How's my mixing?

Don't get me wrong, I like ozone. I use the harmonic exciter and eq often. I used to use that limiter all the time, I got ozone 3 when it came out and I have ozone 5 now. I use it to do tone matches and create IRs. The fg-x was a game changer for me though. It seems like its a limiter and saturation at the same time, allowing the kicks and snares to still punch even under stress.

Yeah, SSLs g bus comp or another glue compressor, there are tons of them out there. Download a few demos and find a few that you like. It'll make everything feel more together.
 
https://soundcloud.com/soleparadigm/manifesto-eq-test-12

Holy christ! how interesting! I put the fg-x on the master and not only do I get the same amount of volume but I get this soft feeling around my ears. Compared it to Dream Theater's Overture 1928 and I feel the difference. I think i'll pick this baby up after the trial is over.

Got some level issues I think here. I might have forgotten to readjust some things after I was toying with them. Toms kinda on the loud side and kicks need automation. On top of I left the snare a bit beefy but I'm willing to hear a second opinion on that.

Adjusted the reverb on the drums but I feel like I could use better verb. Still kinda muddy maybe?

The attack on the toms needs work too I think. Just doesnt quite have that drama I'm lookin for.

All in all though I again reached a new level here.

EDIT: Come to think of it that kick is seriously pounding hahaha
 
Yeah, changing out those limiters will make you need to re-balance the mix a bit. The kick has to much bottom now, but to me the snares sound better. I think you could add another snare sample to the one you have already to add that little bit of extra smack even. I found that I used to have to mix into my mastering chain in order to create the right balance, because my master limiter was changing the balance of my mix when I pushed it hard or had a dense arrangement. With the fg-x I had to adjust my method a little, but now I can mix without a limiter on the master bus and still get the same frequency and instrument balance when I need to bring it up to volume. Dont ditch ozone either though, the eq and harmonic exciter in it are really useful.

https://soundcloud.com/toolfanem/celestial-flesh-impact

Just to give an example of the kick matching the snares weight, this is demo mix I did for my project. I tried to make the snare match the kicks weight so that they balance each other out.

"The attack on the toms needs work too I think. Just doesnt quite have that drama I'm lookin for."

What are the midi note velocities for your drums set to? I sure they change here and there to humanize the feel, but just on average?
 
The midi velocity on the toms are set at about mid to slightly above mid. If I go too high with them I get this clicking that I don't like. Kicks and snare are set to just below full unless doing drum rolls then I adjust them to make them feel less robotic.

When you say "matching the weight" are you talking EQ and volume or something else?
 
https://soundcloud.com/soleparadigm/manifesto-eq-test-14

Not sure if people are looking at this thread anymore but I thought I'd post at least one more.

Adjusted the compression on the master.

Made new guitar tone that sounds A bit more open and full and took of the stereo imager that was one to make it sound more together. We'll see when I look at it again tomorrow. Nevermind the mistakes in my playing.

The toms are kind of shit. Not happy with the new samples I used so gonna change them later. I still am having trouble finding a more realistic tom setup. It just has this clicking on the attack that I hate. Addictive drums excels at everything else except toms it seems or maybe I just havent found a way to mix them better.
 
That actually seemed to help. Thanks.

Next challenge is to get the drums to sound like they're miked in a room. Im not liking my current verb plugin.
 
Im using Waves Renaisance Reverb. It doesnt seem to be able to get very smooth verb from it.

Never heard of Tsar. Gonna have to look it up.

EDIT: Looks hardware. Never had one of those before. Would hardware be better?
 
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Both are very good reverb plugins, TSAR is softube's verb plugin. Pretty much everything from softube is great. I use waves IR-L all the time, and rverb. TSAR is a great sounding algo verb. Test out a few different verbs and pick what you like. Some people swear by convolution verbs, I like both. TSARs algo is excellent BTW.

EDIT: Haha! I was just about to add that the GUI's for all of the Softube stuff is eye candy, just as a comment ( i like to look at pretty plugins :) ). Its a plugin, its GUI just looks like hardware! Love it!
 
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I'll start comparing in a bit.

https://soundcloud.com/soleparadigm/manifesto-drum-demo

I wanted to show a sample of the fully mixed drums. I'm still not digging the toms. They sound like obnoxious balloons haha plus I can't seem to get rid of the clicking attack even when I EQ each individual tom. I tried doing sweeps with a parametric EQ to find an eliminate the clicking but it refuses to die.

EDIT: Also, the verb I used this time as an IR-L verb. still not sure about it.
 
Holy crap that Manifesto groove was the tits! I loved it, especially mix 2 and 8, please post this or email me a copy for my iPod when it's done. I loved the Dream Theater vibe w/o being too "copy cat."

Nice work!!
 
should be able to get a good sound from waves.. try this

1 track raw drums eq'd they way u want it.
duplicate the track and compress it and run the verb on that. but try high cutting and low cutting the verb
 
Much appreciated Jason, thanks! Yeah I rip off Dream Theater a lot. Along with King Crimson, Tool and Pink Floyd. You should check out the album when it's done. Well, the first disc of the album anyway. The first disc is pretty much set in stone and ready to be tracked and mixed minus vocals which I'll work on after. Once this section of the song is mixed then the rest of the album will follow suit which should take maybe a week to do.

Somebody mentioned drum replacement earlier so I did a little research. I came across this when I demoed the FG-X: products - Slate Digital

I love how that sounds. Primarily the toms. Im gonna demo that shortly and see how it goes. I may only need it on the toms cause everything else sounds fine. Just the fricken toms! *Dun duh duh dun click dun click dun* ugh
 
u after this room sound? (on the drums)




when u post goto advanced serrings and click the soundcloud icon and place ur link in between the brackets that appear
so it looks like mine
 
joel said:
should be able to get a good sound from waves.. try this

1 track raw drums eq'd they way u want it.
duplicate the track and compress it and run the verb on that. but try high cutting and low cutting the verb
Click to expand...

OOooo interesting. I'll try that next, thanks!

And yeah something with that much depth on the drums. That sounds awesome.
 
dont forget to adjust it while its in the mix.. might sound verby as a solo track but in the mix will sound present
 
https://soundcloud.com/soleparadigm/manifesto-eq-test-16

HOLY SHIT ON TOAST! This drum replacer is the shit! The snare sounds so much better. The kick needs to be re-EQed to cut some mud but unfortunately I dont got time at the moment. I havent even tried to readjust the verb yet and this sounds just fucking brilliant with the new snare. Unfortunately there were no toms in the demo version of the TRIGGER Drum Replacer so the toms are still shit. BUT! I found a new tool that I can grab. MAN THIS IS KILLER!
 
The drums dont sound bad at all. I think its all a matter of taste, same goes for the toms. I think you just need to start thinking about different tom samples if your not liking those. Of course you can change their character with plugins, but if they sound like ballons to you now, no matter what you do with eq, compression, reverb, all that stuff, its just like polishing a turd (sorry for the terrible analogy.) Not to say the toms are bad sounding, some people like that style, but if you dont just invest in some different samples.

I really love toontracks metal machine ezx. Its great for everything from rock to metal and is inexpensive for what you get. IMHO dont waste your time with Superior drummer. If your not into tweaking presets than its a head ache and the fact that you cant load in your own samples is a deal breaker for me (I already own it but I rarely, if ever, use it anymore.) Steven Slate has some great samples as well, and the new Chris Lord Alge pack that they put out is excellent.

Also try layering different drum samples. My snare sound is the combination of three different samples from three different plugin manufactures and samples I've made over the years. Pick qualities that you like from each and mix them so that they create a composite sound that works for you.
 
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