Re: Bandmate disagreement...is this a muddy mix/master?
My metal band used to do a cover of this song in the late 80's.
First off, good job on the song. Here are my suggestions:
1). More kick (the song is a stomper... so spend some time getting the 1 & the 3 to sound HUGE)
2). Turn off bathroom effect on vox if you can
3). Find out what is wrong with the bass track... something is way off there
4). Verses seem a bit rushed... could the guitar be played a bit more succinctly (without ghost notes)?
5). Snare needs more crack
6). Hi Hat (sounds very good) overpowers the crash cymbals and ride (Why is edge of ride used on chorus... should be the bell)
7). Static-X style call and response backing vox should have some grit to it
8). guitar solo needs much more low mids... rhythm track has a tick too much lower mids
Edited to add - Be respectful of your bandmate's opinions during mixing... they might not know what they are talking about and could possibly have a tin ear.
Even if they don't know anything about mixing and have horrible suggestions, you should still smile and treat them as equally as possible.
Tempers can fly during the anxiety ridden mix phase... it's charged with a ton of expectation and emotional energy, so ride it out like a surfer does a big wave (be ABOVE it all).
It's a great opportunity to bond with band members and achieve a cohesion and mind meld that can glue you together tightly.
Always start with a mix that is ONLY drums, bass and vocals... add in the guitar when the drum+bass+vox mix sounds great on everyone's cars, stereos and iPods (requires at least two sessions to mix every song).
Mixing sessions are like good meals... you can come early and spend time getting the meal together but the actual "eating" cannot go on for more than two hours. You can gather after the "dinner" and talk shop and discuss in a polite and respectable manner the thoughts from the evening's "meal".
Do NOT exhaust your ears before the mix. If you have a gig the night before, make sure everyone is wearing extra ear protection. Don't let the drummer near his drums the day of mixing without ear protection... he won't be able to properly hear high and upper midrange frequencies for hours. Don't stand in front of your cranked guitar cabinet the day of mixing without ear protection... be jealously protective of your hearing the night before and the day of the mix.
Use a monitor amplifier that is not ridiculously high watt and drive it a bit. Fancy and overpowered monitor amplifiers are not related to ANYONE'S end-user listener experience... harsh frequencies, mud, trash, excessive dynamic range and odd order harmonics are usually downplayed with these expensive systems at recording studios. You take your mix home and listen to it on a normal system and the bad qualities of the mix are more inyerface. The monitoring amplifier should be tuned to the size of the mixing suite.