An Angel From Heaven Decent - Original Added - New Mix 9/30/2012 - First play with X2

ADDED 9/30/2012: I put up a new (and most likely finaly) mix of the song. Link is at the bottom of this post.
 
Original:
I finally got to install X2 today and thought I’d give it a thorough test drive and pulled up this old project that I resurrected recently and started mixing it pretty much from scratch. I didn't add anything today, just did the mix. I think it sounds pretty good now – some adjustments is still needed however.
 
The song was created by and old friend of mine sometime in 2003/2004 who took it to my place because he wanted me to do vocals, bass and whatever I could do to it. He had put down the drums (DR-008 if I’m not mistaken), left and right guitar recorded through a very nasty processor thingy, the lead and bass synth and some other bits and pieces. So I wrote the lyrics, recorded them, added some synth stabs, mixed it and we partied hard!
 
I took the liberty to upload the original so you can check it out here:
 
Anyway, my friend is getting married so a month ago I decided to re-do this song, realizing how amateurish the original sounded – even though I’ve always liked this song.
 
I’ve added another layer of guitars, using a high pass filter to let the original be the definition before I added my own to add some balls. The bass is the original from 2004, put through Guitar Rig 4. The melodic vocals are the original but I had to re-do the screams. I also changed the vocals on the verse completely because the original was just a terrible voice over thing I did because of the lack of fantasy. I adjusted some of the drum patterns and replaced all the drum sounds. But I layered the kick with his original kick. All strings are new. The original didn’t have any. Most of the synths are still from the original project, except the drums and some of the drones. I also added some sub kick for good measure. Then I mixed it using mostly Pro Channel stuff – including the Softube bundle. I’ve ran everything through a Master Tape plugin and the Pro-L so no serious mastering yet.
 
So this was started in Sonar 3 and finished in X2 – quite the journey;) I absolutely fell in love with the console emulation in X2. I though it added some greatness to the sound of the tracks I’ve added it to. Other than that I think X2 is a great step forward when it comes to work flow. Some weird behaviour here and there but I haven’t really been analyzing.
 
Number of crashes after 7 hours of heavy use = 0
 
http://soundcloud.com/mariush-2/an-angel-from-heaven-descent
 
Any comments on the mix is welcome. I've used headphones for the last couple of hours so my final desicions were probably affected by fatigue.
 
Oh, and I'm sorry if anyone find the lyrics blasphemous. That was never the intention - it's inspired by the comic where Wolverine and Punisher fight side by side after Punisher get's completely divine and angel-ish at some point.
 
 
Enjoy

So...apparently the rumors are true.... X2 does work. 


Cool song..... I like to dig back into the archives every now and then to listen..... and sometimes change things...

Not my cup a tea at all. But, it sounds great.

ENJOYED!!!

All though Im just on the cans, sounded AWSOME. 
I loved so much about this mix.
--Drum kit sounded great and the kick layed in (OH I love the added punch it brings out),
--The breaks with just the piano and vocals grabs and holds ya!!!
--I wouldnt ask for anymore on the vocals (Lead and Backups were great all the way around)

Very nice Marius

Thanks Mike:) Can't ask for better feedback than that! I'm glad you enjoyed it. 

Thanks Daryl. Here in Norway guitars are supposed to be evil:D Thanks for listening!

This sounds very good on my monitors, and in no small part due to the arrangement.  It has highs and lows and a lot of breathing room.  You don't have far to go to get this radio ready.

Powerful production Marius, good use of dynamics too. Enjoyed that!

wow... very impressive... well done...

I've had X1 for a year, but I'm still using 8.5PE...
I may go ahead and upgrade to X2 and give it a go...

I like it.  I listened to a bit of the first version and it had a bigger "impact" when it started but the second one is a more well done version.  OH!!!, Never mind there's the impact, a bit farther in.  Nicxe flow and dynamics.  I guess X2 works.  I know you do!!

Love the intro, good stuff! - Shawn

Very powerful. Reminds me a bit of Celldweller...and something a lot darker
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Awesome song Marius!

I love the tone on the guitars 
 
 

Just had a listen. Love the song. I would like to hear the strings more forward at 2:45 make a statement with them, but maybe thats just me. Great, powerfull sound

Hey everyone!

I just put up a new mix. The link is in the opening post. I just did some minor tweaks to some levels on the vocals and adjusted the drums a little. Some other things to. I didn't really keep track of what I did and just went along with it.

I put it through Ozone this time so it's close to mastered now

I believe it sounds better. I hope so. I'm sending it off to my friend who wrote it.


Thanks for all the nice comments - I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to this.

ProjectM,  This is cool stuff man.  Nice work.  I like the dynamics, the dark feel, how heavy this gets & proper use of screams in hard rock!  (I personally feel they are best used as accents, or for emphasis... too many bands never STOP screaming and it gets old fast.  Sounds cool hear though)  I am listening on a crap system so I won't post any mix crits, but all elements are present & that is usually a good sign for a mix.  Kudos!