You're A Disease

[JD01]

Here's a song about ..............(edit in case they read it an it affects ongoing procedings) - this was quite cathartic. Most of you have heard the music to this before, I just wanted to get towards finishing this off.

[WhiskeyJack]

Here's a song about my receptionist at work - this was quite cathartic. Most of you have heard the music to this before, I just wanted to get towards finishing this off.

Is this your blackstar?

[JD01]

Here's a song about my receptionist at work - this was quite cathartic. Most of you have heard the music to this before, I just wanted to get towards finishing this off.

Is this your blackstar?

Yeah.

[WhiskeyJack]

I think this is the best my ears have heard it sound.

I think your drums sound much better than some of your other clips but one issue i am having with them is if you take a listen to your punches at the :42-:49 mark, they have a very unnatural sounding fade out. Like they just stop. And i get that crashes stop or get muted but i sort of hear it as just an unnatural sound to me. Perhaps a real actual drummer can weigh in on that. I might just be out to lunch.

Good tune man. I'd wanna say you receptionist would be stoked to hear a song was written about her but...

Subject matter being what it is

[JD01]

I think this is the best my ears have heard it sound.

I think your drums sound much better than some of your other clips but one issue i am having with them is if you take a listen to your punches at the :42-:49 mark, they have a very unnatural sounding fade out. Like they just stop. And i get that crashes stop or get muted but i sort of hear it as just an unnatural sound to me. Perhaps a real actual drummer can weigh in on that. I might just be out to lunch.

Good tune man. I'd wanna say you receptionist would be stoked to hear a song was written about her but...

Subject matter being what it is

Yeah, that's just the best I can do the drums. I want them to be really quick chokes really. Greg has given me a LOT of help mixing drums lately.

Also, Greg and Ocnor have really helped me dial in the Blackstar in the last couple of months too. Edit: well, Greg has been helping me with it for nearly 2 years... not just dialing in that amp but teaching me how to dial in an amp!

She's a total dick. It's a song about enjoying the fact someone hates you.

[Bubba]

Guitars sound good (for metal! ) I think the drums are a bit too quiet or not punchy enough to match the guitars - do you agree? I like the tom-tom parts. Vocals are sounding quite Lemmy-ish. . As usual, I'm not a fan of that style of lead playing, or the tone of it, but I guess that's your style. I would go over the track and edit silence into the guitar tracks when they need it. There's a bit too much sloppy string noise going on for me.

All in all a pretty convincing track and heading in the right direction. Especially the guitars.

[WhiskeyJack]

I want them to be really quick chokes really.

Ezdrummer has a choke midi note. It works well but it only really works well when used in unison with a higher velocity of the note, (as well as playing with how long the note is played for or if you have reapers midi editor set up for drum midi). The choke kind of throws some wonk into crash track. but if you do it right it is barely noticeable to an everyday listener.

I don't know off the top of my head which note it is but it is there somewhere.

[ocnor]

There are a few things about the mix that I would change. The drums need a little more room ambience to sound natural. The vocal levels need to come up. The vocal doubling is too much. Use one track as the main vocal, and the other as if it were an effect with a lower level. You should automate the rhythm guitars during the lead breaks so the mix doesn't sound so static. Also on the parts where the guitars stop abruptly, you should gate out the string noise.

[JD01]

There are a few things about the mix that I would change. The drums need a little more room ambience to sound natural. The vocal levels need to come up. The vocal doubling is too much. Use one track as the main vocal, and the other as if it were an effect with a lower level. You should automate the rhythm guitars during the lead breaks so the mix doesn't sound so static. Also on the parts where the guitars stop abruptly, you should gate out the string noise.

Cheers, I'll look into all of these points. I do find the whole thing a touch dry. I've been trying to make my mixes drier and drier over the last few months, maybe I've overdone it.

[JD01]

Guitars sound good (for metal! ) I think the drums are a bit too quiet or not punchy enough to match the guitars - do you agree? I like the tom-tom parts. Vocals are sounding quite Lemmy-ish. . As usual, I'm not a fan of that style of lead playing, or the tone of it, but I guess that's your style. I would go over the track and edit silence into the guitar tracks when they need it. There's a bit too much sloppy string noise going on for me.

All in all a pretty convincing track and heading in the right direction. Especially the guitars.

Yeah - the drums are a little on the pedestrian side, but that's just drum programming - I really do wish I had a kit to hit, 'cos aside from the ending I reckon I could play this song too.

They did come out quite Lemmyish - as I sing more and more, my voice seems to crack more and more readily.

Listening to this back now with fresh ears the scratchy string noises in the quiet bits are way too obvious.

EDIT: I've just changed this to a much bigger room impulse and it does sound a fair bit better - I won't post it now 'cos I just got back from the pub and I'm a bit pissed but I'll check it again in the morning and post if I a really do think it sounds better.

[Greg_L]

I agree with Bubba and ocnor's thoughts and comments. This almost sounds like it could be an 80s metal mix, but it's too disjointed. You got good separation of everything, but that's not particularly good for a mix like this IMO. You need to "glue" it all together. It's like too isolated for classic metal, but not pro enough to sound modern. This mix is in some weird limbo in between. It's not bad, and you are consistently improving, but it needs more mixing to me to make it all work as one. The vocals seem thick and roomy. The drums are kind of punchy. The bass is just there. The guitars are clearly mixed by a guitar player. Lol. Balance all that shit out a little better. I think you could make a good classic metal mix out of this.

[JD01]

Cool, cheers. I'll have another crack at the mix of this later his morning. I'll try not to post up millions of mixes adjusting the tiniest of parameters.

[JD01]

OK, so I've change my impulse to give it more room to breathe; this is an impulse that I find more suitable for vocals too, so instead of having vocals going to the main verb for the mix and a little bit of their own verb on the vocal buss for colour, the whole mix is now going to one impulse only.

I noticed that the vocals weren't that compressed before either, they were barely touching the threshold on my vocal buss - I've crushed them at 10:1 this time.

I've also turned the lead guitars down a bit and gated the rhythm guitar to cut some string noise in the breaks.

[rayc]

I did post on this but it disappeared - could've been another blackout while I was doing it & I gave up - I can't recall - they are too frequent.
Mix 2
It has a Budgie vibe to the riffing. the bass isn't budgie though not the vox.
The vocals are angry - nice.
MORE kick drum thud needed I think.
I like it but the vocals are a little indistinct in spots - you don't have much faith in them and tend to obscure them a little.
Sounding good sir.

[Bubba]

Sounds better, but the drum/guitar balance is still wrong. The drums need to dominate more. The left guitar and the lead are dominating this mix and not giving the other elements enough space. They definitely need to come down a bit.

[JD01]

I did post on this but it disappeared - could've been another blackout while I was doing it & I gave up - I can't recall - they are too frequent.
Mix 2
It has a Budgie vibe to the riffing. the bass isn't budgie though not the vox.
The vocals are angry - nice.
MORE kick drum thud needed I think.
I like it but the vocals are a little indistinct in spots - you don't have much faith in them and tend to obscure them a little.
Sounding good sir.

Cheers, Ray. Indistinct, yeah - I tend to slur a bit even when I talk normally. In full Lemmy mode I probably slur even more!

Kick... I'll check.

[JD01]

Sounds better, but the drum/guitar balance is still wrong. The drums need to dominate more. The left guitar and the lead are dominating this mix and not giving the other elements enough space. They definitely need to come down a bit.

Cool, next thing I try is bringing all of the guitars (and maybe even the vocal) down by a db or two. Maybe this will adress the kick thing that ray mentioned too, although I'll keep that in mind. Will probably have another crack at this tonight when it gets too late to track anything else.

[Bubba]

Now listening on my monitors and the guitar imbalance doesn't seem that bad. I think a little compression on the whole mix might enable you to push it into the limiter a little more and glue everything together better. The mix could be a tadge brighter to my ears.

[JD01]

Now listening on my monitors and the guitar imbalance doesn't seem that bad. I think a little compression on the whole mix might enable you to push it into the limiter a little more and glue everything together better. The mix could be a tadge brighter to my ears.

Cheers, there's no compression on the mix I'll try it. I've never compressed a whole mix before other than using Event Horizon as a limiter. What's the easiest way of doing this? Sticking the entire thing in a folder and sticking the compressor on the folder?

[Bubba]

Now listening on my monitors and the guitar imbalance doesn't seem that bad. I think a little compression on the whole mix might enable you to push it into the limiter a little more and glue everything together better. The mix could be a tadge brighter to my ears.

Cheers, there's no compression on the mix I'll try it. I've never compressed a whole mix before other than using Event Horizon as a limiter. What's the easiest way of doing this? Sticking the entire thing in a folder and sticking the compressor on the folder?

Strap it across the stereo buss before your limiter(use a stereo comp, obviously!) Start with a low ratio, like 1.5:1 and middling attack and release. A/B it to make sure there's no volume change. If it's quieter then use the makeup gain (or equivalent control)to bring it up again.