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My New Power Metal Tune


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Thanks for the input. I've decided to put off any more mixing of the song until I get at least the next song tracked, which could take a few weeks.

Thanks for telling your friends. I won't be letting anybody listen to this stuff until I'm completely done besides you guys and your friends since this has been such a supportive community. After all, years ago when I came to this community I would have never been able to pull off something like this without all the great resources and support I've found here.

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In the process of recording a power metal album. Got the first track recorded recently and mixed it down good enough to at least listen to.

http://soundcloud.com/shredasaurusrex/dragons-fire

tubagod: I agree with the prior poster. This is a very effective piece, but the balance with the instrumentals is favoring them, not the vocal. Part of it is that the instrumental texture is very busy... especially the drum part.

I don't think that boosting the vocal 10% will do the trick. If you would remix the instrumental back 3 dB while the voice is in, and boost the vocal 3 db, for those places, you'll create a bit more tonal separation in the texture for the voice to fit into. When pure instrumental is going, let them have that 3dB back and they will shine out.

I hope this helps.

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Being a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/engineer/composer is a very difficult bag, especially when you're accomplished at all of them. There is always a need for maximum detail in all the parts that needs to be balanced with what is the most important part. I have a feeling once two weeks pass I'll be hearing things in a much different light when I go to remix as a listener and not as as all of the things in the first sentence...

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I've read some books on mixing and recording (I still stink at both of those jobs, so, please, do not think I paint myself as an expert) and value the advice of professionals who get paid to do it.

Essentially, being a producer and recording engineer is a job completely divorced from being a singer. As one is mixing the track, one has to be brutal. If a particular vocal is weak, do it over. That's easy, actually. The hard part is when a vocal line was truly astounding but way too prominent and needs to be trimmed to fit the song right. It's like being a director of a film and you really liked one scene that you filmed but it slows the story down and must be cut.

I've done it to myself, a few times, where I went back and recorded a guitar solo during the break, and then some fills later on. In my guitarist mode, I'm jamming on the harmonies and jazz rips and it ends up obscuring the vocals and changing the entire intent of the song. I have to be brutal with myself and either re-record with a much simpler guitar line, or just forget about the solo, all-together.

And so, yeah, sometimes, you finish cooking your stew, so to speak, and let it cool a bit on the back burner. You have to come back to the song, pretending you just turned on the radio and what does it sound like?

I am reminded of the Mixerman. He knows when a mix is finished when he realizes that for the past minute or so, he's been singing along instead of making adjustments.

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