ObsCure - Visitors

[jane]

Hi everyone

I submitted a version of this ages ago but OC didn't dig it 'cos I used way too much of the original choir. Am having another stab at it. Maaan I really love Olivier Derivière's work on this game a lot.

Comments and helpful things welcome

https://soundcloud.com/tobosaurus/jane-visitors-obscure

[timaeus222]

A little too heavy. Some things I notice:

The piano is a little thin-sounding due to only one note being played at a time. Playing octaves could be thick enough. The kick is way too fast at 1:01, 2:44, etc. No one can play that fast, and that also overcompresses the mix for too long at a time. Suddenly 2:18 feels too narrow in comparison to 1:00, and that should be addressed. Lastly, 4:24 is missing a connecting sound to lead into the outtro, which exposes the thin one-note-playing piano as noted before.

Either the guitar has too much distortion or the bass is playing too low in many places. I'm hearing some instability in the bass notes which disrupt the clarity of the notes. This is consistent throughout. Overall there are lots of compression issues, drum sequencing issues, bass sequencing issues (if you played it, then its amp tone doesn't work for lower notes), and some stereo imaging issues to be looked into.

Here is a good metal mixing reference. Apparently your mixing was louder than this, 'cause I trust Ian Dorsch's mixing quite a bit. This is another good metal mixing reference. Seamless mixes a little louder, but still not too loud.

Edited October 29, 2013 by timaeus222

[jane]

A little too heavy. Some things I notice:

The piano is a little thin-sounding due to only one note being played at a time. Playing octaves could be thick enough. The kick is way too fast at 1:01, 2:44, etc. No one can play that fast, and that also overcompresses the mix for too long at a time. Suddenly 2:18 feels too narrow in comparison to 1:00, and that should be addressed. Lastly, 4:24 is missing a connecting sound to lead into the outtro, which exposes the thin one-note-playing piano as noted before.

Either the guitar has too much distortion or the bass is playing too low in many places. I'm hearing some instability in the bass notes which disrupt the clarity of the notes. This is consistent throughout. Overall there are lots of compression issues, drum sequencing issues, bass sequencing issues (if you played it, then its amp tone doesn't work for lower notes), and some stereo imaging issues to be looked into.

Here is a good metal mixing reference. Apparently your mixing was louder than this, 'cause I trust Ian Dorsch's mixing quite a bit. This is another good metal mixing reference. Seamless mixes a little louder, but still not too loud.

Gr8 feedback, thank you.

Although re: that Ian Dorsch stuff... I am so not into that. It's exactly the kind of metal sound I'm trying to avoid. I do appreciate the clarity of it, though, that's cool. But it's really boring, and really sort of overdone (IMO, of course). I prefer the disgusting crust of the stuff Kurt Ballou does with Converge. I want to be on him.

Edited October 29, 2013 by jane

[timaeus222]

Gr8 feedback, thank you.

Although re: that Ian Dorsch stuff... I am so not into that. It's exactly the kind of metal sound I'm trying to avoid. I do appreciate the clarity of it, though, that's cool. But it's really boring, and really sort of overdone (IMO, of course). I prefer the disgusting crust of the stuff Kurt Ballou does with Converge. I want to be on him.

Makes sense, though I was intending those to be examples of production rather than sequencing style.

[jane]

Makes sense, though I was intending those to be examples of production rather than sequencing style.

Oh I getcha. In that case I got a hard-on.

The loudness thing is killing my mixes, I think. What kind of mad outboard compressor do I need to get to just get everything BANGIN' without smashing it to bits? Fat sausages are only nice to eat, not to listen to

[timaeus222]

I just don't compress the master unless I "need" to (i.e. mixes where loudness can be controlled but still loud). I tend to use a generic soft knee limiter and... that's it. Try lowering the volume of the guitars and bass by a similar small amount.

I tend to use The Glue by Cytomic.

Edited October 30, 2013 by timaeus222

[jane]

I just don't compress the master unless I "need" to (i.e. mixes where loudness can be controlled but still loud). I tend to use a generic soft knee limiter and... that's it. Try lowering the volume of the guitars and bass by a similar small amount.

I tend to use The Glue by Cytomic.

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