Help! New black metal track

I like it a bunch...personally, could do w/ less reverb on the vocals though & there's a few moments on my listen that comes off with some 'sizzle' w/ a lot of high-end kinda mushing together between the drums/guitar/vocals together. Minor quibbles TBH. Good work!
 
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Lerxst said:
I like it a bunch...personally, could do w/ less reverb on the vocals though & there's a few moments on my listen that comes off with some 'sizzle' w/ a lot of high-end kinda mushing together between the drums/guitar/vocals together. Minor quibbles TBH. Good work!
Click to expand...

yeah, i noticed there are a few weird things going on with clashing frequencies/phasing issues? That’s why I asked.
 
@wok

I captured a copy and took a look at it...

There is a solid build up at 1.4k overall since that is where virtually everything is centered...the whole thing is also leaning a little to the left as well...

The most glaring issue is the reverb on the vocals...there is so much spread on it into the sides that it's obscuring the guitars and whatever else you have going on there...additionally, the reverb is very boxy, I'm assuming you used a room verb there...you have to be careful with room verbs since they get muddy very quickly...maybe back off the reverb by at least half...the clean vocals that come in from time to time could be reverbed more heavily with more of a bright hall verb if you want them to sound more sinister...

There is a lot of very high frequency push on the cymbals which is making them sound phase-y against the guitars and vocal verbs...for a track like this you should push a little 4K into the cymbals to make them stand out, and maybe even roll off everything above 8k on them to keep them from getting brittle...

there is very little sub harmonic energy...again, you have to be careful here...with kick drum blast beats the bass actually should sit below the kick (normally the kick gets the frequencies around 60hz, the bass gets 120hz, and the snare gets 240hz) so maybe push the subs on the bass and push 120hz into the kick...not a lot of 120hz, but just enough to make it punch...the kick should also get some 5k for definition...give the bass a push around 1.2k...

I took the liberty to do a little EQ'ing and exported a copy of the results...

Screenshot (27).png


I used a mid/side EQ...the white line is the EQ curve on the mid channel, and the blue line is the curve for the sides...for everything up the middle (drums, bass vocals) I pushed a full 6dB at 30hz to give it some body and heft down there...then I cut 3dB out of 500hz to get rid of the boxiness that was coming from the drums and bass...I pushed 3dB in at 5K to brighten up everything there, and rolled off everything above 10K since it was really energetic up high...
On the sides (the vocal verb, guitars and drum overheads) I high-passed at 60hz to clear out room for the sub push in the middle...I added 3dB at 1K to give the guitars some definition...I pulled 3dB out at 1.5K to eliminate some the the build-up coming from the vocal verb...and I rolled EVERYTHING above 5K out...

Here's what that sounds like now...



It's FAR from good, but it should give you an idea of where the problems are...
 
jelloman said:
@wok

I captured a copy and took a look at it...

There is a solid build up at 1.4k overall since that is where virtually everything is centered...the whole thing is also leaning a little to the left as well...

The most glaring issue is the reverb on the vocals...there is so much spread on it into the sides that it's obscuring the guitars and whatever else you have going on there...additionally, the reverb is very boxy, I'm assuming you used a room verb there...you have to be careful with room verbs since they get muddy very quickly...maybe back off the reverb by at least half...the clean vocals that come in from time to time could be reverbed more heavily with more of a bright hall verb if you want them to sound more sinister...

There is a lot of very high frequency push on the cymbals which is making them sound phase-y against the guitars and vocal verbs...for a track like this you should push a little 4K into the cymbals to make them stand out, and maybe even roll off everything above 8k on them to keep them from getting brittle...

there is very little sub harmonic energy...again, you have to be careful here...with kick drum blast beats the bass actually should sit below the kick (normally the kick gets the frequencies around 60hz, the bass gets 120hz, and the snare gets 240hz) so maybe push the subs on the bass and push 120hz into the kick...not a lot of 120hz, but just enough to make it punch...the kick should also get some 5k for definition...give the bass a push around 1.2k...

I took the liberty to do a little EQ'ing and exported a copy of the results...

View attachment 83706

I used a mid/side EQ...the white line is the EQ curve on the mid channel, and the blue line is the curve for the sides...for everything up the middle (drums, bass vocals) I pushed a full 6dB at 30hz to give it some body and heft down there...then I cut 3dB out of 500hz to get rid of the boxiness that was coming from the drums and bass...I pushed 3dB in at 5K to brighten up everything there, and rolled off everything above 10K since it was really energetic up high...
On the sides (the vocal verb, guitars and drum overheads) I high-passed at 60hz to clear out room for the sub push in the middle...I added 3dB at 1K to give the guitars some definition...I pulled 3dB out at 1.5K to eliminate some the the build-up coming from the vocal verb...and I rolled EVERYTHING above 5K out...

Here's what that sounds like now...



It's FAR from good, but it should give you an idea of where the problems are...
Click to expand...


Thanks so much, I will sit down and go over it later
 
@jelloman

Going to spend the next couple of days fixing the issues and see where we end up. I am far more a musician than a sound engineer :lol:

thanks for taking the time to listen.
 
Not my thing at all, but I really dug the guitar tones, the vocals, the overall atmosphere, and I particularly enjoyed the quieter, cinematic middle section with the excellent guitar theme and nice little countermelody.

To me it sounds fine with my fairly affordable mainstream headset that I use for work, and I didn't notice any issues as such or odd frequencies, but like I said I didn't use my studio headphones, and I didn't really analyze the track, I just listened out of curiosity of what you've come up with.
 
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jelloman said:
You're welcome...reach out if you need any specific help...
Click to expand...

I started over and followed some advice you gave above. The instruments now sound a lot more balanced and clear.

Just having some issues with the vocals, mostly because of the big volume differences between the different styles of vocals (whispers, chants, screams etc.).

I want for the screams to be sort of distant/far away but still clearly audible in the mix. How can I achieve that?
 
wok said:
I started over and followed some advice you gave above. The instruments now sound a lot more balanced and clear.

Just having some issues with the vocals, mostly because of the big volume differences between the different styles of vocals (whispers, chants, screams etc.).

I want for the screams to be sort of distant/far away but still clearly audible in the mix. How can I achieve that?
Click to expand...
Are the various vocal styles on separate tracks?
 
wok said:
Yes, and I managed to get most of the vocals sorted. Still looking to get that distant, far away effect on the screaming vocals
Click to expand...

The effect you're looking for is usually achieved with a combination of EQ and effects...the best way to do it is to give it a bit of a mid-push around 300hz, and roll off some of the top end...that takes the "immediacy" out of the voice...DO NOT be aggressive with the EQ, it's just to give it the same effect you get when someone is far aay and the very low and high frequencies are lost to time and distance...

Then you apply a reverb to give it a sense of space around it...the best way is to use a send to an FX track with a large hall reverb...send the FX track to the same buss as the vocal track you're sending from...put an EQ in front of the reverb with a high pass at 500hz and a low pass at 5khz to keep the very low and very high frequencies out of the reverb...set the reverb to a REALLY big space, like a cathedral...then use the fader on the send track to blend the reverbed vocal in with the dry vocal until you get the desired sound...

That's the easiest way to do it...I would get a bit more involved with delays and early refection manipulation as well as the reverb but that takes a lot of practice to achieve...doing it the way I just described will be fine...
 
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jelloman said:
The effect you're looking for is usually achieved with a combination of EQ and effects...the best way to do it is to give it a bit of a mid-push around 300hz, and roll off some of the top end...that takes the "immediacy" out of the voice...DO NOT be aggressive with the EQ, it's just to give it the same effect you get when someone is far aay and the very low and high frequencies are lost to time and distance...

Then you apply a reverb to give it a sense of space around it...the best way is to use a send to an FX track with a large hall reverb...send the FX track to the same buss as the vocal track you're sending from...put an EQ in front of the reverb with a high pass at 500hz and a low pass at 5khz to keep the very low and very high frequencies out of the reverb...set the reverb to a REALLY big space, like a cathedral...then use the fader on the send track to blend the reverbed vocal in with the dry vocal until you get the desired sound...

That's the easiest way to do it...I would get a bit more involved with delays and early refection manipulation as well as the reverb but that takes a lot of practice to achieve...doing it the way I just described will be fine...
Click to expand...

that seems easy enough. I am already sending the vocals through an aux track. I’ll try the EQ/ing as you said. I guess I need to learn a lot about eq-ing
 
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