Did i limit this too much?

T

TheToddGreen

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Apr 19, 2010
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So I've been working on getting mixes louder. No i do not expect to over night be able to make it commercial volume, that's not logical (or is it? haha)

Anyways, I've read article after article, and this is what I've come up with. It sounds squashed a bit. Did I apply too much limiting? I had trouble getting it up to volume without limiting, so I'm kind of hitting a brick wall with that.

Help?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6329133/NewMasterTrials.mp3
 
I'm not listening on my monitors right now, but it doesn't sound terribly squashed to me. My only nitpicks are that the guitars sound just slightly out of tune and the distorted guitar tone sounds a little too scooped, but that's just me. This is a really cool track, another one that I wouldn't mind trying to mix myself. :)
 
Cool track but the guitars are more than slightly out of tune. Fix that first off. As far as the limiting goes, I don't think the overall track is limited too much but the kick sounds very robotic and like it is too compressed. There;s also a weird hollowness to it. I would try a different sample. But like I said, the track is awesome.
 
Hahahaha Cory. Too scooped? hmmm, when i add mids it starts sounding funky. What frequency ranges would you suggest up'ing?
You really wanna take a run at mixing it? I don't mind

Thanks Scott, glad you like it. Ill work on the kick, i noticed it sounded tremendously different after i tried mastering it, than before. I guess when i added comp/limitation to the mix, it piggy backed on some that was already on the kick, ill work that out. A weird hollowness? Hmmmm i wish i knew what you meant by that... I may try to figure it out and EQ differently or end up just going with a different kick.

As for the guitars being out of tune....
me-gusta.png


Like overall? because retracking this whole thing will be a BITCH.... any specific parts? etc? just realized i need to fix my intonation, like BAD... poop...
 
TheToddGreen said:
Like overall? because retracking this whole thing will be a BITCH.... any specific parts? etc? just realized i need to fix my intonation, like BAD... poop...
Click to expand...

I'd suggest getting your guitar/guitars/bass/whatever strobed and properly intonated, then (as much of a bitch as it may be) re-track the guitars and take as much time as necessary (having a tuner at the ready just to insure the guitars stayin tune would not be a bad idea either.)
 
Thanks Cory, ill look into that. My main problem lately is that I'm EQing with my eyes more than my ears.

Okay, aside from the guitars being out of tune, my concern is if i limited it too much. Does it really not sound squashed?
 
Yeah those guitars are cringe worthy tuning wise.

Other than that this isn't bad. I think the kick cuts into the mix too much. But overall this is pretty good. Your mix has improved a lot since I last heard something from you. Did you buy slate?
 
Hahahah okay man, calm down with the guitar bashing, i know this!

and yes, the kick cuts through WAY too much imo. Thanks for the encouragement man. It means a lot when I can tell its not 1) some guy who sucks saying its great bla bla or 2) about the writing portion. and that you are referencing it to older stuff I've. I was actually getting a bit down about it. So thanks man

and yes, i bought Slate EX. Cymbals are trash imo. However i am using the ride and the china LAYERED on my ride and china from S20. Im layering my toms and snare from both as well. Kick is strictly slate and other cymbals are strickly S20. I'm probably about to install Addictive again and see if i can get some better layering, or maybe just use cymbals. From what I can remember, I think I liked their cymbals. Well see
 
Just to my ears, it doesn't sound like the guitars have anywhere to go if that makes sense. The whole mix is slamming into the ceiling and it can't breathe might be a better way to put it :) Guitars - First thought would be take out some of the mud around 500hz area and see if you can put some attack back in that 1-3k area, my ears aren't the best on exact freq. but you get the idea, check the mud (mids) and bring back some attack (highs)

cheers
-Cory
 
Silvermaples (cory), ironically you said the opposite about guitars than Oronvictus (cory) hahaha. I may just re EQ it all together. but yeah, i do agree with slamming the ceiling. thats what i meant by squashed. which happened with mastering (im a n00b at mastering) any tips on that aspect? im going back to the mix and starting from scratch probably though
 
The Slate cymbals are absolute garbage, they sound like they came straight off of an e-kit. I've had good results with Joey's cymbals, and a pack from Blueax (a member on this forum), if you're looking for high quality OH samples. Starting from scratch is a good idea if you're totally stuck. A hint that's been given out a hundred times on this forum is to EQ with your eyes closed, and don't EQ a solo track, EQ in the mix. When it comes to getting things loud, I personally like a bit of smashing, but obviously not enough to get close to clipping or slamming, but that's just me. I think your original mix is pretty set in that aspect. I like this track more and more as I listen to it, I really want to try mixing it. :)
 
As long as we're learning everytime we mix/master I think that's all we can ask for :)

I'm very new to the whole mastering side of things, but I like the concept of not making any one plugin do all the work. All mastering chains are differnent but I find I typically have 2-3 compressors, 2 eq's and 1-2 limiters. All of which are doing very little in the way of processing.

Maybe only 1-3 db of gr on the compressors and then eq'ing after to bring certain freq's back out. And on my limiter I try to stay under 1-2 db of gr.

Go grab sonalksis's free g plugin for a meter plugin, I put it at the very end and I typically shoot for -9 or -8 rms. I'm not looking to kill anyone with my mixes being crazy loud lol

Cheers
-Cory
 
Cory (victus) yeah, thats a good concept. im starting to do it better. by listening to comparables that i am shooting after. And yeah, honestly, i went back to my mix and was a lot happier with how that sounded in comparison to a trial master. the kick sounded a ton better, everything was a ton better. still lacked that sparkle. idk wtf that sparkle is, but just was missing "it" hahaha. completely aside from volume. but cranking it up to a better volume on my monitors i thought, wtf did i do to mess this up? hahaha. i did create a sub project, making everything raw. one, to send you files, and 2, to start from scratch and see what happens.

Just like Maples said, as long as you learn every time.

meter plug? i always found that kind of dumb in concept since Reaper has a master meter, but i see more and more people use it, couldnt hurt, since its free

ill probably post a new mix that i make from scratch and without my eyes so much. maybe itll get better
 
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