New metalcore track for review (Wake The Dead - Exhumed)

doc-phil

I recorded this track over the weekend. I don't know if anybody reading this has listened to any of the other clips I've posted, but I think I'm improving quite a bit in terms of production value from when I first started. That's just my opinion though, and any improvement is attributable to people on this forum. ?

I used Guitar Rig 3 for guitars, EZD Drumkit From Hell for Drums and 4Front Bass for bass. Recorded in Mackie Tracktion 3.

I did a bit of 'pro-toolsing' to get the guitars sounding as tight as possible - but hey, if Dragonforce can do it, so can I! ?

http://www.box.net/shared/o7nv9kq6bj

Like?/Dislike?/Love?/Hate?

Squonk

Good one

The guitars are sounding tight, and your clips are definately improving production wise.

inflames

Hi Doc,

I like the track!

The only thing I did not like was that your lead guitar sounds very thin in the opening part of the song.
In the last section of the song when the lead guitar starts again it just missed the beat for a second.

The rest is very cool indeed, and yes you are improving!

Well done :goodtimes:

LooneyAtTheGate

Yes this is great, love it at 2:00!
Bass and kick drum could have some more bass eq though.

doc-phil

Cool guys, thanks for the feedback.

inflames wrote: The only thing I did not like was that your lead guitar sounds very thin in the opening part of the song.
In the last section of the song when the lead guitar starts again it just missed the beat for a second.

I know the first riff sounds a bit thin, I wasn't exactly sure what to do with the bass guitar during a tremolo picked riff, so the bass follows the guitar exactly. How should I change it? Should I write a bass line on the low E (C) to thicken it out a bit?

And I'll go back and sort out the missed beat - that was noob of me ?

LooneyAtTheGate wrote: Bass and kick drum could have some more bass eq though.

How should I eq the bass? The plug in I'm using is free so I know it's not amazing. All I did was put a high pass filter on it.

And in terms of eq'ing the kick drum; for my drum tracks I just lay out midi tracks in guitar pro then import into my DAW, how would I isolate the kick since EZ drummer just deals with all hits in a single track? Would I have to export kick, snare, toms and symbals as separate tracks in guitar pro?

[deleted]

Very cool, Phil. I love the middle-eight breakdown and the brutal bit that follows it.

PeteM

Hey doc-phil, I absolutely love this piece.

A couple of things on the production side. (this is subjective of course.)
I felt that overall it was sounding a bit muffled - lacking bite, tops and as mentioned here the bass.

I hope you don't mind but I liked it so much that I took the liberty of sweetening the track - using eq to add in what I thought was lacking above, using compression and peak limiting to lift the overall average level and to give it bite, playing around with the dynamics in the middle section, lifting the cymbal crashes at the end and adding a bit of reverb to the tops.
I would have loved to have got hold of the individual tracks to play around with the eq a bit more and to crisp up the bass part.

As I said, this is subjective and what I have done might not be the effect you were aiming to achieve. Feel free to blast me for tampering with you work. 8)

You'll find it here. http://www.box.net/shared/r875j1i0z7

doc-phil

Wow, thanks PeteM!! The sweetened version sounds so much better! I really appreciate it ? But can you explain to me how you did it? Especially since you were just working with the complete mixed track?

Overall it sounds a lot fatter, the bass booms a lot more and I can hear the kick drum is a lot imrpoved, it has more of a 'click' sound to it.

I do zero eq'ing when I record. I just press record and play and that's the sound I stick with, I do this because I have no idea how to EQ at all. Do you EQ tracks individually or is it a matter of EQing the entire track at once?

I can send you the individual tracks if you're still interested. Thanks for your efforts!

PeteM

I see you are also in Durbs doc-phil. You're welcome to come and visit me in my little home studio where I can demonstrate what I did - it's a bit difficult to explain everything on-line. If you like, you can bring the individual tracks on a flash drive or CD-ROM and I will do the mix with you. If you're interested, I'll PM you my address details.

doc-phil

Ya I'm really interested in doing that thanks. I've never had anyone to teach me anything about sound production/engineering so this would be awesome.

I'll PM you my details later today ?

BMU

Finally got a chance to listen - good work Doc-Phil. This is a good piece, lots of variation to keep the listener interested. I really liked the fast picking harmony piece kicking in at 1:08, that surprised me which is what you want. And yes, excellent improvement over previous pieces.

Good work also with the sweetened version PeteM, amazing how solid and professional the same piece sounds.

doc-phil

Thanks BMU ?

PeteM has taught me quite a bit about mixing and mastering, now its just a matter of remembering it all and applying it to future recordings ?

jcp

Yeah, good one. But I feel that you must pay more attention with your bass eq. BTW good song and great playing.