It's still pretty good. The Blind Pig is still going strong after all these years (you still stick to the floor when you walk
). It's not Austin or New Orleans for sure, but as far as cities with a good live music scene, its definitely in the top 25% in my experience (and I travel quite a bit).
I listen and perform pretty much all genre's and have for a good solid 3 decades and more.
Metal is WAY more about impact than vocals. It's silly to pretend otherwise IMO. In fact, Ghost is one of the more vocal metal bands in general. They got that haunting harmony thing going on in pretty much every vocal .... but it is still WAY back in the mix compared to something like Country Girl by Luke Brian, or All I wanna do by Sheryl Crow.
... and yes, I did listen to your video. I tend not to say anything at all if I can't say anything nice. But that being said, this is what I think of that mix:
The drums are horribly mixed. Lots of cymbals and a thin sounding snare, but little else. There is little or no punch to the mix. The vocalist is pretty darned good, but the mix is awful. The vocals disappear in the verse then pound out on the high notes (could have used a bit of compression to tame that a little). I can BARELY hear the guitar and bass. Now, of course, this was recorded likely on a phone and that alone is going to make pretty much any band sound bad. They do have great energy and stage presence.
I think they would have sounded 10 times better with eDrums.... at least 10 times better.
Metal is ESPECIALLY dependent on good impactful drums and punchy palm mutes on guitar. eDrums are great at getting impact. Not sure why the guitars were so absent. Perhaps they weren't in the mains at all? Could be that where the person was standing the cabs weren't pointed that way. Guitar cabs are extremely directional. Some other area in the bar could have heard nothing but guitar. (A very good case for using something like Kemper/Fractal/Helix direct into the mixer. You get good guitar tone all over the venue.
I am positive others feel that the recording sounded great, and the audience was obviously entertained. If my band did any metal (we don't. About the hardest song we do is "My Own Worst Enemy" which falls more in a modern rock catagory vs Metal. I used to do Enter Sandman at the end of the night. That sounds fantastic with eDrums and a Kemper.
. I'll listen to metal all night long for that. Shoot. I might even listen to Country for that :).
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