08-01-2014, 04:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-01-2014, 04:41 AM by Pedaling Prince.)
(10-12-2013, 03:15 PM)Pashet Wrote: Made another one and think it'l final! Cheers and lots of thanks for your feedback and helpful thoughts! Hope you'll like it
Your "final" mix is very similar in tone to my own except you managed to get a little more stereo spread out of those guitars. Nice work on that front.
There are two problems here, though. For one, the vocals are at the right level but are a little too soft in tone; I think a small 3-5 db EQ boost at 5 kHz and maybe a 1-2 dB boost at 12 kHz might help them cut through better.
The second problem is somewhat more serious. WAY too much compression; it's causing everything to pump and distort in a very unpleasant way. I know you're trying to get it "loud" but remember that the LISTENER controls the volume knob; if you're recording is "loud" they're just going to turn the volume down to their preferred level, anyway, and then all that distortion is for naught.
One rule of thumb is if the dynamic range of your mix (the difference in dB between the loudest peak and overall average level) is in the single digits you've overcooked your master; other words, the final master should NEVER have a dynamic range narrower than 10. I analyzed your mix; it has a dynamic range of *6*.
Honestly, myself personally I don't think that compression should EVER be used in mastering, only on individual tracks to achieve certain effects; the only loudness treatment that should be done in mastering, IMHO, is to normalize the finished mix so the loudest peak hits 0 dBFS without clipping; that will be as loud as your recording can be without distorting it with compression. If you absolutely MUST use compression, at least back it down so it doesn't pump so much and leaves your mix no narrower than 10 dB in dynamic range. Ratio should be absolutely no higher than 4:1 and I wouldn't set my threshold any lower than -20, and that might be pushing it.
Still, the vocal dullness and compression problem seem to be the only issues you need to address here; otherwise well done!