Hi guys hows it goin? Its been a while since I posted and also a while since I’ve mixed. (Been addicted to AC Odyssey lately LOL). I just recorded and mixed a band with a rapcore style and I was aiming to get that drum sound and feel from “Follow the Leader” album by koRN. I also wanted to stir away from the modern sound drums that everyone loves in the metal genre. (Clicky kicks and thick sounding snares). Guitar tones are more modern sounding I guess to be not to “new metal-ish”. How’s the mix sitting on your spearkers? I hope you could help me out.
1 Like
This sounds really cool… HUGE guitars and I really dig the drum tones you were going for. Follow The Leader is probably my favorite Korn album and that’s certainly a good sound to shoot for.
Couple o’ comments
- I actually wrote this comment last but I moved it up here because I think it’s the most important. Your mix is running at -4.8 LUFS. That’s insane… I’d suggest backing way off the limiter, there’s no reason for it to be crushed that much. According to Waves WLM, your True Peak is also +1dB and because it’s so pinned from the limiter, it’s literally clipping for the entire track. That also may be causing some of the frequency/balance issues that I’ll go into now…
- I felt like the drums could use a bit more top-end goodness, not much because there’s always the risk that it gets too bright
- There’s a LOT going on in the low mids… those guitar tones are so insanely beefy that most of the time I can’t really tell what’s happening with the bass other than just hearing the subs. I think for music like this it’s important to hear the mid-range interplay between the guitars and bass.
- Vocals in a lot of spots are kinda buried by the mountain of instruments and the frequencies they’re covering. I think some EQ’ing to separate things, and bringing the vocals more to the front would do a lot
- there’s some digital artifacts after the little interlude thing around 3:00. At 3:07 there’s a digital blip, and then after that around 3:15 you can hear some digital distortion. I have a suspicion it’s from the limiter clipping.
I think the foundation here is solid… with some tweaks and backing off the pedal-to-the-metal limiting approach, this will sound killer.
1 Like
Boys… I am lovin the rock here these days! Keep em coming!
If you are targeting Korn / Linkin Park fans… the noisy and lot happening vibe just might work. I like how the guitars are panned and the frequencies panned. The lead vocal could use a bit more tightening, maybe a bit more compression and pitch tightening to cut through a bit better.
However yes, the track is too loud for today’s media, unless you are distributing CDs or mp3s directly, the streaming platforms like spotify, itunes and youtube will squash the sound down by more than 6-10 db on this track and that is not good because it will add more processing on top of your hard work. I would recommend taking it down
1 Like
@FluteCafe and @blairhall1974 Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. You are both spot on especially about the loudness. This export is intended for the CD release but I guess I go carried away on the master buss limiter 
And yes the mud in the mix. I also noticed that when I was in the car listening to this. This track definitely need some more work and I thank you both for giving me some insight that I might have overseen if the judgement was just made by me alone. Thanks a bunch! 
I did have a mix that was a bit lighter on the low mids, and had brighter drums and lower overall limiting. Here it is just incase. You’d also get to see the band performing as we recorded the tracks
1 Like
Man, love that riff. Good balance between the lyrics with the slower cadence built in. You must really have to get up to sing this. It sounds live to me and I like that. Of all that is going on I can still hear the words. I haven’t ever played anything like this, but it sounds like it would be a blast. some really good elements in here. congrats
brianinogang,
Thank you for the review(s)! Now your song: interesting combination of music styles. The intro air raid siren is chilling. Instrumentally, everything sounds excellent, nice melodies; everything is well played. Since I’m more of a fan of melodic singing, I would be inclined to turn down the screaming/growling vocals a bit; but that is pretty subjective. I am listening to Sony MDR-7506 headphones. I like the melodic singing vocals: perhaps they could have a tiny bit more treble. Good job!