MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Without Warning]

When answering your forum thread I didn't realise you wrote metal. Since it's my area too I thought I'd give you some constructive feedback.

Firstly - awesome song. It's a little repetitive at times, a couple of bits drag on for too long but the ideas are great and it all comes together really nicely. I found myself getting lost in it at times. It's a heartfelt piece of music, I can feel it.

Since you were looking to improve your mixing (remember, this is different to mastering, which I will discuss later), this is where I can help you. I'll break it down section by section.
Lead Guitars - Every song emphasizes different aspects in different ways. I felt that the lead guitar was the most important part of this track so let's talk about that first. Your lead guitars are quite crowded in this. The sound is nice but I feel you scooped out their body and they sound flat/squished under the power of the rhythm guitars. The key here is to scan through all the frequencies created by your guitar and distortion to find its fundemental frequency, the one that gives it body. Once you find it (my lead guitar sits around 500-800hz), carve out this space from other instruments (in this case rhythm guitars mainly) and boost the lead there. This will allow the lead guitar to breathe. Also consider using some reverb/delay to let the lead guitar "float" over the other instruments. Reverb creates space around an instrument like a cushion of air. Just don't use too much!

Rhythm Guitars - The meat and bones of any metal song, rhythm guitar needs depth and power. High-pass any frequencies below 100hz to get rid of any mud (and to leave space for the bass guitar) then boost the low mids (200-300hz) to give it "balls". Scoop out a touch in the mids to leave space for the lead guitar, cut out a chunk from 1.5k-3k if you add vocals, then depending on if it needs it, you might want to add a small peak in the 4k region for clarity. Not always though, this will bring out other issues so use it carefully (like hiss etc).

Bass - Is there a bass guitar in this? If so I can't hear it. If there isn't, it needs one!

Drums - The drum kit is the basic "metal" kit or something right? I hear it everywhere. It's way too dry, try to make it your own by EQing each element and adding some processing to the snare. The snare has its depth/body around 300-500hz (notice how this fits in with the two previous instruments?). If you add a short but WIDE reverb the snare will come alive and sound powerful. Again, don't overdo it. Feel free to experiment with drums, just know that it took me years to get mine right so don't worry too much at first.

Polish - Your track has a definite "mono" feel to it. Did you pan the guitars etc? I tend to pan my rhythm guitars around 80-85%. The lead guitar should be more central. If there's only one melody playing, have it dead centre. If there are two, pan them 20-40% at most. The snare, kick and bass guitar should always sit in the middle. They are the foundation and hold the song upon their walls. Never pan those unless it's for effect.

Mastering - Do you have any mastering plugins? If not, you could try Melda Production's free mixing plugins. They come with some excellent effects such as a stereo widener. You could use this JUST A LITTLE (never more than a few %!!!!! Up to 10 I'd say, until you get a high quality mastering plugin such as Ozone 6. No matter how good your ear thinks "more" is "better", it isn't, for more complicated reasons such as creating phase issues...) to make some aspects of your song wider such as rhythm guitars.
Here you could also add some tube or tape distortion, gently just to add character.

My final tip for you - if you want your guitars to sound HUGE, turn the distortion effect way down. Counter-intuitive right? But distortion is a form of compression and a compressed sound is lifeless and small. Less overdrive means more depth to the sound and besides, once you have two guitars playing Left/Right, they'll sound bigger anyway.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you update the song with this advice or follow it for a future one, I'd be happy to feedback again.

XxCowMeatxX responds:

thank you so much man. Its a lot to take in but i will respond to you more indepth in a private message.

[Mrs. Robinson (Singalong)]

AH! So happy to have been a part of this. AHHHH!

Step responds:

You and me both m8.

[Freddy Fazbear Has Great Pizza]

Nailed it.
*throws down the number 10 score board and walks away*

ZipZipper responds:

*silently watches*

[Hysteria]

Awesome rhythm guitar as always and also a pretty well balanced mix, good work.
I love how the synth works off the guitar in this, the whole song flows excellently and I never got pulled out of it.

I think I want the mix to have more depth (low end) and for the drums to have more impact (they're a bit flaccid and flat) but that's usually how I feel about this particular drum plugin which I can't remember the name of at this moment... But anyway, awesome stuff!

JDawg00100 responds:

Thanks for the review! I looking into my project file yesterday and found out I missed a couple things while mixing the song, a lot of it in the drums department. I was actually so excited to upload that I accidentally skipping a bunch of steps, haha

[Portal to Infinity]

I love this song, the way its written with the awesome rhythm and beat, the way the melodies dance around each other and also all the sounds you used.

Although... I find it so frustrating... You're a great composer with interesting and unusual ideas but sometimes I wish I could grab your song, rip it apart and redo the mix to really make it realise its full potential as a song.

Improvements:
Tame your reverb. Less reverb will make it have a lot more presence and if done well, your song will be even more "hypnotizing" since you'll feel like you're inside the sound.
You might want to use a different synth sound. I hate the word but that one is a bit cheap sounding, have you tried using synths from Native Instruments? They come with tons of premade sounds and most are awesome, or you could get yourself Omnisphere. I don't have that one but most people love it.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I want your songs to be the full package that they merit being.

DanJohansen responds:

Thanks for the in depth feedback man! I know how you feel, I feel like that all the time with other music, but I think it's a matter of huge personal preference difference between us, I am a huge fan of the 80's and it's massive use of reverb, I think that kind of sound is epic and that is what I prefer for a lot of sounds. I think dry verb less sound makes me taste sand in my mouth and come off as boring.

Most of the modern metal bands and other music tend to go down the path you prefer, but that sound makes me pull my hair and say: Turn up the delays and add some epicness and aliveness to this stuff!

Also, the synths you may call cheesy or cheap are awesome and "in your face" to me. I got omnisphere and use is a lot for atmosphere etc. But yeah, we're just radically different :)

Glad you enjoyed the tune man!

[Lost in Deep Space]

For the first 30 seconds I wasn't too sure what was going on or where the piece was heading but then it picked up and found its way. I wanted more from the transition around 1:20 after that silence although the rhythmic synth at 1:50 and subsequent build up kept my interest until I heard the Kore Player synth at 2:15. :P No biggie, at least it's used well here, to add atmosphere and not as a main focus.

The song has unusual structure, I guess it's more suited for a visual experience, I can imagine the image you used as inspiration for sure, and I see how it could become a short animation.

Lovely work. :)

[Damage Rock Opener]

That is full of impact, nice!

[No Wi-Fi Signal]

I heard about this site (wikiloops) just a few days ago, is it really good? I've only found a couple of good recordings, people see it more as an informal jam, right?

Either way this is full of awesome riffs. What guitar do you play?

TSRBand responds:

Wikiloops is a great resource! The recording quality varies a little because of its informal/collab layout, but you can find some real diamonds in the rough over there. One user for example, Shumdrummer, is a goldmine of interesting and high quality metal beats. Hearing alternate versions of the same tracks by different people is great for scoping out ideas, too.

I use an Aria Stratocaster 714-STD. It's pretty affordable, but I've found cranking it through a Vox Stomplab can yield some nice tones :)

[Transformers Score]

Cool music but awesome trailer. XD

stunkel responds:

Thanks man :)