Skelpolu: 'Human Mistakes'

[Pedaling Prince]

changes made... sorry about the almost muted synth and the typo! they were just 'human mistakes'

I've said it before and I'll say it again. And again. And Again. This whole limiting/compression thing is just totally ruining the sound of modern music.

This mix is what I like to call the exception to the rule.

It was obvious from the first intensive "kick" I felt to my skull when this opened (it felt like the kick drum hammer smacking me in the forehead instead of the drum ) that this thing was compressed within an inch of its life. However, I was in for a surprise once I turned my reference volume down to something more comfortable for me...

In most hyper-compressed mixes I find the details tend to be all smeared and distorted; all definition and clarity are sucked out by squeezing the loudness of all the tracks together so tightly. What was different about this was that it was certainly loud, no question about that, but it was also clear and well defined. It even had a sense of space, something else that's usually lost in the thick underbrush of the compression/limiting jungle. I'm not sure how you did it exactly but you managed to craft a mix here that utilizes the compression expected by fans of the genre and yet it wasn't fatiguing on the ears. Not at all. Indeed, I was groovin' to this one!

I guess this only goes to prove that, in art, even techniques that don't work 99.9% of the time do have their place with that 0.1% which truly do benefit by them.

I still stand by my original belief: that compression and limiting, as a rule, have no place in the mastering process; I still feel the tool is being profoundly abused in most music today. However, this mix is proof positive that when you know how to use it, and when you have the skill to identify that rare piece of music that would actually benefit from it, it can be a powerful tool indeed.

That "wobbling" sound, BTW. Personally, I love it. It creates the impression that the kick drum is shaking whole song. if you were looking to create a sense of loud without squashing the life out of your mix I suspect this effect went a long way to accomplishing that.

My only complaints about this mix. First, the noise track is too loud at the very beginning (but it's spot on after that). The vocals could use a little sharpening, maybe a gently boost in the 5-6 kHz range and, if you're using a de-esser you don't need to be. Finally, I'd also sharpen up that piano a bit and add some reverb to it.

Otherwise, though, outstanding work. And mark my words: it is the rare day indeed John A. Ardelli gives such high praise to a mix that makes such aggressive use of master buss compression and limiting; when you can impress me with a mix like this, you're clearly doing something right.