dbrax said:
ehh. talking out of your ass. let me guess, you went to dallas sound lab or full sail, something like that. there is no "brick wall" comp. the mastering eng. is very well respected. thanx 4 the comment though. d. braxton henry
Hey man, no need to make a personal attack here. If you were not looking for advice you should not post here. I have learned alot by reading others opinions you should open your mind and do the same. What did you expect everyone to hear it and just praise how awesome it is?
As far as schooling goes I am afraid you are wrong. I have actually never finished school for engineering or production (never went to Full Sail or DSL). Just apprentenced a few guys in Kansas and Nebraksa.
As far as the mastering goes. If you read my comment in detail you will see there are 2 reasons the master is an issue. One is because the mix is shabby. The other could be the compresson tech used during the mastering. Meaning I am sure the "very well respected" mastering engineer could have had excellent results on a better mix. Or the mastering eng biffed the master and pushed it too hard. If you are telling me the mastering eng is a pro and it is not his work that is causing the issue then...well.. it must be your mix. So I still suggest following my original advice.
As far as "brickwalling" goes pretty much every modern metal album is thrown through a compressor that brickwalls the master mix in some way or another. When done on a good mix it has no real negative effects. Have you looked at the wav for of you final product in a wav or aiff editor (not sure if you are PC or Mac) there are points were no dynamic areas exsist and it is all flat tops. Now I will say again this would not be an issue if the mix was really really good.
I mean come on man just take a look. Here is you track (looks like this about 80% of the song):
Here is the loudest and most heavy part of the first cut off the Killswitch album end of heartache:
See the difference? look at all the flat tops in your final product and the lack of any room to breath. The Killswitch master still has the same overall "volume" but look no flat tops and room to breath. Result of a good mix and an amazing master.
Bottom line if you can't handle the advice don't post.