Mixing advice for my project (Solder Theory)

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Alright, so, myself and a few other guys on the forums are working on an album. You can read about it here, if you don't know who all is involved: 
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59091

I'm currently the one spending most of the time with this project, and as such also serve as the 'engineer', as it were. Problem is I'm a complete amateur to this whole thing, so I thought I would post a clip here of one of the songs we're working on, and hopefully somebody will give me some advice on the mixing. 

The people currently featured in the clip are:

Guitars - Myself and Kalle (St. Cleve Chronicle).

Kalle also plays the bass guitar in this clip.

The drums are played by a kid called Derek Schwappach (he wants people to know that his YouTube name is 'killingmanbearpig', in case anybody is interested in hearing more from him.)

Anyway, it's still in the early stages, and Keyboards and stuff haven't been added yet. Hopefully though you'll get the idea:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dwkmwygzwzm

Just copy and paste that link into a new window, and the page should load fine.
If not, though, just let me know and I'll send it some other way.

Be honest, guys. I live for constructive criticism. 

Edited by p0mt3 - January 18 2010 at 00:14

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JLocke Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: November 18 2007 Status: Offline Points: 4900	Topic: Mixing advice for my project (Solder Theory) Posted: January 17 2010 at 23:57
	Alright, so, myself and a few other guys on the forums are working on an album. You can read about it here, if you don't know who all is involved: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59091 I'm currently the one spending most of the time with this project, and as such also serve as the 'engineer', as it were. Problem is I'm a complete amateur to this whole thing, so I thought I would post a clip here of one of the songs we're working on, and hopefully somebody will give me some advice on the mixing. The people currently featured in the clip are: Guitars - Myself and Kalle (St. Cleve Chronicle). Kalle also plays the bass guitar in this clip. The drums are played by a kid called Derek Schwappach (he wants people to know that his YouTube name is 'killingmanbearpig', in case anybody is interested in hearing more from him.) Anyway, it's still in the early stages, and Keyboards and stuff haven't been added yet. Hopefully though you'll get the idea: http://www.mediafire.com/?dwkmwygzwzm Just copy and paste that link into a new window, and the page should load fine. If not, though, just let me know and I'll send it some other way. Be honest, guys. I live for constructive criticism. Edited by p0mt3 - January 18 2010 at 00:14

MovingPictures07 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: January 09 2008 Location: Beasty Heart Status: Offline Points: 32181	Posted: January 18 2010 at 20:21
	Sounds good, man! I'm sure the mixing experts on here will have plenty of things to tell you. Just from what I observed... the only slight suggestion I would give you is adjusting the mix of the drums. I'm not sure how, but they didn't seem to fit quite right in the volume or placement levels. Maybe turning them up just a bit more and making them sound a bit more clear would help? I'm not sure. Other than that, I'm not sure what else would be good. Hope other people can provide more useful criticism, haha.


Pekka Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: August 03 2006 Location: Espoo, Finland Status: Offline Points: 6442	Posted: January 20 2010 at 03:44
	The guitar solo part was great In the heavier parts at least some guitars sounded quite distant. These two things came to mind on one listen, plus a cool Sabbathesque vibe on some riffs If you want some actual advice on how to make things better, then I'm not your guy Edited by Pekka - January 20 2010 at 06:44
	It's on PA!

Negoba Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 24 2008 Location: Big Muddy Status: Offline Points: 5208	Posted: January 20 2010 at 08:26
	I like the mixed-prog concept here quite a bit. Prog-metal into a Camel vibe. The heavy part is still pretty loose. When you're in odd time, it really needs to be pretty exact where you are at on the beat. The mix for this stage is fine. I would work on retracking some of the guitars on the heavy part. The solo is quite sweet. After it, though, this is begging to come back around to something heavy again.
	You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.

darksideof Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 22 2007 Location: Newark N.J. Status: Offline Points: 2318	Posted: January 20 2010 at 09:48
	nICE!... I enjoyed the almost 3 minutes tune. Very Prog Metal jazzy nice guitar's riff and solo. Keep it up!!!....
	http://darksideofcollages.blogspot.com/ http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Darksideof-Collages/

JLocke Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: November 18 2007 Status: Offline Points: 4900	Posted: January 20 2010 at 12:29
	Thanks guys! Glad you like what you're hearing. And Jay, thank you so much for your honest input. It means a lot. As for re-tracking the guitars, any way you could be more specific on which parts need that? I think I have a idea, but exact moments in track time would help. After listening to this song over and over again as it has evolved, it gets very tough for me to hear the flaws, so some direction would be helpful. Somebody else PMed me and said something similar. Except, well . . . that person pretty much told me the whole thing was sh*t. Glad you're more optimistic with your criticism.

Negoba Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: July 24 2008 Location: Big Muddy Status: Offline Points: 5208	Posted: January 20 2010 at 16:14
	The heavy part seems to have three sections. The second section where the second guitar comes in is the roughest. At that point it's hard to tell if the bass and 1st guitar are still in unison or not, because the timing is a bit off. If you're trying to have them do contrasting lines, you'll really have to nail the timing for it to work. If it's supposed to be unison, you just need to have the two sync up with the drums nicely. The second guitar if panned (Left for me) without anything to the right, as the other instruments are pretty much center. Usually, you try for balance in the stereo field unless you're going for a specific wierd effect. The second guitar is also pretty dry, a little reverb on it wouldn't help. Hopefully no one said this was Sh!t because it isn't. It's a cool concept, some good parts that will hopefully evolve just a little more. Some people have trouble removing themselves from their present point of view, and don't judge music on its own merits very well.
	You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.

The Pessimist Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: June 13 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3834	Posted: January 20 2010 at 17:32
	I don't think I even need to comment mate
	"Market value is irrelevant to intrinsic value." Arnold Schoenberg

Marcos Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 08 2007 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 222	Posted: January 25 2010 at 09:33
	Hi! I'm listening to your project. Could I make a remastered version? I could send you by e-mail
	www.postmortemweb.com.ar

JLocke Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: November 18 2007 Status: Offline Points: 4900	Posted: January 25 2010 at 12:54
	^ Well, I thank you for the offer, but myself and Alex (The Pessimist) are already going to do work on it. See, it's not even close to done yet; what with keyboards, vocals and the like still going to be layered in at some point down the road, so it would be a wasted effort for anybody to 'master' the track yet, since the mixing stage isn't even finished yet. However, i WOULD very much like to hear what you have to say on the mix anyway, so that when it does come time to re-work it, I'll know what to be listening for. Anything specific that needs to be fixed, just send me a PM. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to your opinions.