Heaven

[dante]

Retro prog/metal maybe.

http://soundcloud.com/hitfoundry/heaven

EDIT : New Link http://soundcloud.com/hitfoundry/heaven-2010

But maybe the sound effects half way through the song a bit too corny or lo-fi ? If anyone knows of a source for hi-quality sound effects, battles, horsemen etc or some tips on blending sound effects into music would help.

[kensuguro]

To me, the drums sound too thin.. they're almost non existent in the mix, but maybe that was the trend of the particular style. For me the bass is too boomy..

The sound fx section, you could probably buy a bunch of stuff on sound dogs.. Also, since the guitar and bass have a very small room sound, you may need to expand the space a bit with vocals (the "ahh" parts) and a bit of reverb. It may also be effective to break the flow a bit (like the ending) to introduce the sound effect element, and the pick up again as the sound scene builds up. Key point being, the band may need to pull back a bit right when the sound effects come in to emphasize it.

It also may be a style thing, but I'd give the guitar more presence, and double it, instead of the chorus/delay sort of effect being applied. Seems the chorus rounds out the definition.. And I'd build the overdrive / amp effect to give it a bit more muscle. Dunno, I'm not a guitar person so I always seem to over exaggerate when it comes to macho metal lines.

[dante]

Yeah I have been thinking bout adding some guitar. If I can do it without loosing the stylistic elements of what the original guitarist was doing with his Peavey. The drums, Ill experiement around a bit. The snare is the Alan White sample but maybe needs more percussion, I think the hihats got lost.

And too much bass I agree after listening on a couple different systems woops.

The sound effects, I will check out sound dogs. But I like the idea of pulling band back when they are on and bringing them back again towards the end.

About the vocal 'aahs' - I was thinking they were a bit weak at top notes - needs more scream, think Ronny James Dio etc...maybe I can do that !

Good tips thanks Ken.

[dante]

K Ive implemented some of your suggestions. At first I was a bit disappointed with the SoundDog because I selected to buy the effects as stereo but they came down as mono.

But by using 'autopan' in Cubase on 3 mono tracks I got a pretty good stereo effect.

Hopefully this is a better mix overall, with your suggestions Ken it's way better

New Link :

http://soundcloud.com/hitfoundry/heaven-2010