Burning Bridges

[The_Metallurgist]

lol, did I crush it? ... but there's about 2 to 3 dB of gain reduction at most from a combination of an LA2A, a multiband and a limiter... was that going too far?

i don't know about too far....more perhaps in the wrong direction? the LA2A isn't the tool for the stereo buss because of it's inherent characteristics; 10ms attack and 4:1 compression ratio. additionally, following this with a multiband? not sure of your logic in stacking compressors here, unless you're thinking mixing instead of mastering? they are totally different mind-sets, of course. the LA2A also has a colouration issue and it's transparency we are looking for in a mastering processor.

personally, i'd view a multiband (irrespective of whether it's being employed for dynamicEQ or compression purposes) as something to employ because the mix wasn't available? it's great for use when a client sends a mix that's a bit of a hornets nest, but i'd be concerned of it's use in your own material simply because issues can/should be addressed in the mix itself (said for the benefit of the wider audience). i will say, however, that situations can prevail where a multiband can fine-tune, so each situation will be based on it's own merits....generally though, if you find your going for it every time during mastering, then you need to ask yourself why to help validate your decision-making process.

also, the insert chain shouldn't be a standard go-to arrangement, but ought to depend on the needs of the material, and given the wide sonic and transient nature of each and every mix, your approach should be flexible. the bottom line, "What's the problem you are needing to fix?". select the right tool and fix it. your approach with the LA2A AND a multiband is causing problems, not fixing anything. i will say, that a multiband requires significant understanding and the fact that you've chosen an LA2A in the signal chain suggests you don't fully understand the consequences of your decisions.

with the limiter, a soft-knee approach is the way to go for greater transparency.

regarding your mix, i liked the guitars here. i'm not going to get embroiled in discussions about how relative they are to Killswitch or the so-say mastered references; in particular the soundcloud example which i found fatiguing owing to inappropriate attention to the needs in the HMF and HF departments which doesn't make it reference material by definition. however, i could see the battle you were having between delivering the power and presence of the eguitars on the one hand, with their willingness to mask other material. for example, the backing vocals struggled all the way through. you will also note the exceptionally reverberant backing track that appears in the final throws is damaged goods but offered a perfect example of aliasing?! personally, i think there's some merit in considering a gate to reduce the excessive decay spills in the sources generally. engineers ALWAYS prefer to have dry tracking so they can choose the best emu for the task for blend and make adjustments to suit needs and preferences (EQ especially), and it was unfortunate we got the wet here so we can't EQ the reverb without messing with the vocal..and in messing the vocal we affect the reverb - no win here. wet is important for a band to communicate their intentions....but that's where it should end, in my opinion, otherwise we are immediately constrained by the relative mixing "competence" of the musician and their chosen emu as well as it's selected configuration.

much talk around about smashing metal in the final process, and Blitzzz goes to great lengths about telling everyone that's not what he's looking for. however, in one post that has clearly been smashed (but with a good quality processor, i must say), he's highly complementary. seems he's been a victim of the loudness war without realising it. So, the moral here might be...smash it to hell, but keep the artifacts out of the way if you want to impress! heh. he thinks perhaps that you compressed your mix excessively because of the issues you've created in your signal chain, discussed above.

a gallant effort none the less, for a genre that's outside of your comfort zone; doing such takes courage.

TTFN
Dave