Why don't any OC ReMixes sound like this?

[Brandon Strader]

Is that Benjamin Briggs from the black metal band Chthonic

[BONKERS]

Symphonic Metal is hard for many reasons.

For one, Production and mixing; How do you keep such frequency hogging things like Distorted Guitars with natural acoustic instruments that are much less harsh. Perspective;how do you mix everything as a whole? Dry guitars and stage mic'd Orchestral instruments? What about the drums? Do you do player position or Audience position where there is a lot less stereo width to the drums but it gives the illusion of them being up on a stage?

To that effect, how does this affect drum production/eq/reverb?

How do you get good quality/very realistic orchestral sounds without it costing you out the ass in money,sounding stiff, or too computerized or even generic?

What songs can you even apply this style to in the first place that wouldn't sound too different from the original in a way that destroys the feelings?

There are a million other other questions like this.

In the song the OP posted, the low end is a bit on the hum drum side, the bass is barely audible. The Kick drum takes up most of the low end and the rhythm guitars overpower EVERYTHING but the vocals. The orchestral parts are mostly in the background(Where as Rhythms are dry/foreground) and it's a bit muddy overall when the actual orchestral parts are concerned.

It's a really hard and confusing area to dabble in.

A decent example I can think of is one of my own tracks on Vampire Variations (Minus something like vocals)

http://www.kngi.org/vampirevariations/

The gate of nightmares puts more emphasis on the orchestral side where, even though the rhythms are basically dry/foreground they are eq'd to the point where a lot of the natural low end frequencies of instruments like Timpani/Cello/French Horn/synths/Trombones/Tubular bells can fit in and sound more natural. Drums are player position rather than audience position(Also when I finished the song, I was rushed for time so the drum overheads;crashes/rides and whatnot; came out subdued , which in the end kind of counterbalanced player position drums)

Also as others have suggested, PuD is likely someone who's music you'd enjoy if you like Symphonic Metal.