Hi, guys. So I normally don't post critiques here in the Songs forum anymore because I tend to be ultra thorough and nitpicky about the "little" things I hear (just ask Bapu and Jarvse... lol) and since I'm still learning my craft I feel it would be a little inappropriate/arrogant for me to thrust those opinions on to others.
However Mr. Yaksman kindly asked me to give this a listen/critique due to me being one of the local metal hounds. Thanks for that. I am of course open to listening to other people's material when invited to do so if they want a sincere and thorough opinion from a dingledorfer like me. ;-)
This is gonna be a bit of a loooong one but only due to the complexity of the things I'm personally hearing and the fact this is so near perfect it's really only some super subtle nuances I think need attention.
Again FULL DISCLOSURE... I am still learning so although I (think) I have a good ear and nowadays generally understand mixing theory enough to make suggestions I can NOT provide definitive, step by step instructions as to how to correct things. For that you need the power hitters like Danny Danzi, Lord Tim or some of the other hardcore seasoned studio pros around here (I mention Tim and Danny in this case because they know metal tricks through and through and this of course is a metal song).
Alright... enough with the obligatory "preface".
First I want to post a series of SOS articles on "Mixing Extreme Metal" that has kind of become my "checklist" for cleaning up a thick metal mix (well it starts right at preproduction and tracking all the way through mixing)...
Part 1 (Introduction, preproduction, equipment, tracking, etc)
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/extreme-metal Part 2 (Mixing)
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/mixing-metal Accompanying Videos on one page...
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/extreme-metal-masterclass-videos I've posted these before and I think you (RY) actually saw them and I can only assume Michael has or has been taught these techniques somewhere along the line. This song/production seems to have all the qualities/techniques discussed in the articles. I am only posting these because they discuss the ONE thing that stood out to me about this song that could be looked at and tweaked (IMHO).
That would be the interplay between the high gain/distorted guits and everything else.
Last night when I first listened to this through my consumer headphones (and after ripping my ears apart working on my own stuff like a do every day) I thought perhaps there was an overall problem with one or more of the guits having too much Hi-Mids that was abrasive/fatiguing to the ears and masking other elements of the mix.
After a good sleep and checking it out with my Sennheiser HD cans and fresh morning ears (my best critical listening time) I realized the issue I was hearing was more nuanced/complex than that.
Basically the MAIN distorted guit that first slams in at 1:05 of the track has too much abrasive hi mids. It's just a little too wild and hairy and would get extremely bothersome over the course of a full album and kind of sticks out like a sore thumb (to me).
HOWEVER this sound is actually PRECISELY what you want when trying to cut through a dense and chaotic metal mix/composition.
I realized (when I listened more critically this morning) that I was hearing the SAME guitar sound throughout the song but it only exhibited this harshness at specific areas.
What was/is happening is that the main distorted guitar tone works/cuts PERFECTLY when the bass is playing faster rhythms and/or the kick drum is blasting away.
It also works at 4:20 on its own (with out crazy bass/kick going on) due to the more single note "riff" style playing.
The only times it becomes truly abrasive/fatiguing is during the slower, more "open" spots when the bass and kick chill out a bit. A perfect example of which is at 1:05 when the fade in/"reveal" ends and the big open chord(s) are played. This of course, being the beginning of the song after a "frequency" style "reveal" (the intro) makes it stand out even more then I think then sets the mind and ears up to get drawn to/slammed again when those open areas occur throughout the song. I could come up with a timecoded list of the spots where I think this occurs but I'm sure Mike, based on this extremely pro production, would understand exactly what I'm talking about and what areas are affected.
To be PERFECTLY clear this guitar tone is SPECTACULAR for when the bass and/or double kick are hammering away. It makes the main guit cut through the mayhem in what I think is the most desirable way possible for this song/mix. Spot on. It just needs to be reigned in a bit in the "calmer" more open sections where the need to slash through the mayhem disappears.
Solution(s)?: This is where I start becoming a little useless and guys like Danny, Lord Tim or maybe batsbrew would be more useful due to their experience with this type of thing. Based on what I currently know and what I would try with the simple tools I have on hand this is what I would do...
1) EQ automation on the main guitar tracks and or bus(ses). Just some automation on the gain level for the hi-mid range of that main guit so that when there is no double kick and/or the bass isn't plucking like crazy along with the kick/rhythm guit that those abrasive hi mid freqs (that are intended to cut through the chaos) get brought back down to earth momentarily for a more natural and even guitar sound. The Q/bandwith may be a factor as well... like maybe just some calculated notch filters could be applied to cut down the abrasiveness during those sections without altering the overall guit tone too much or a whole new bandpass range is created/specified for those sections and the appropriate attenuation is applied. Of course once things get crazy again you'd go right back to the original guit sound.
2) Another possible course of action is a temporary multiband compression move. Whereas a multiband compressor is set up so that ONLY a carefully set up hi mid compression scheme is set up to temporarily lower the screeching high mids but also COMPRESSING them so the tone doesn't get completely lost/altered too much during those sections. Not sure if that would work but it was something I thought about this morning while considering what to post.
Okay... so that's the guitar thing that was really sticking out to me and as you see it's really not a simple "cut here/boost there" type scenario so I wanted to make sure I explained it reasonably well.
I have a couple other thoughts that are much more minor but that was a lot of typing so I'll be back.
Briefly though I think the snare could use a bit more punch/weight and I have some creative suggestions for the intro/reveal section (which is cool).
I'd also be interested in some pro critiques of my (hack) critique to see if I'm hearing things correctly or just being a crazy spazz. lol
Anyhoo... it really is awesome through and through. Excellent freaking work. I certainly can't mix like this yet. I do not have the mixing hours under my belt yet so this is all theoretical to me (for now).
Cheers and thanks for contacting me.