Looking for help with mixing

[joebegly]

@Shredd

One important thing to keep in mind when going for a mix like this is, in my opinion, that lead guitars aren’t really comparable to lead singers. They’re not like frontman “solo singers” that should be heard above everything else, they’re more like the higher-register voices of a full choir. They poke out a tiny bit above the rest in volume, but not by a lot. Right now they sound pretty damn good to me.

This is a good point and I should clarify that any comments I made about treating a lead as a ‘vocal’ were when the lead is a solo. So, those comments were more academic and less pertinent to your particular tune, sorry about that!

I fully agree that the leads that are more little sprinklings of something melodic shouldn’t be the full feature. In fact, in my own stuff, I don’t think I put much (any???) compression on these types of leads. I played around by panning them a little (hard right/left if harmonies, if just a single melody maybe just a tad off center to separate from the dead center vocals) and maybe having different amounts of delay/reverb than the typical ‘solo’. Anyway, just wanted to make sure I mentioned that so I didn’t send you down a rabbit hole that you don’t need. Again, nice progress on a mix over a pretty short timespan!

[Rot]

@Shredd

Nice work! I really like how it’s shaping up! The balance is nice and even, sounds more like the wall of black metal that the original is.

OMG, you are too kind, good sir

About compressors - I know in general how they work. What I don’t have though is the practical knowledge. Like driving a car - everyone knows you need to push the gas pedal to go forward, but how much exactly?

@Shredd

I think there’s one little programming error I’m hearing in the drums.

There surely is more actually - in my “sketchbook” project I’ve painted whole sections as yellow and red to mark what’s wrong.
I’ll clean this all up today and tomorrow.

@Shredd

But yeah… I think it could use even more reverb?

Hmm… worth a try. The thing is - more as in volume, or more in terms of size of the room?
Also, I’ve been wondering if other reverb plugins could offer better sound, just don’t know which ones are good.

@joebegly

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that number is SUPER low compared to what I used to do.

I did not include minor tweaks in this number. That’s just 13th file I saved. Lots and lots of files more were overwritten though.

@joebegly

Keep it up (but do take a little break first lol)

Yeah I’m taking lots of small breaks constantly - I was doing it while “at work” (by gods, bless home office), having a smoke breaks, potty breaks, post-on-forum breaks… you know the drill.

@joebegly

Again, nice progress on a mix over a pretty short timespan!

Ah, but the credit goes to all the people who told me what to do. I, mere mortal, am just a tool!

Anyways - I’m still kinda hung up on those leads as well. There is some strange effect on them that I can’t name, and it’s prevalent in all their tunes, even the new album:

Akhlys - Melinoë (Full Album)

Virtuall all leads there sound this way. Is it some sort of chorus? It’s certainly not simply playing in harmony, because they also do that a lot and it sound slightly different then.

[Shredd]

@Rot

Hmm… worth a try. The thing is - more as in volume, or more in terms of size of the room?
Also, I’ve been wondering if other reverb plugins could offer better sound, just don’t know which ones are good.

Maybe a little bit of both. Maybe could try giving some certain lead sections a more prevalent reverb? Up to you.

I use FabFilter Pro-R and Native Instruments Raum for general use. For free ones, I could recommend Stillwell Verbiage. It sounds really cold and artificial, great to use a little bit on snares and why not on black metal leads. It’s not an atmospheric or beautiful-sounding reverb that you’d enjoy listening soloed, but it might fit this context better than normal reverbs. Verbiage isn’t actually free software, but you can use the evaluation version forever without limitations. I guess it’s the WinRAR of reverbs…

@Rot

Virtuall all leads there sound this way. Is it some sort of chorus? It’s certainly not simply playing in harmony, because they also do that a lot and it sound slightly different then.

I think the leads at 4:30 are at least octave-doubled. They might be using an octaver effect or then it’s real doubling. It’s not 100% in tune either, which I think sounds absolutely killer. There might be some other effects going on as well.

[Rot]

Ok, so basically I re-re-recorded and got this:

While not too close to original’s tone I actually quite like it, the first part is huge sounding compared to my previous records.

Now, that next riff @ 2:45 I definitely got wrong (not included in this sample for that reason).
First of all I am sure there is some harmony going on and I have no clue what harmony is it. I have rough suspicion that it is based on F#. I got the melody roughly, it’s just I can’t work out which notes are actually played, especially since it semi-randomly changes, I don’t know if it’s just articulation and the other part of harmony bleeding in, and then it goes up in second half.
At first I thought it was F# and B on top, and then B and F# on top, but it doesn’t sound right.

[Rot]

I’ve had a breakthrough overnight - I found what melody is being played @ 2:45, but I still need to figure out what’s the harmony there.

I remember we were discussing the other track, Consummation, and harmony there was A# on top of D# and so on, and so I tried the same interval here:

Close, but not there yet (going up in the middle and reversing the interval).
I guess the only way I can find it on my own is to move the midi blocks up and down until I get it… or ask nicely someone with better ears.