The Darkness in Me 2026 (Full length)

[FinalGod]

Genre

Rock

Instruments

My usual production setup, nothing out of the ordinary.

Effects

Nothing unusual, mostly standard mixing tools.

Special techniques

On the drum bus, I split the signal at 200 Hz. The low frequencies were processed through a vari-mu compressor, while the rest was compressed with an 1176-style compressor before being glued together with an SSL bus compressor.

Released when

2026

Hey everyone,

I felt motivated to create an updated version of this song. It was originally written about 30 years ago by a friend and me in an old version of Cakewalk and played back via MIDI on a Sound Blaster AWE32.

I exported the original MIDI project from Cakewalk and imported it into Fender Studio 8, where I completely rearranged the instruments and rebuilt the mix using modern production techniques, including bus routing, sidechain processing, and mastering. Thanks to Synthesizer V Studio Pro 2, I was also able to turn the original lyrics, which were still stored as text in the arrangement, into fully sung vocals.

The final mix was mastered to sound like a live performance, targeting YouTube's recommended loudness at -13.8 LUFS and -1.0 dBTP.

The song tells the story of a person consumed by revenge after suffering oppression. Because of that, the lyrics are intentionally dark and violent.
Tools used:

• Fender Studio 8 (music production)
• Synthesizer V Studio Pro 2 (vocals)
• Flux2-Dev + WAN 2.2 (AI visuals)
• DaVinci Resolve Studio (video editing)

I hope you enjoy it. I'd be glad to hear your feedback!

 

[Craig Anderton]

I really like that you wanted it to sound like a live performance, I miss that attitude with all that music going around that has 742 tracks . It does have that kind of "I walked into a club" vibe, which I like. The only mix recommendation I'd make is less compression on the drums, and an upper mid EQ boost to give some more snap. All the other instruments are well-defined.

One of my secret weapons for drums is using limiting in conjunction with compression from the Waves MV2. It combines downward compression to deal with peaks, and upward compression to bring up room sound. You can end up with a really big sound that still has lots of dynamics. With your mix, I think it would give the drums more focus as well. You can download a demo...see what you think.

 

[FinalGod]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to listen so carefully! I'm really glad the live-band feel came across, because that was exactly what I was aiming for.

I also appreciate your comments about the drums. Your previous feedback on To Alive actually made me experiment a lot more with drum compression. I'm now using an 1176-style compressor together with a frequency split on the drum bus, sending the low end through a Vari-Mu compressor before gluing everything back together with an SSL bus compressor.

One of the challenges is that BFD intentionally simulates microphone bleed, just like a real drum recording, so shaping the kick and snare independently is a bit of a balancing act.

I also think listening equipment plays a role. I mainly mix on a PreSonus Studio 24c with Audio-Technica ATH-M50XSTS headphones and occasionally check the mix on my PreSonus Eris monitors and in the car. Different headphones and speakers can definitely shift the perception of the kick and snare, so it's always interesting to hear another perspective.

Thanks again for the detailed feedback. Comments like yours are really valuable because they make me look at the mix from a different angle and keep experimenting.