Death Metal/Progressive synth panning etc

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Member Since: Apr 10, 2009

www.mediafire.com/?njdzjmlunny

there's my rough draft track. I think it sounds funny but I can't tell why. Synth panning maybe[it's honestly not panned at all, but I tried that and it sounds worse to me]? Drums sound over powering? Synth over powering? Help me out you guys -_-
My guitar panning is quad one 100% 1 %50 left and right.
Synth is right up the middle.

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Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


Apr 15, 2010 07:23 am

Listening on my laptop speakers. Couldn't really hear that well, especially panning. I'm pretty sure the "standard" panning for quad tracked guitars is 80 and 20(or 30) but i'm sure you could go a little wider than that, maybe keep it under 100. Just stuff i've heard word of mouth however.

First reactions, eh. Cool track! I really like it. The beginning brings me back to the Pretty Hate Machine days of NIN. Then it gets much more full blown metal. Cool stuff.

Production wise. Is there a bass in there? Couldn't really hear it if there is, and i felt like it was lacking something there. Might just be the way its mixed in there if you did track a bass. I know you're not going to like this lol, but turn down the gain a bit on the rhythm guitars. Let layering do all the fattening up, and if you're going for something "alien" feeling, put more of a fuzz or buzz saw filter type of thing on that. That much gain gives the mix a bit of a...cheap "less than quality" feel to the recording. The guys on this forum can give some tips on how to fatten up your guitars without cranking the gain. Last thing: the bass drum. I understand you need that click for the genre. But i feel like after the initial click there should be some more depth to it. Maybe turn back the release of the compressor? Or if you're using drum replacement software, try adding a second bass drum underneath that one (toontrack does this nicely with their "midi node" feature. You can envelope the mix between the two pieces of the kit). Also, is this software drums? It feels like it. Something about that double bass feels too...machine-gun like there. I'm fairly certain that most fans of this genre like a more human element to a song. If your software has a feature that has several samples for each note, make sure its on.

Just take these as opinions and suggestions.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Apr 15, 2010 09:17 am

yer kinda getting a mushed up sound due to too much gain on gits combined with fuzzy synths etc.

what you get when you have gits, synths, the click of the drums, hats and cymbals, all at similar frequencies is major clutter and fighting for dominance.

i think its sounds frickn cool though hey.
quick fix with the synths would be to take out all bottom end and alot of mids to force it up top into the tweeters top end. this will give your gits and cymbals etc an easier time.

having said all that, its close man. i dig it.
I would turn down the synths vol wise though.

a good trick to remember when mixing is. keep everything flat frequency wise, and let the instruments dictate what goes up front more. they will naturally gravitate in the right direction.
then when they absolutely wont do exactly what you want, then add a touch of whatever freq. to get it there.

guitars work good 80% left right. 30% left right. as Fragile mentioned.
pick two good ones and use the other 2 to back up them up.
i dont have all my gits the same level.

hope this helps. you proly didnt really need to hear all that, but hey i just drank one hell of strong coffee so my fingers are outta control right now..

Member
Since: Apr 10, 2009


Apr 16, 2010 07:42 pm

what kit would you guys suggest?

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Apr 17, 2010 02:59 am

real or programmed?

Member
Since: Apr 10, 2009


Apr 18, 2010 01:34 pm

programmed, I thought about upgrading to toontracks metal foundry. But that thing takes massive amount of disk space. I'm using drum kit from hell right now.

Member
Since: Apr 10, 2009


Apr 18, 2010 01:42 pm

www.mediafire.com/?vwtg2jxnkzd
can I get your opinion on this track too, it's got bass, quad tracks and vocals. I've been working on it a bit longer than the other one.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Apr 18, 2010 10:43 pm

hey man, sounds brutal song wise. vocalist is having a much better go at it.

I cant comment on the sound really all can hear is guitars with a ****load of distortion and top end. try turning down the gain if yer using POd or something like that. If not (if you can) track those gits again with the gain turned down.

turn down the tops on em first, then tweak down the gain IMO.

I like where the song is going though, vox are crazy.

Im not sure on metal foundry, im using SD2 and its sweet as. i found DFH hell to be hard to work with at times. sounds thin and whispy.

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


Apr 19, 2010 08:30 am

Yeah, if you can afford metal foundary and don't need S2.0 to run it (i don't think you do) go for that. If not, S2.0 sounds awesome as is. Just make sure you muck around with the effects. Its a really versatile program. you can do just about any genre with some tweeking.

Also i agree with deon. The gain is making your tone sound cheap, tin-y. And just overall lame (no offense). Turn down the gain and you'll be great though.

Member
Since: Apr 10, 2009


May 04, 2010 05:46 pm

www.mediafire.com/?geixrnmeiot
have I got the tone better? also I mixed bass into this track, it's short just kinda to see where I'm at. the lead guitar is 80l/r at first, then it switches to 100l/r. the chug is quad tracked 80l/r 20l/r. I decided I wanted to take advantage of my pod farm and I'm using a preset instead of directing in from my line 6 hd150 this time. bass is up the middle.

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


May 04, 2010 09:39 pm

Ehhhh. Better for sure! The high range guitar doing those out of tune union bends (i LOVE that technique btw. I'll never forget the day i first learned tools "sober" after a few months playing guitar. I couldn't believe that sound was coming out of my guitar haha).

Anyway, those sound pretty darn good as is. The rhythm chugs though.. i realize there are certain "preferences" to tone, and one mans garbage is another mans gold. And i'm trying to not be pushy or anything, but i do strongly feel that the tone would benefit from a lower gain setting on each guitar. Possibly experimenting on different tones with the 4 rhythm tracks you have there. Also, maybe EQing them a bit and getting rid of a bit of that low end on the guitars, especially now that you have the bass in there. "cutting holes" for the bass could also help the guitars to shine a bit more.

One more thing, are you cutting the guitar wavs short or something? I hear an audible click in there. I think it's intentional, but the click doesn't really sound good. I do like the creative idea behind it though. I actually really dig processed guitars so they sound in ways a human could never replicate. But maybe a different approach somehow. (i don't really know what approach would give you the effect i believe you're going after without those clicks, but experiment with volume automation and certain FX).

And one more thing, this doesn't really sound bad or anything. I mean, a couple years ago if someone showed me this and said it was out of a "bedroom studio" i would have been amazed by the tonal quality. But now that i have some similar equipment, i just personally think that while this isn't bad, you could probably get something to sound a little better. Also, this is really cool composition wise. Lots of interesting dynamics.

Member
Since: Apr 10, 2009


May 05, 2010 12:21 am

I'm having the hardest time getting a good tone for chugs with pod farm, and I've never eq'd before so I'm still learning. The click was not intentional though. I kinda did the scoop deal on the eq. Just kinda tryin it out but I cut the mids cause it sounded super overpowering before. I realize I should really invest in new monitors if I didn't hear the clicks your talking about though.

financing is a ***** -_-

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


May 05, 2010 06:53 am

Hmm it wasn't intentional? Its like at the end of each last chug in the rhythm, it clicks. Maybe you have a noise gate on with a super high thresh hold? That could do it. And financing blowss lol. If you can't afford monitors, i've heard a lot of people can get it right just by referencing with a few sets of speakers. And then upload your songs to your ipod or something, listen to it in the car. Take mental notes of what to change. Its worth a shot if moneys tight.

But ya, first get the amp sounding just how you want it. Then try your DAWs parametric EQ to clean up the rest. And experiment a bit in pod farm. You mentioned a present? in my own personal experience, most of the presents sucked pretty bad. Some were okay with tweaking, but each has to be set to your own guitar to get it right.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


May 05, 2010 12:17 pm

You know, after reading this post maybe it's about time we start sharing our podfarm presets. The files are so tiny it would be easy to store somewhere but trying to find anything good on the line6 website is a crapshoot and can take some time.

I like to use the JCM900 modeler for my chug.

Member
Since: Sep 30, 2009


May 05, 2010 12:35 pm

What the...why hadn't we thought of this before? lol. I mean sure they'll all need tweaked for our individual tastes/guitars. But most of the line 6 presents they give you sound terrible. And like you said, its tough to find good ones on the line 6 site as well. The special effect ones are usually quite interesting to play with. But for "real" tones i spent some time going threw the presents just to familiarize myself with the program and built a couple tones from the ground up.

Hmm. Anyway. DB would you be up for possibly making a sticky or a special section for sharing presents? Its really not a bad idea to have at least some way to share here.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


May 05, 2010 12:38 pm

I had a preset sharing application a while back in the pro section...it was never used.

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