Nolly's I think overall sounds honestly perfect in my opinion no biased aside, nothing that can hurt your ear long term listening or listening over & over.
I liked Dave because he highlights other instruments in the mix better, which is the part that makes it more interesting to experienced metalheads. But then again I listen to it on earbuds
Same here. I liked Nordstrom's mix as well. I felt those 3 had that classic metal sound. The reference mix was too muddy. The others were more modern sounding, and while they were good mixes, that bright, hyped sound I feel doesn't work so well for metal.
You missed the point of the whole exercise , did you not him say one's preference and levels each achieved from the get go ,it's NOT a win/lose type thing but some people will always see everything in that way sad but TRUE !!!
As a bedroom musician, I noticed that in every mix, the drums and vocals sound quite similar and at the same level. What differentiates them are the mid and high range and those instruments (synths and guitars). Areas where the personal taste comes in, shaping how that range sounds as a whole. For my taste, Otero's mix stands out the most, as it’s brightness and Middleton's least, being the opposite.
I don't think you're listening hard enough. The drums are very different, because they apply different levels of trigs. The one you like the most (me too btw, but i already knew i would) is Otero's and that one has completely triggered, completely replaced drums, even timings.
You hired the best engineers that I'm constantly following and get inspired. I always thought how it would sound if they all mix the same track. You actually made my dream come true. Thank you for this, I'll do my best to learn from this video!
jens mix is amazing, i think Otero killed it though; surprisingly I dont like the way Shepps mixed despite liking the dynamic balance. i feel like Shepps is maybe muddy or slightly dull would like to know what others think
My favorite: Frederik Nordström …it just has something gnarly and aggressive that I like Runner up: Jens Bogren …balanced and pleasant, can’t go wrong with that
I was impressed with just how consistent the vocal was across all of them. I kept thinking the vocals have to be on a separate track and are playing alongside each individual mix track just mixing the instruments. As far as what each mixed track sort of summarizes to, 1 bass, 2 Electric, 3 Keys/synth, 5 Bass/EG, 8 drums/bass, 9 drums. I don't know if I could pick they all sound good, oh. There's different moods. Some are brighter, some are more focused on certain instruments. A few many years back the song code monkey was put out to a mixing contest and I downloaded all the versions and loaded them on my iPod. I like listening to all the different versions, and at the same time as much as I like the original there's a lot of stuff in the others that I like as well. There's one that takes the song in a mellow smooth jazzy afternoon listening way, well another one that kind of goes screamer rock.
Number 7 is a really great balance between natural sounding and cohesiveness. 2 is the most natural and live sounding so i would say those 2 are my favourite. 7 for studio album 2 for "live" version
This is really helpful. For my favourite I'm tossing up between Adam Nolly Getgood and Andrew Scheps. Something I find very interesting is the huge range in dynamics ranging from lots in the Andrew Scheps mix to almost none in the Buster Odelholm mix. I would love to hear the mix of this that Andy Sneap would do, this is right up his alley.
@@nunojorgenjstudio7954 I'm with you guys. And I think I preferred the Adam Nolly Getgood, then Andrew Scheps. Because Nolly' sounded to me like a mix from an engineer who understood both guitars AND drums. There's a lot of dynamic range, and the drums really have a combination of life and punch that I don't hear in the other mixes. Jens sounded good too, modern but effective, a strong contender. Frederik's was also quite good My least favourite's were the other end of the spectrum. Otero's did not sound good to me. It was unpleasant, and hard to make out the original, drums etc, with how extremely smashed that mix is. But maybe that extreme metal take is just not my sound. Which was also the case to a lesser extent with Josh' & Buster. Except I like the guitar tone in Josh, and you could at least hear the drums or at least the kick sounding nice in Buster'. But Otero, Josh & to a less extent Buster sounded like overly guitarist-centric mixes to me. Mike Exeter's was very dull and muddy & Mark Mynett's was only ok, not among the best or worst.
I thought the tonality of Jens' mix worked perfectly for the source. I also think Andrew's tonality made perfect sense looking from a more organic perspective. Not so much with the others - I usually master and I'm not a fan of 'chubby' mixes - so that probably had something to do with my choices. Nice vid. Thanks!
It's really fun to listen to these mixes. Ty for flagging that SoS article! Here are my pieces of knowledge & takeaways: - There is a requirement in LUFS per style in general. Metal is typically hypercompressed. And this is all right because this goes well with metal. You don't want surprises in metal, you want strength. - It's all right to "fetishize" an instrument, or a frequency range. We all know the voice, the guitar, the drums. But this is typically a stylistic preference by a band, and is usually well described with a Mix Engineer during the process. Or maybe it's a quest, and that instrument moves from A to B to A. What we want is a narrative. This compared to 1. where you get everything equal, without flavour. - There is a huge process to get something playing well on loudspeakers, pro headphones, down to the provided-with-cellphone cheap earbud. You might decide to forego a market and ignore the cheap earbuds, or go with mass market and remove loudspeakers. Or have multiple mixes. And these are choices that were evidently made in here Like 2. won't - Similarly, there is a huge difference in your audience. 70's/prog Metal fans, 00's, 20's. Many eras with many choices. I'll clump 2, 3-4-6-9, 5-7, 8 in different genres. I have my preferences, but they are all catering to something different, so they aren't comparable. I would say my personal best is probably 7 (Adam Nolly Getgood) by a short margin, but I would be pleased to have any song in any of these final mixes. I wouldn't put Rammstein or Imagine Dragons or SYL in the same clumps or styles ;) Ty for this! Really great!
I feel like Jens's mix here isn't even that bright, it's just really well balanced and clear. But we may see the word "bright" differently or hear things differently.
@@JiihaaS different monitors sound drastically different too lol 🤣 so that's probably it. I wouldn't say mine is anywhere near professional either lmfao but it works for what I do
@@fbgmduck true, and the room acoustics play just as big of a role as the monitors. And when you listen, because things are gonna sound very different when you're tired. A lot of factors may play a role here. But I'm not saying Jens' mix is not bright or that you're wrong in any way if that's how I came across. I'm not here to argue. I think it's cool how different people perceive things differently. To me it's kinda the point of this video too: even the top level pros are clearly very different with how they perceive music.
This is a great video. Thank you so much. I really like the Jens Bogren mix. It really stands out. Second best in my opinion is Josh Middleton's mix. But like you said, it's all about taste, at least at this level. Great to hear so many different but all professional mixes. It's a great learning experience to hear that a song doesn't have to sound exactly like a reference track to be profesional. It can (or should) have it's own character as long as it meets the 'pro characteritics' you mentioned in the video.
what a great video!! thank you mr. Colin!! my favorite is Fredrick Nordstrom’s for what he does to the guitars (to me it feels like it boosts the harmonics and the voice remains clean). Mike Exeter’s to me seems more “user frandly” or something that could be listen to somebody that doesn’t like metal. Adam Golly Getgood’s feels like it boost the vocal layers and i surely like that. Andrew Scheps’s to me sound more classic and organic. All great mixer of course. ❤
Adam's and Jens' are my favourite mixes. To me they sound really balanced, not too brick loud. IMO, their mixes bring out all the elements without muddying anything. Please make more in other genres!!
Very interesting! And actually happy to hear how different these mixes are! I like Jens, Nolly and Josh Jens' sounds very fitting to the song while Nolly's excels in clarity for me. Sounds... civilized :P Josh brings that early 2000's scoopy metal I grew up with.
I did blind test(with blind test plugin). Here are the results: 1)Dave Otero 2)Buster 3)Jens 4) Josh 5)Andrew. I'm a big fan of Andrew but the test shows that in this competition I liked Dave Otero more.
Josh Middleton, my main focus is on guitar and his mix is punchy but not too thick or fat, and with some sharpness, which is the tone I always prefer. This actually reflects the pickup I like up to use, I don’t like high output pickup or active pickup, I want the notes to be focus, chug but clean at the same time. (When I use Spotify I actually tweak the eq lol😂, lower the bass and push some mid and treble)
The Middleton mix. Balanced like the others but a little more gently hyped, which fits the genre. I typically love Scheps but this genre is not his bailiwick and his mix comes through as "polite" with no drive (and no bass) Jens' is good too for the same reasons. Thanks for this!
Wow. At the end of the day I'd probably hire Dave Otero. Thick, Deep and wide mixes. Like combining all of the other mixes together. Going in, I thought Andrew would win off the bat. So yes, eye opening.
I'd take Otero if I wanted to give a futuristic/contemporary modern sounding impression on the band, Scheps if I wanted the listener to have a familiarity feel of rock, kinda safecool tho
I really like the John Middleton mix, it's got that aggressiveness that I really like. I also like Andrew Schep's mix as well for the clarity and balance. I always strive to make my mixes clear but also have some umph to it.
Jens was my fav. Very bright highs without feeling washed out or tinny. The low end was punchy without sounding muddy. Best way I can describe it as for me is the rest of the others almost feel like I would be looking at the picture with a film over it, while Jens would be a touched-up vibrant picture. Though I really don't feel like I could dislike any of these mixes without hearing the comparisons to the others.
Fredrick Nordstrom really puts this signature sound on the track. Nordic metal sound! Love it! 🤘 Jens Bogren mix has a clear and crisp sound. Very clean 👍 Noly highlites the drums but I Don't like the guitar sound so much 👍🤏 Dave Otero for me is the winner! Everything there loud and clear and very balanced 🤘🤘🤘
What stood out for me across those samples was whether the drums or bass were dominant in the mix, regardless of what the guitar or vocals were doing. When the drums stood out, the mix seemed brighter. When the bass stood out, mixes seemed more complex in a darker way.
All these mixes are good. You can mix a song in thousand different ways. And often when we mix we just rearrange the whole track to new shape. Best is to set the volume at the right level during the whole recording process. To make the necesarry mixing job be as little as it can gets. Too much pulling faders usually only mess up the track. Just tame some peaks and level during recording. In that process we already choose the rightest level. In relation to the rest of the sounds.
Super cool - Thanks Colin! My favs are Scheps (feels like a comfortable favorite shoe!) and Jens Bogren - I'm hearing instruments in his mix that I'm not hearing in the others!! Fascinating!
+1 for Jens Bogren. It's obviously compressed but in heavy metal everything should be loud with out getting in each others way and he did that perfectly. The vocals are clear and understandable while the guitars are powerful and the drums are driving.
I think what you’re missing here is also that this is a lesson in mastering. Most mixing engineers do some mastering these days - but generally a mix only will result in much more dynamic range (like Scheps’ mix). This test would have been more accurate if they’d gone for a more subjective volume normalization then LUFS IMO.
I like Marks warm calm tone, makes every instrument more audible and the entire track becomes easy to listen to instead of feeling overwhelmed by noise in the high end. Those high frequencies and thin treble like effect everyone has besides Mike and Mark is what I think is wrong with modern metal, someone get Mark to mix Lorna Shore plz, cause their mixing is a horrendous wall of noise. I also like how all the comments everyone has a different favourite, sure some are coming in with biases of knowing the people and instantly assigning them the best cause it's who they know so they support, me, I have no idea who any of these people are.
Very helpful, thank you! I liked the fourth one down - something about the higher frequencies tickles my ears in a way I like. And what you said about just trusting what I like, once it’s crossed the pro threshold, was invaluable. I’m so grateful for your videos and courses (I have your bundle and am now going through it to mix my second album), thanks again for it all!
Otero for my ears. The “hyped-ness” of his mix fits with my perception of the genre, which admittedly isn’t my favorite, but his mix makes it sound more “fun” to me. Sometimes a fun mix will make me enjoy a song I would otherwise dismiss. Take for example Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. That song is what it is, but the mix is brilliant to my ears.
YES! Great presentation and I too would like the same comparison & analysis over different genres. I thought it interesting that the more the visual turned into a solid smooth line, with less variation in the wave image, the less I liked it. Therefore Andrew Scheps' mix appealed to me the most. I've got to hear music BREATH, which is less common in a lot of modern metal, compared to other styles of music. But this kind of analysis is very helpful to all wanna-be mixers & producers. Thanks!
the main tip from this video is: listen to the lesser known artists famous mixers work on, some just don't really care about smaller acts. good news is that, as you can see, it's not most of them.
It’s very difficult to compare if we don’t listen the exact same section of the song :/ every changes can be inside the song in-self and not inside the mix ! But very interesting video ! Thanks !
I’m wondering if the tracks were DI or actual amps. Either way, this definitely helps bring perspective to people who worry about sounding different from what they hear on the radio.
Jena’ mix was untouchable. So beautiful! Nolly and Middleton both sooo good, also. Mynett’s guitars sounded like there was no cab IR loaded. Haha Otero was just to hyper, ie, harsh. Exeter sounded like he didn’t reference in a new room before mixing. Really confusing to me. But…no wrong answers! ❤
Excellent video !! Thanks Collin !! My Fav was Track #5.. It sounded less dark than Mixes 2-4 (where Mix 1 was the "baseline"). Mix #5 to me has more Midrange which sounded a bit brighter.
I liked Mixes 2 & 4… These didn’t seem to dark or to bright. Some of the other mixes seemed to have a more extreme EQ… All of the mixes sounded great, but 2 & 4 were my favourite
‼ Download the free 6-Step PRO MIX Checklist here: www.thebandguide.com/logicpromix ‼
Sound on Sound Article: www.soundonsound.com/techniques/masters-art-mixing
Do this again and again with different genres, please. 😊
Seriously. I don’t dislike metal by any means but why choose the loudest, most compressed and distorted genre possible?
@@studiodsr Because that's what Sound on Sound wanted to do. It's about mixing a dense metal song, which is very difficult to do right.
@@AG-mz7vmexactly, this is like the hardest discipline in mixing.
Of course more is more and I‘d also love to hear more comparisons!
Literally the first sentence of the video he says it was Sound on Sound. Not him. Not this channel. So idk who you're talking to.
@@Tatman2TheResQ I'm talking to Santa Clause. Or maybe Jed Clampett. Or possibly Speed Racer. ARE YOU SPEED RACER?!
All this video did is confirm something I already knew. I have no idea what I’m doing 😂😂
u made me laugh😅
@@starkid9736 😂😂
...or, even if you do know what you're doing, no one LIKES what you're doing.
@@Lengsel7 yep, there’s no winning 😂
😂😂😂😂
Dude Jen’s 100% dude has been killing the game forever
Nolly's I think overall sounds honestly perfect in my opinion no biased aside, nothing that can hurt your ear long term listening or listening over & over.
Jens!!!!! More textural color and harmonic information to my ears
Jens is my favourite also. Every time he soloed Jens it's like the mix came alive. In my very personal opinion, of course.
Same for me! It feels fresh and alive
This should be a series
Dave Otero's mix is my favourite. Thick and heavy!
I liked Dave because he highlights other instruments in the mix better, which is the part that makes it more interesting to experienced metalheads. But then again I listen to it on earbuds
I like Dave Otero's mix. That would be my favorite...with Nolly and Jen's being second favorite.
4 was my favorite, it had a nice warmth and clarity to it which is generally my preference in a mix
My favorites were Scheps and Bogren. I do like the natural approach with metal since everything tends to be blasting the high end all the time.
Same here. I liked Nordstrom's mix as well. I felt those 3 had that classic metal sound. The reference mix was too muddy. The others were more modern sounding, and while they were good mixes, that bright, hyped sound I feel doesn't work so well for metal.
i liked scheps and odelhoms which is surprising to me
Jens for the win! Clarity as a whole
You missed the point of the whole exercise , did you not him say one's preference and levels each achieved from the get go ,it's NOT a win/lose type thing but some people will always see everything in that way sad but TRUE !!!
@@shambhupickett3633I think you missed the point of him stating his preference (which the creator of the video asked to do)
@@shambhupickett3633 I missed nothing man.
@@heinabbott5172 That's your opinion brah It sounds like it to me and that IS MY OPINION
The Andrew Scheps is my favorite and what I’ve been aiming for.
Thanks for a very fair and “balanced” reaction to the project. I took a lot away from being involved in this research project.
Wow, Mike! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch. An honor to have you visit the channel!
Its just a gobsmacking revelation to me how different they all sound. Time to develop my own taste and trust in it. Thanks so much for this.
As a bedroom musician, I noticed that in every mix, the drums and vocals sound quite similar and at the same level. What differentiates them are the mid and high range and those instruments (synths and guitars). Areas where the personal taste comes in, shaping how that range sounds as a whole. For my taste, Otero's mix stands out the most, as it’s brightness and Middleton's least, being the opposite.
I don't think you're listening hard enough.
The drums are very different, because they apply different levels of trigs. The one you like the most (me too btw, but i already knew i would) is Otero's and that one has completely triggered, completely replaced drums, even timings.
You hired the best engineers that I'm constantly following and get inspired. I always thought how it would sound if they all mix the same track. You actually made my dream come true. Thank you for this, I'll do my best to learn from this video!
I watched the full video , i just love how Jens mixes, everything is professional and high quality but , the way Jens mixes is just something else
jens mix is amazing, i think Otero killed it though; surprisingly I dont like the way Shepps mixed despite liking the dynamic balance. i feel like Shepps is maybe muddy or slightly dull would like to know what others think
@@_b0ws3r_ I think the one from shepps has pop vibes
I liked Fredrik’s mix. thanks for the video!
My favorite: Frederik Nordström
…it just has something gnarly and aggressive that I like
Runner up: Jens Bogren
…balanced and pleasant, can’t go wrong with that
Yeah I like the guitar tone on Frederik's the best
Frederiks makes me want to bang my head more than the others :)
Buster‘s waveform 😂😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂
The thing is, as a listener I preferred that and Dave's smashed sound the most. Go figure.
I was impressed with just how consistent the vocal was across all of them.
I kept thinking the vocals have to be on a separate track and are playing alongside each individual mix track just mixing the instruments.
As far as what each mixed track sort of summarizes to, 1 bass, 2 Electric, 3 Keys/synth, 5 Bass/EG, 8 drums/bass, 9 drums.
I don't know if I could pick they all sound good, oh. There's different moods. Some are brighter, some are more focused on certain instruments.
A few many years back the song code monkey was put out to a mixing contest and I downloaded all the versions and loaded them on my iPod.
I like listening to all the different versions, and at the same time as much as I like the original there's a lot of stuff in the others that I like as well.
There's one that takes the song in a mellow smooth jazzy afternoon listening way, well another one that kind of goes screamer rock.
For me, Jens Bogren. Thanks for the video.
Excellent mix! Glad you dug the video
Same
Number 7 is a really great balance between natural sounding and cohesiveness.
2 is the most natural and live sounding so i would say those 2 are my favourite.
7 for studio album
2 for "live" version
Those were my 2 choices as well.... interesting
This is really helpful. For my favourite I'm tossing up between Adam Nolly Getgood and Andrew Scheps. Something I find very interesting is the huge range in dynamics ranging from lots in the Andrew Scheps mix to almost none in the Buster Odelholm mix. I would love to hear the mix of this that Andy Sneap would do, this is right up his alley.
I'm with you, maybe It's an old school thing 😄
@@nunojorgenjstudio7954 I'm with you guys. And I think I preferred the Adam Nolly Getgood, then Andrew Scheps. Because Nolly' sounded to me like a mix from an engineer who understood both guitars AND drums. There's a lot of dynamic range, and the drums really have a combination of life and punch that I don't hear in the other mixes. Jens sounded good too, modern but effective, a strong contender. Frederik's was also quite good My least favourite's were the other end of the spectrum. Otero's did not sound good to me. It was unpleasant, and hard to make out the original, drums etc, with how extremely smashed that mix is. But maybe that extreme metal take is just not my sound. Which was also the case to a lesser extent with Josh' & Buster. Except I like the guitar tone in Josh, and you could at least hear the drums or at least the kick sounding nice in Buster'. But Otero, Josh & to a less extent Buster sounded like overly guitarist-centric mixes to me. Mike Exeter's was very dull and muddy & Mark Mynett's was only ok, not among the best or worst.
I liked Adam Nolly Getgood the most: very "open" mix and a good trade off between loudness and clarity
I thought the tonality of Jens' mix worked perfectly for the source. I also think Andrew's tonality made perfect sense looking from a more organic perspective. Not so much with the others - I usually master and I'm not a fan of 'chubby' mixes - so that probably had something to do with my choices. Nice vid. Thanks!
Andrew's mix was my favorite so far!!!!
It sounded unfinished to me.
@@michaell.8938that's the 00's sound.
It's really fun to listen to these mixes. Ty for flagging that SoS article! Here are my pieces of knowledge & takeaways:
- There is a requirement in LUFS per style in general. Metal is typically hypercompressed. And this is all right because this goes well with metal. You don't want surprises in metal, you want strength.
- It's all right to "fetishize" an instrument, or a frequency range. We all know the voice, the guitar, the drums. But this is typically a stylistic preference by a band, and is usually well described with a Mix Engineer during the process. Or maybe it's a quest, and that instrument moves from A to B to A. What we want is a narrative. This compared to 1. where you get everything equal, without flavour.
- There is a huge process to get something playing well on loudspeakers, pro headphones, down to the provided-with-cellphone cheap earbud. You might decide to forego a market and ignore the cheap earbuds, or go with mass market and remove loudspeakers. Or have multiple mixes. And these are choices that were evidently made in here Like 2. won't
- Similarly, there is a huge difference in your audience. 70's/prog Metal fans, 00's, 20's. Many eras with many choices.
I'll clump 2, 3-4-6-9, 5-7, 8 in different genres. I have my preferences, but they are all catering to something different, so they aren't comparable. I would say my personal best is probably 7 (Adam Nolly Getgood) by a short margin, but I would be pleased to have any song in any of these final mixes. I wouldn't put Rammstein or Imagine Dragons or SYL in the same clumps or styles ;)
Ty for this! Really great!
Jens and Nolly mixes are perfect 👌
1) Getgood. 2) Scheps. 3) Bogren
buster has the best modern mix
and schecps comes in 3rd with a wholesome soft mix
still having thoughts of whos 2nd place ... just in its adam.
勉強になりました、ありがとうございます！
Thank you, I learned a lot!
josh middletons mixes are just so nicely scooped but still balaneced
Adam Nolly Getgood's mix sounds the best to me by a pretty large margin.
Scheps , Getgood i Like the Most
Buster and Jens mixes are just so bright and powerful while still holding that atmosphere and clarity.
I feel like Jens's mix here isn't even that bright, it's just really well balanced and clear. But we may see the word "bright" differently or hear things differently.
@@JiihaaS might be what we're listening on. I have a home studio setup
@@fbgmduck same.
@@JiihaaS different monitors sound drastically different too lol 🤣 so that's probably it. I wouldn't say mine is anywhere near professional either lmfao but it works for what I do
@@fbgmduck true, and the room acoustics play just as big of a role as the monitors. And when you listen, because things are gonna sound very different when you're tired. A lot of factors may play a role here.
But I'm not saying Jens' mix is not bright or that you're wrong in any way if that's how I came across. I'm not here to argue. I think it's cool how different people perceive things differently. To me it's kinda the point of this video too: even the top level pros are clearly very different with how they perceive music.
My favs are #2 and #4 as the most naturally sounding. I also weirdly liked #9 for being a bit more drum focused. Great content Colin.
This is a great video. Thank you so much. I really like the Jens Bogren mix. It really stands out. Second best in my opinion is Josh Middleton's mix. But like you said, it's all about taste, at least at this level. Great to hear so many different but all professional mixes. It's a great learning experience to hear that a song doesn't have to sound exactly like a reference track to be profesional. It can (or should) have it's own character as long as it meets the 'pro characteritics' you mentioned in the video.
I'm going with 4, 7 and 9 as my favs!
Now combine them all that way you get a PERFECTLY balanced mix
what a great video!! thank you mr. Colin!!
my favorite is Fredrick Nordstrom’s for what he does to the guitars (to me it feels like it boosts the harmonics and the voice remains clean).
Mike Exeter’s to me seems more “user frandly” or something that could be listen to somebody that doesn’t like metal.
Adam Golly Getgood’s feels like it boost the vocal layers and i surely like that. Andrew Scheps’s to me sound more classic and organic. All great mixer of course.
❤
Adam's and Jens' are my favourite mixes. To me they sound really balanced, not too brick loud.
IMO, their mixes bring out all the elements without muddying anything.
Please make more in other genres!!
Very interesting! And actually happy to hear how different these mixes are!
I like Jens, Nolly and Josh
Jens' sounds very fitting to the song while Nolly's excels in clarity for me. Sounds... civilized :P
Josh brings that early 2000's scoopy metal I grew up with.
Thanks for doing this video, love your analysis and the GREAT TAKE AWAY! Very Encouraging. My favorite: 8 - Dave Otero
is that cuz ur name is dave..
I did blind test(with blind test plugin). Here are the results: 1)Dave Otero 2)Buster 3)Jens 4) Josh 5)Andrew. I'm a big fan of Andrew but the test shows that in this competition I liked Dave Otero more.
It's the heavy compression that satisfied your ears 👌 Andrews mix has more dynamics👍🏽
Thanks for sharing these pro mixes; awesome perspectives; Mixing for PREXENTS
Great observation highlighting balance.
Really enjoyed you did a metal song comparison this time! was really interesting! Love the channel. 🙏🎸🙌
Josh Middleton, my main focus is on guitar and his mix is punchy but not too thick or fat, and with some sharpness, which is the tone I always prefer. This actually reflects the pickup I like up to use, I don’t like high output pickup or active pickup, I want the notes to be focus, chug but clean at the same time. (When I use Spotify I actually tweak the eq lol😂, lower the bass and push some mid and treble)
Seems to be the popular choice, but Jens had my favorite mix of the bunch.
I can't decide between 4,6 & 9 being my favourite
same here!
The Middleton mix. Balanced like the others but a little more gently hyped, which fits the genre. I typically love Scheps but this genre is not his bailiwick and his mix comes through as "polite" with no drive (and no bass) Jens' is good too for the same reasons. Thanks for this!
Id love to see this done with other genres, especially country!
Great video! Kind of liberating once you hit the three key elements.
I'm really digging this guy!
I put my hand up for Josh´s mix! I guess at the end of the day it is a matter of taste. Nolly´s as well as Jens´ is also right down my alley
3rd one is my favorite, I love the crunchy guitars
I can't get over how much you look like Jason Sudeikis 😅
Wow. At the end of the day I'd probably hire Dave Otero. Thick, Deep and wide mixes. Like combining all of the other mixes together. Going in, I thought Andrew would win off the bat. So yes, eye opening.
I'd take Otero if I wanted to give a futuristic/contemporary modern sounding impression on the band, Scheps if I wanted the listener to have a familiarity feel of rock, kinda safecool tho
I liked Nordstrøm. The guitar and bass together sounded so full and wide
#4 for me sounds very smooth and balanced to me. I could listen to it at a low level and higher level without ear fatigue.
I really like the John Middleton mix, it's got that aggressiveness that I really like. I also like Andrew Schep's mix as well for the clarity and balance. I always strive to make my mixes clear but also have some umph to it.
Thanks for this video. It is right on time.
For me it's Fredrik Nordstrom... the sound of guitars and how it breath. It's what I like...
Josh Middleton was my favorite. Due to having the best guitar tone in my opinion. Great vid tnx!
Right on. I bet he used his STL tonality plugin on the Di's 😊
Right on. I bet he used his STL tonality plugin on the Di's 😊
Finally a metal mix!!! 😊 Josh Middleton was my fav
Jens was my fav. Very bright highs without feeling washed out or tinny. The low end was punchy without sounding muddy. Best way I can describe it as for me is the rest of the others almost feel like I would be looking at the picture with a film over it, while Jens would be a touched-up vibrant picture. Though I really don't feel like I could dislike any of these mixes without hearing the comparisons to the others.
I like #4 the most because the keyboard strings are less buried than in every other one.
Top 3
1.- Jens (super nice)
2.- David Otero (Brutal)
3.- frederik (Correct)
The Worst : Mike, why its are there xD
Fredrick Nordstrom really puts this signature sound on the track. Nordic metal sound! Love it! 🤘
Jens Bogren mix has a clear and crisp sound. Very clean 👍
Noly highlites the drums but I Don't like the guitar sound so much 👍🤏
Dave Otero for me is the winner! Everything there loud and clear and very balanced 🤘🤘🤘
I liked 6 and 7 the best--they just sounded more defined to my ears. Being a guitar player they appealed to me the most.
What stood out for me across those samples was whether the drums or bass were dominant in the mix, regardless of what the guitar or vocals were doing. When the drums stood out, the mix seemed brighter. When the bass stood out, mixes seemed more complex in a darker way.
Josh Middleton and Dave Otero sounded the clearest and most exciting to my ears but they were all really good.
All these mixes are good. You can mix a song in thousand different ways. And often when we mix we just rearrange the whole track to new shape. Best is to set the volume at the right level during the whole recording process. To make the necesarry mixing job be as little as it can gets. Too much pulling faders usually only mess up the track. Just tame some peaks and level during recording. In that process we already choose the rightest level. In relation to the rest of the sounds.
Note to self
Super cool - Thanks Colin! My favs are Scheps (feels like a comfortable favorite shoe!) and Jens Bogren - I'm hearing instruments in his mix that I'm not hearing in the others!! Fascinating!
It starts at 4 27
+1 for Jens Bogren.
It's obviously compressed but in heavy metal everything should be loud with out getting in each others way and he did that perfectly.
The vocals are clear and understandable while the guitars are powerful and the drums are driving.
I just love this kind of content - great job Colin. #4 seemed to be the most pleasing EQ wise (not too overly harsh).
Jens is a master at that bright but not harsh sound!
I think what you’re missing here is also that this is a lesson in mastering. Most mixing engineers do some mastering these days - but generally a mix only will result in much more dynamic range (like Scheps’ mix). This test would have been more accurate if they’d gone for a more subjective volume normalization then LUFS IMO.
It’s also beyond just mixing, there is a production element at play as well.
I like Marks warm calm tone, makes every instrument more audible and the entire track becomes easy to listen to instead of feeling overwhelmed by noise in the high end.
Those high frequencies and thin treble like effect everyone has besides Mike and Mark is what I think is wrong with modern metal, someone get Mark to mix Lorna Shore plz, cause their mixing is a horrendous wall of noise.
I also like how all the comments everyone has a different favourite, sure some are coming in with biases of knowing the people and instantly assigning them the best cause it's who they know so they support, me, I have no idea who any of these people are.
Great vid Colin -- and GREAT POV. And this strategy can be applied to performance, as well.
Absolutely! Great point
Very helpful, thank you! I liked the fourth one down - something about the higher frequencies tickles my ears in a way I like. And what you said about just trusting what I like, once it’s crossed the pro threshold, was invaluable. I’m so grateful for your videos and courses (I have your bundle and am now going through it to mix my second album), thanks again for it all!
Otero for my ears. The “hyped-ness” of his mix fits with my perception of the genre, which admittedly isn’t my favorite, but his mix makes it sound more “fun” to me. Sometimes a fun mix will make me enjoy a song I would otherwise dismiss. Take for example Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. That song is what it is, but the mix is brilliant to my ears.
Frederik Nordström's mix was definitely my favourite.
Jens Bogren. Clear and satisfying.
YES! Great presentation and I too would like the same comparison & analysis over different genres. I thought it interesting that the more the visual turned into a solid smooth line, with less variation in the wave image, the less I liked it. Therefore Andrew Scheps' mix appealed to me the most. I've got to hear music BREATH, which is less common in a lot of modern metal, compared to other styles of music. But this kind of analysis is very helpful to all wanna-be mixers & producers. Thanks!
Scheps is the only mixer I know of. That said, I like the sound of Jens and Dave mixes the best by far
the main tip from this video is: listen to the lesser known artists famous mixers work on, some just don't really care about smaller acts. good news is that, as you can see, it's not most of them.
Definitely Jens!
It’s very difficult to compare if we don’t listen the exact same section of the song :/ every changes can be inside the song in-self and not inside the mix !
But very interesting video ! Thanks !
I’m wondering if the tracks were DI or actual amps. Either way, this definitely helps bring perspective to people who worry about sounding different from what they hear on the radio.
Jens jus sounds so good.
Jena’ mix was untouchable. So beautiful!
Nolly and Middleton both sooo good, also.
Mynett’s guitars sounded like there was no cab IR loaded. Haha
Otero was just to hyper, ie, harsh.
Exeter sounded like he didn’t reference in a new room before mixing. Really confusing to me.
But…no wrong answers! ❤
Excellent video !! Thanks Collin !! My Fav was Track #5.. It sounded less dark than Mixes 2-4 (where Mix 1 was the "baseline"). Mix #5 to me has more Midrange which sounded a bit brighter.
Excellent analysis, Jim! Spot on
Jens Bogren was the only one that sounded pleasing to my ear. Thanks I've discovered a new engineer 👍🏾
If you ever work with metal music dig into his plugins on his website. Really top class stuff. cheers
really!? interesting
Agreed...very smooth sounding.
I liked Mixes 2 & 4… These didn’t seem to dark or to bright.
Some of the other mixes seemed to have a more extreme EQ… All of the mixes sounded great, but 2 & 4 were my favourite
Jens, Nolly and Buster were amazing!
Dave and Jen's I thing are the best. I also liked Schepps also sounds good.