New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

[Taylord]

Hey guys, I've been working with this idea for a while, and decided to post the first incarnation of the song, with the hope of getting feedback and constructive criticism! I've been struggling with getting my mix louder without sacrificing clarity and balance.

I used my Ibanez rg770 with the Bkp Holydiver/Coldsweat combo through my Axe-fx. For Bass I used my Schecter stiletto 5 string through a Cubase amp simulator. Drums are the S2.0 Avatar with the Metal Machine kick blended underneath. Thank you for checking it out!

https://soundcloud.com/taylord-2/freeze-updated

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

Those drums sound flippin' good, man!

 

[Taylord]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

Thank you man! Appreciate it. Any thing you think I need to work on in particular?

 

[P.A.Foholic]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

The composition is really good, dude! I just got BKP Painkillers for my Mayones Regius 6 with Tyger covers, BKPs are awesome. I also use Axe Fx & Avatar kit with MM kick, haha!

The balance in the drums is great but the mix sounds really muffled. I can't hear clearly all the layers in the mix. How have you been struggling with the balance/clarity issue?

 

[Taylord]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

Hey man, thank you for checking it out, and BKP's are awesome haha!

Since making the switch from Reaper to Cubase a couple months ago, I've practiced mixing so that none of the tracks are clipping while having nothing on the master track(Limiter), but my mixes have been really quiet as a result. In asking a couple different people, they said that their tracks were always clipping, but the master never did? So I tried bringing up a lot of the tracks, and I suppose as a result some of it's kind of smushed. Some of the layers like the synth pad however are meant to be subtle and in the background, not sure what you were referring too though.

 

[Rodney Gene]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

.... not sure what you were referring too though.

The drums themselves lack clarity and presence. They have a balanced mix but the overall tone of the drums is muffled, over-smashed with an overly subdued quality. If this was a production choice, it isn't quite executed at this point. Good job on the tune. Cheers!

 

[Taylord]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

Ohh okay, well I will try to keep that in mind for future drum mixes. Thanks man!

 

[P.A.Foholic]

Re: New Demo "Freeze". Critique Needed!

The drums themselves lack clarity and presence. They have a balanced mix but the overall tone of the drums is muffled, over-smashed with an overly subdued quality. If this was a production choice, it isn't quite executed at this point. Good job on the tune. Cheers!

Yeap, this is what I meant =)