lower freq, let more bass freqs pass though..

Voice is also a bit Bright,
and Synths are pretty much allright, I guess..


-I'd say a LOT of improvement could come just by Filtering more appropriately,
and then maybe reconsidering which freqs you boost/cut on every instrument.

You have gone the Bright/Shouty way, which may suit the irreverent nature of Rock/the track..
But what happens if you go little bit Warmer? Maybe not Super warm, but the right Middle way..

Another good amount of improvement could come from using Compression more adequately,
some elements of the track are a bit too Dynamic, some things Jump out too much,
control the dynamics of the Separate elements, and then the dynamics of the Whole will also improve.

With the right Filtering and Compressing approach, things will become more controlled/tame,
and that will leave a big room for improving the Mix itself.

It's hard to improve a mix if the elements are jumping all over the place,
but if you control them more, and filter them more adequately,
then you can refine the Mix adjustment even more.


I've got no idea of What/How you did it,
but judging by the overall Hollowness/Brightness of the sound,
it's possible you're trying to adjust things on the Master Bus too much.

I say adjust the Separate instruments/tracks more,
and then you won't need to be so radical on the Master Bus,
which could then be used for more Proper/Subtle > Control and Enhancement processes.


I don't know what to say about the Reverb,
in a way it adds all that Hollowness, as if it was inside of a big Fishbowl/something,
and that's interesting and good in sound design terms, and could suit the track/style..

It's certainly not what I will do, but I guess it comes down to taste/preference.

Maybe instead of applying one reverb for everything,
try to differentiate one instrument from the other by applying different types/amounts of reverb,
or just try a different type of Reverb, I don't know.


In Creative terms, I like the track!
Very unique approach to Rock.. it's got some of the late 90's flavor and irreverent attitude,
not the most refined/technical thing, but that's not the idea..

It's a creative approach to rock, with a crazy/chaotic and Fun attitude..
and perhaps a hair of darkness in the synths section, being more anime ost reminiscent.

Hard to describe/put in words.. but I can appreciate it

Spoiler: Extra Satch rant..

(Btw I just realized Joe Satriani also sounds a bit like shit in that track I linked.. lol
And I always LOVED that track/disc!

I guess part of it is the Drum and Bass tones,
That drummer Campitelli was certainly never the best/most creative, and his tone is kinda weak for a God like Satch..
I certainly like the Cymbals/Hat, but the Snare and BD are a bit meh..

The Bass is alright I guess, it's just a little Basic so it doesn't collide/take protagonism from the guitars,
but the tone could be considerably better, as even being Real it sounds kinda like a Midi bass..
I mean, you could take Modo Bass vst and make it sound better.

But well, we're also comparing an average late 90's production, with nowadays computer based production..
computers Suck allright, but these modern totl VST plugs and instruments we've got are actually Incredible in comparison of what they had back then, and the crazy amount of Money it all costed..

There's one thing they are doing right in that Satch track tho > Filtering..
And ofc having one of the Greatest guitarists in history Composing/playing all that good stuff.. )

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

Thanks for the detailed reply! I'm going to put the mix to rest for a bit, upload the tracks for others to have a crack at it, and then in about a week I'll go through your notes one at a time with the session open to see what can happen. As you can tell, I'm not a terribly refined engineer, so I might lack the talent to achieve a lot of what you're mentioning, but I'm happy to see that you mentioned it all the same! However, I don't touch the master bus. By my view that's trespassing on the mastering engineer's territory.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

Layering kicks and snares is very common, particularly in the Boom Bap (classic, sample-based) genre of rap music. There is a correct way to do it and a wrong way. If you follow the correct approach, you won't have phasing issues. It's really about trimming the start of the different layers to align.

Older video and uses Ableton internal devices, but the basic approach would be the same with any other sampler:

 

Super interesting and dope track! Here's my super loud take on it haha.

 

For those asking for the files... Here is a link to the tracks (total size 2.8 gB). It's a bit of a mess so I spent a lot of time cleaning up the session in a way that would make sense to outsiders. I thought of trying to mixdown stems, but there are so many SFX and tonal changes throughout the track that I couldn't settle on what to marry. It really is a pastiche!

Looking forward to hearing what you come up with!

 

are the vocals unprocessed?

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

Yes, I removed all chains of effects. In some cases they were summed and in rare cases the FX were left if they were necessary for the element (and would have sounded completely wrong without them), but all the main vocals are dry.

 

After downloading and analyzing your song, i figured out what's the problem, you don't have a clear structure, some may disagree, what usually holds a song together is the drums/percussion, i don't hear drums here, and when i do they either have some weird effects or heavily edited they don't count as drums anymore...

here's my recommendation, the bass parts (DIs) are fine and sounds clear and they have a lot of potential, i personally i don't like the included bass with fx because it limits the mix engineer (some may have better ideas or better software/hardware) it is enough to add distortion tag in the name or include a di version, so the included bass tracks mostly are good enough, what this lacks is the glue that holds it together and that's the drums, i recon a rocky-toned drums with a lot of body can fit very well in your song,

so if you can program some drums, nothing very complicated just simple 4/4 beats with enough variation to keep it intresting and either include some wav files for separated pieces, kick snare ect ect or/and midi files for us geek who wants to control everything...

now that you have a good drum/bass foundation, see if the rest of elements fit well enough or do they need some modification and work your way,

other than that good luck.

 

If you're referring to the bounced raw files, there are no effects on the bass. It's just going through my amp. And there isn't serious editing or any effects on the drums. They're just loops and 90% of them are entirely dry. Frankly, I wonder whether you were able to download the tracks without error. I bounced 11 tracks marked 'drums', 9 of which have zero effects on them. Are you sure you got them okay?

And I very much disagree that the song lacks a clear structure, or should even have one if it did lack one, or that it would be held together by the drums. It just sounds like you're referring to an entirely different way of making music. This track is, by intention, a pastiche. An easy comparison is the Beastie Boys. Check out that track (especially the second verse) and maybe you will see what I mean.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

I'm not that sure that the drums are actually a problem. In the contrary, the fact that they are "surprising" gives a little spice to the track (imho). And any attempt to make them sound more "classical" would probably tend to transform the track into another Red Hot or Suicidal Tendencies song, which would be a mistake (again imho). I would rather focus on the sound of the guitars that lack a bit of personnality and "crazyness".
I'll try to see if I can do something with the stems but I'm terrible at mixing so... it'll be just for the fun.

 

Last edited: Feb 19, 2022

I agree with both of you..
Drums could be Improved, they could be made more Consistent and Intelligible, (soundwise)
and that will improve the track and make it more Cohesive..

However I think there is a very defined Structure, it's just Morphing from section to section,
one section uses this/that type of drums, the next will use another.

One section is more rock, the next is more electronic, the other is more trippy/whatever and so on..

But it does come back, so there's an element of recursivity,
and that's a valid way of doing things, as it will surely add some contrast from section to section..


Good call on the Beasties, not my type of music so I would've never recognized/associated it.
But I guess that will match the "90's irreverence" I pointed..

If it was more Rock and more Rap, the obvious association would be Anthrax I guess,
but yeah this is different..

 

thanks whats the bpm