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I've noticed in the past that there are a few music folks around on TL, and hopefully there are some left here.
I've made a few songs lately with some new equipment, and I'm looking for feedback on my mixing and producing in general. I especially struggle with making an all-round good EQ when finishing up, as I tend to get biased on how things sounds like by then.
Latest instrumental song:
http://soundcloud.com/lars-andreas-pedersen/solo-mid
Latest one with vocals:
http://soundcloud.com/lars-andreas-pedersen/sorry
If anyone would like it in better quality I can upload the mp3's as well, as soundcloud do decrease the quality a bit.
Again, any kind of feedback is appreciated.
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First off, the guitars sound pretty good, I'm not a big fan of the cymbals though.
And then what I really wanted to say... this could be such an epic djent song lol. The ambient intro... and then even the same notes/chord progressions, just make the rhythm guitars/bass/drums a little more bursty metal sounding and you got a good djent song going on ;D
kk...
Also, everything sits fairly well in the mix. The drums are the only thing that could probably use a bit of EQ tweeking to have them sit a little better. The guitars are all great, the bass is just teh bass, it doesn't stand out and it isn't unheard, so I guess that's good. Drums are a hard part to get to sit right because the kick, snare, toms, and cymbals are all at very different places and need to find a nice home in the mix, for the most part it sounds fine, but sometimes it's a little too strong and interferes with the guitars.
*edit* oops forgot to mention this is for the first song ;D
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On July 14 2012 10:01 aike wrote:
First off, the guitars sound pretty good, I'm not a big fan of the cymbals though.
And then what I really wanted to say... this could be such an epic djent song lol. The ambient intro... and then even the same notes/chord progressions, just make the rhythm guitars/bass/drums a little more bursty metal sounding and you got a good djent song going on ;D
kk...
Also, everything sits fairly well in the mix. The drums are the only thing that could probably use a bit of EQ tweeking to have them sit a little better. The guitars are all great, the bass is just teh bass, it doesn't stand out and it isn't unheard, so I guess that's good. Drums are a hard part to get to sit right because the kick, snare, toms, and cymbals are all at very different places and need to find a nice home in the mix, for the most part it sounds fine, but sometimes it's a little too strong and interferes with the guitars.
*edit* oops forgot to mention this is for the first song ;D
Thanks a lot for the lengthy feedback, really appreciate it! I agree with the drums when you mentioned it, the cymbals might be a bit too loud in parts. I got the same feeback from someone else as well.
For the record, I'm using a standard drum-package in the drum-plugin that comes with Cubase 5, but I'm planning to get some new drum plugin to get more power into the drums for these kinds of songs.
And haha, maybe it would fit as a djent song, though I don't think I even dare try getting close to the Meshuggah sound :p
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Listening to the song with vocals.
It's not that bad at all, really. It sounds great. The only possible thing I could bring up is that the guitars are a bit too bright, so they end up kind of melding with the samples you have running in the background. The bass comes up as a tiny bit flat (could use a teensy bit more punch, in my opinion), but it's still nothing to worry about, and could just be my own taste. Honestly, I really liked that song. It's very good, and I love that the bass can be so clearly heard.
Now listening to the instrumental song.
The punch from the drum kicks overpowers the bass guitar too much, in my opinion. The low end actually starts to get messy in general. As aike mentioned above, I don't particularly like the drum samples you used either. The cymbals sound very flat and punch too strongly through the mix. The bass in general needs a bit more punch again, in my opinion, and as I said before, could be a little cleaner.
It's still a really cool song, though. I really like it.
Everything I said is just from my own point of view. I don't record my own music -- I'm only an audiophile. As such, I can only make these kinds of vague suggestions...nothing on a really technical level. Even then, you've already gotten these songs to a good place. These are mainly nitpicks.
I hope you post more stuff on here in the future. Both those songs were a treat to listen to. (:
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On July 14 2012 12:00 PH wrote:
Listening to the song with vocals.
It's not that bad at all, really. It sounds great. The only possible thing I could bring up is that the guitars are a bit too bright, so they end up kind of melding with the samples you have running in the background. The bass comes up as a tiny bit flat (could use a teensy bit more punch, in my opinion), but it's still nothing to worry about, and could just be my own taste. Honestly, I really liked that song. It's very good, and I love that the bass can be so clearly heard.
Now listening to the instrumental song.
The punch from the drum kicks overpowers the bass guitar too much, in my opinion. The low end actually starts to get messy in general. As aike mentioned above, I don't particularly like the drum samples you used either. The cymbals sound very flat and punch too strongly through the mix. The bass in general needs a bit more punch again, in my opinion, and as I said before, could be a little cleaner.
It's still a really cool song, though. I really like it.
Everything I said is just from my own point of view. I don't record my own music -- I'm only an audiophile. As such, I can only make these kinds of vague suggestions...nothing on a really technical level. Even then, you've already gotten these songs to a good place. These are mainly nitpicks.
I hope you post more stuff on here in the future. Both those songs were a treat to listen to. (:
Wow thanks a lot, really glad you liked the songs!
There are some good points you bring up here, the bass could perhaps use a little more punch. I have only recently purchased a bass, and I'm still learning how to play it properly, so I'm gonna blame that until I get it sorted :p Bass in general is also a weak spot I have when it comes to mixing, as I tend to like a lot more bass than most people.
I keep hearing things about the cymbals too, so I guess that's something I should take a special look at.
And again, thanks for listening, and glad you liked it 
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Hmm well maybe not meshuggah, but like a tesseract/chimpspanner/periphery blend... really ambient, lead guitar stays the same as it is in the track, just the rhythm instruments play a few more notes with more of a basic djent sound ;D haha it sounds great as it is, that's just the first thing that came to my mind when I heard it.
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Ill comment on the instrumental because i like instrumental.
The main thing about it that could be improved is the drums.
First of all your kick drum sounds very mechanical and drum machine because you didn't vary its volume or tone at all for the different hits in the pattern. Go into the drum pattern and imagine you are actually playing it, you wouldn't hit with the exact same emphasis on each kick, adjust the volume of each hit just slightly to mirror this. You should repeat this process for your shakers/cymbals/hats etc. It will make a huge difference. Don't be afreaid of really getting some dynamics going.
Your snare is reallly really weak, it has no snap too it at all, and more importantly it has no reverb tail at all. It sounds like it should have one...but then it just sort of dissapears. This also hugely contributes to the unnaturalness of the drums. Go in there and find a nicer sample and/or add just a touch of reverb to make it sound like a real snare. The cymbals just cutting out abruptly after your really splashy bits is also really wierd sounding.
Your guitar is also a bit lacking in high end, but its not that big a deal. The drums are what instantly notified me that this was made in some dudes basement. 
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A lot of programs where you create drums have the ability to "humanize" the drums, where it slightly varies the velocity of each hit. One thing I also learned to do was to t urn off any sort of snap when you do drums and put the hits in ABOUT the right spot It gives the drums a more natural feel. (I'm not talking like an 1/8th not off or anything, but like a 64th note here or there never hurts)
Even if you do drums in Cubase you can get a decent sound out of them, obviously not as good as if you used something like Superior, but still decent, you just have to play with your compressors and other effects (I hope you've downloaded some good plugins?? :D)
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On July 14 2012 15:40 aike wrote:
Hmm well maybe not meshuggah, but like a tesseract/chimpspanner/periphery blend... really ambient, lead guitar stays the same as it is in the track, just the rhythm instruments play a few more notes with more of a basic djent sound ;D haha it sounds great as it is, that's just the first thing that came to my mind when I heard it.
Hehe yes I see :p
On July 14 2012 15:49 sob3k wrote:Ill comment on the instrumental because i like instrumental. The main thing about it that could be improved is the drums. First of all your kick drum sounds very mechanical and drum machine because you didn't vary its volume or tone at all for the different hits in the pattern. Go into the drum pattern and imagine you are actually playing it, you wouldn't hit with the exact same emphasis on each kick, adjust the volume of each hit just slightly to mirror this. You should repeat this process for your shakers/cymbals/hats etc. It will make a huge difference. Don't be afreaid of really getting some dynamics going. Your snare is reallly really weak, it has no snap too it at all, and more importantly it has no reverb tail at all. It sounds like it should have one...but then it just sort of dissapears. This also hugely contributes to the unnaturalness of the drums. Go in there and find a nicer sample and/or add just a touch of reverb to make it sound like a real snare. The cymbals just cutting out abruptly after your really splashy bits is also really wierd sounding. Your guitar is also a bit lacking in high end, but its not that big a deal. The drums are what instantly notified me that this was made in some dudes basement.
These are all good tips, thank you very much! I have very little experience in making drums, and I tend to not care about them so much as I do with the other instruments.
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On July 14 2012 17:39 aike wrote:A lot of programs where you create drums have the ability to "humanize" the drums, where it slightly varies the velocity of each hit. One thing I also learned to do was to t urn off any sort of snap when you do drums and put the hits in ABOUT the right spot It gives the drums a more natural feel. (I'm not talking like an 1/8th not off or anything, but like a 64th note here or there never hurts) Even if you do drums in Cubase you can get a decent sound out of them, obviously not as good as if you used something like Superior, but still decent, you just have to play with your compressors and other effects (I hope you've downloaded some good plugins?? :D)
Thanks for the tips, this seems like a really good idea!
I have not played a lot around with sounds and such for the drums, but I'm definately going to do it from now on.
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EPT
