Over The Top

[pauli]

How'd I do? I feel really good about this one.

[takka360]

Sounds great,well done.

[pauli]

Sounds great,well done.

Thank you, man. I greatly respect your opinions and skill, and appreciate all of your feedback... I'm a better engineer than I would have been without the advice.

I think I may have over compressed on this song... My mixing is becoming competent, but my preview mastering still sucks especially when it comes to limiting. I'd have liked to tame some of the overall harshness of tone a bit more, too, but every attempt just made the instruments in question sound distant and undefined... Any ideas how I might improve that or am I better off leaving it alone?

[takka360]

Better off to do as much as poss in the mix really,multiband compression can work wonders if used right.
It will all come in time don't you worry.

[takka360]

This is your mix with a tad of multi band ,you also had some bad res at around 110 so in future make sure you sweep for that stuff .
I also lp at 50 (rock) and 1 db boost bell 5k and 1 db boost 6k hs 2 db cut 430 , only a quick little job lol.

[juanjose1967]

Good mix you've achieved, Pauli! I like the bass here a lot!

[pauli]

This is your mix with a tad of multi band ,you also had some bad res at around 110 so in future make sure you sweep for that stuff .
I also lp at 50 (rock) and 1 db boost bell 5k and 1 db boost 6k hs 2 db cut 430 , only a quick little job lol.

Wow, the difference is subtle and huge at the same time! I actually did use a little xband on my pseudo master, 4 bands, but never more than 1.5 gain reduction on any band... It improved the sound, but this is even better... I'll have to do more reading on mastering. The compressor followed by a limiter in combination is only a db or two also.... I'm always afraid I'll screw up my mixes

[pauli]

Good mix you've achieved, Pauli! I like the bass here a lot!

Thank you, Juan! I need to catch up on your recent work... I've been distracted, trying to steer a few heated threads into something more productive. I always appreciate your feedback and I'll send some back your way this evening, assuming my kids ever go to bed

[thedon]

This is your mix with a tad of multi band ,you also had some bad res at around 110 so in future make sure you sweep for that stuff .
I also lp at 50 (rock) and 1 db boost bell 5k and 1 db boost 6k hs 2 db cut 430 , only a quick little job lol.

Wow, the difference is subtle and huge at the same time! I actually did use a little xband on my pseudo master, 4 bands, but never more than 1.5 gain reduction on any band... It improved the sound, but this is even better... I'll have to do more reading on mastering. The compressor followed by a limiter in combination is only a db or two also.... I'm always afraid I'll screw up my mixes

Great job mixing this one ,as Alan has done here ,i usually put a parametric eq on indivdual tracks ( it takes a lot of practice as i have overdone it many times ) and also on the master bus and do a sweep and try to locate any resonating frequencies ,if so then locate the track causing it or could be a combination of multi tracks frequencies clashing ,a multiband compressor on the master bus is a good idea

[pauli]

quick question for the more learned among us.... multiband compression. normally I use multiband compression on individual instruments to even out the levels in the bass frequencies, and I've only begun experimenting with in the mastering phase. my question is... the main reason for this at mastering is to more transparently control the dynamics, right? most sonic/balance issues should be fixed at mixdown, and multiband compression is mainly to compress without affecting the balance? my thought was that it was meant to be used before a normal mastering compressor so that the volume could be maximized without the mid-bands getting too loud.