You're absolutely right - the solo part needs another automation run and a different amp sound for the solo guitars. I just couldn't find a good virtual amp for the two solo guitar tracks that fitted perfectly with the two rhythm guitar sounds I´m using in the mix. I always use DI-tracks and reamp them if I have the chance. That way I can get the sound that I want right at the source and have more time to concentrate on the song instead of fixing things with EQ.
The toms have a big cut around 300 Hz and a 2 db high shelf boost around 3khz. I also tamed the region around 70-140 Hz with Waves C6 Multiband Compressor using one floating band and bypassing all the other bands. I learned this trick from Andy Sneap (he is using this on guitars all the time) and since then I´m using it in most of my mixes to eliminate boomy bass frequencies - again no EQ needed. The snare in this mix is also very easy to fix without using an EQ: I got rid of the nasty resonance by cutting away the tail of every snare hit. Without that "poiiiing"-ring at the end of each hit the snare sounds fantastic.
Speaaking about pluigns: I deleted most of my plugins after switching to Studio One because honestly no ones needs 10 EQs, 15 Compressors and 10 Reverbs. I´m down to two reverbs (UAD's EMT 140 and Valhallas Shimmer), three delays (Waves H-Delay and two stock plugins from Studio one), two EQ's (the SSL Emulation in Slates VMR and Fabfilters Pro-Q 2) and six Compressors (Slates VBC with three different bus compressors, the two compressors in Slates VMR and Fabfilters Pro-C) and that's it. I do have some special plugins for special situations like Waves C6, Trackspacer, Melodyne or Vocal/Bass Rider but 90% of the time it's Slates VMR with VCC for Saturation.
I've probably spent more then 5.000 Euros on plugins over the last couple of years to get to a point where I know what works for me and what doesn't work for me. If I could turn back time and start from scratch I would buy the Slate stuff plus and handful of useful plugins like Waves C6 and use stock plugins from my DAW for everything else.
Regarding the bus concept: The three bus compressors from Slates VBC rack all sound different. The SSL clone FG-Grey is very neutral and perfect for my "Air" bus where I only want minimal compression (max 1 db) and no coloration. The Fairchild Clone (FG-MU) is my standard "Mid" bus compressor because it adds 2-3 db at 3khz. All my guitars are going through this bus and I normally aim for 1-2 db compression. The FG-Red has a Saturation knob and it sounds great on drums and vocals so I put that compressor on my "low" (3-4 db compression) and "high" bus (1-2 db compression). I also use different VCC-Models for desk-like Saturation on each bus to further seperate the sound of each bus. And last but not least I have Slates VTM with different tape speeds on each bus.
The "air" bus is my go to place for overheads/hihat, synthies, delay and reverb tracks and everything that I want clean and "airy". The "high" bus is my Vocal bus, "mid" is for the guitars and "low" is the bus for the shells of the drums. Most of the time my bass goes to the low bus with an additional send that goes to the mid bus so the bass goes through two busses. I always use parallel compression on the shells of the drumkit and this is also going to the "low" bus. So every time I start a new mix there is allready a good chunk of compression, saturation and equalization on all tracks. I know this might not work for everyone or every style/song but every time I mix through a single master bus it sounds thin, compressed and narrow sompared with my 4-bus-setup.
The toms have a big cut around 300 Hz and a 2 db high shelf boost around 3khz. I also tamed the region around 70-140 Hz with Waves C6 Multiband Compressor using one floating band and bypassing all the other bands. I learned this trick from Andy Sneap (he is using this on guitars all the time) and since then I´m using it in most of my mixes to eliminate boomy bass frequencies - again no EQ needed. The snare in this mix is also very easy to fix without using an EQ: I got rid of the nasty resonance by cutting away the tail of every snare hit. Without that "poiiiing"-ring at the end of each hit the snare sounds fantastic.
Speaaking about pluigns: I deleted most of my plugins after switching to Studio One because honestly no ones needs 10 EQs, 15 Compressors and 10 Reverbs. I´m down to two reverbs (UAD's EMT 140 and Valhallas Shimmer), three delays (Waves H-Delay and two stock plugins from Studio one), two EQ's (the SSL Emulation in Slates VMR and Fabfilters Pro-Q 2) and six Compressors (Slates VBC with three different bus compressors, the two compressors in Slates VMR and Fabfilters Pro-C) and that's it. I do have some special plugins for special situations like Waves C6, Trackspacer, Melodyne or Vocal/Bass Rider but 90% of the time it's Slates VMR with VCC for Saturation.
I've probably spent more then 5.000 Euros on plugins over the last couple of years to get to a point where I know what works for me and what doesn't work for me. If I could turn back time and start from scratch I would buy the Slate stuff plus and handful of useful plugins like Waves C6 and use stock plugins from my DAW for everything else.
Regarding the bus concept: The three bus compressors from Slates VBC rack all sound different. The SSL clone FG-Grey is very neutral and perfect for my "Air" bus where I only want minimal compression (max 1 db) and no coloration. The Fairchild Clone (FG-MU) is my standard "Mid" bus compressor because it adds 2-3 db at 3khz. All my guitars are going through this bus and I normally aim for 1-2 db compression. The FG-Red has a Saturation knob and it sounds great on drums and vocals so I put that compressor on my "low" (3-4 db compression) and "high" bus (1-2 db compression). I also use different VCC-Models for desk-like Saturation on each bus to further seperate the sound of each bus. And last but not least I have Slates VTM with different tape speeds on each bus.
The "air" bus is my go to place for overheads/hihat, synthies, delay and reverb tracks and everything that I want clean and "airy". The "high" bus is my Vocal bus, "mid" is for the guitars and "low" is the bus for the shells of the drums. Most of the time my bass goes to the low bus with an additional send that goes to the mid bus so the bass goes through two busses. I always use parallel compression on the shells of the drumkit and this is also going to the "low" bus. So every time I start a new mix there is allready a good chunk of compression, saturation and equalization on all tracks. I know this might not work for everyone or every style/song but every time I mix through a single master bus it sounds thin, compressed and narrow sompared with my 4-bus-setup.