Mixing for Death

[Vintage73]

For some reason I just can't get the same tonal mix that I was able to achieve about 10 months ago on a tune that I'm working on.

My mix isn't bassy enough, and just doesn't sound "full". When I add more bass, it just becomes muddy, and when I add mids it sounds just wrong.

What hints can you give on mixing death metal so I can achieve a full tone quickly and efficiently?

Examples of what I'm talking about are here:

https://soundcloud.com/freak822

I'm going more for what I had in the original. The revisited track is where I am now.

[Loki Fuego]

My mix isn't bassy enough, and just doesn't sound "full". When I add more bass, it just becomes muddy, and when I add mids it sounds just wrong.

First of all, instead of trying to add bass, try to cut mids or vice versa.

Also, for me the drums are too low in the mix. I even thought at first that there are no drums at all.

I haven't ever mixed death metal, thus I can't really give your a lot of advice, but I suggest you to mix your drums first as they sound unbalanced to me. Then mix in bass, and after add guitars.

The reason why I suggest to do it like this is because the guitars take almost the whole frequency spectrum and it's hard to properly balance the mix when you start with the guitars.

So I suggest you the following approach:
1. Pull down all the faders.
2. Balance the drums.
3. Add bass to the mix.
4. Add guitars to the mix.

[Vintage73]

I *think* I may have it the way I want it now.

Still trying to decide on tone, but it's much less muddy now that I've started from scratch on my guitar tone.

It seems less muddy than my original, too, if not quite as brutal.

[robogone]

For the low end clarity on the guitar, I'd suggest cutting it somewhat, but to lower the bass in the mix with a band pass on the bass to keep the very low and very high frequencies out. For drums, choose a clicky type bass drum so that you're not muddying it up with anything too low, and use a snappy snare (or low cut it).

Scooping mids will work, but you don't want to overdo it or you'll find that you have to lower the volume of the guitar in the mix too much to get it right for metal.

The other thing to do is use an analyzer on each track and see if you can identify where there are problem areas so that you can cut where you have conflicts between instruments. Either lower the peak for anything that has a lot of volume, or notch an instrument that it has a conflict with.

[vurt]

eq in this case should be definitely cut not boost.
you basically need to slice the freq spectrum into bass/kick, guitars, vocals, drums and cymbals/highhats, so fiv sections with little overlap.

the bass and kick while being powerful shouldnt take prcedence when mixing, that should be vocals if any are present of course. if instrumental id start with guitars, then drums, get them sorted then bring in the bass and kick. finally turning up the highs to add a little sparkle and contrast.

stereo placement is important also, spreading the drums a little and the guitars to create space in the centre for the kick and bass to sit t the bottom.

[Vintage73]

In the most recent mix I've used frequency cutting, not boosting.

I'm still using heavy palm mutes on guitars, so there needs to be some low-end on them, but I pretty much left the low-end to the bass now.

I've also added some clarity to the bass so it's not quite as muffled.

The problem when I leave too much high-end on the guitars it starts to lose the tone I'm after, but I think I'll play with it a little more.

I'm kinda stuck on drums. I used to have SD2, but I sold that and Komplete, so now all I have is HALion4. I can mix the individual sounds, but as for tone, that's pretty much where it is.

As I said, I'm almost happy with my latest mix. It's getting close to what I want.

[vurt]

you ever thought of an electronic kit?
i know, its not so usual, but bands like godflesh seemed to do ok
can sound good with the right tracks i guess, as they can be a lot "colder" sounding than acoustic drums.
just an idea,

[Vintage73]

you ever thought of an electronic kit?
i know, its not so usual, but bands like godflesh seemed to do ok
can sound good with the right tracks i guess, as they can be a lot "colder" sounding than acoustic drums.
just an idea,

I've considered it, and I'm going to play around a little.