i too think the toms sound a with a bit too "in your face" sound, how would you suggest resolving this? and by absolute highs you mean on the master bus?
yeah I don't have the cali actually (gonna buy it soon though, monkey is giving me a hell of a life) kick 10 with no room, snare 11 and def toms, really happy about the guitar editing in this haha
yeah, it's in the palm mutes you can tell the 2001 and the cali apart. the 2001 has more of an "embracing" character, and the cali a more "distant" and undependant character. like you get more of the guitar itself or something, string sound-wise (in the 2001). the guitar editing is tits! it sounds like you slipped real takes instead of just recording note by note, that's where the "life" is bro. everything can be 100% on grid, but the playing is still responsible for most of the "life". I kinda like how I'm making up terms as I go, haha. I think you should leave the kick entirely, just EQ, any dynamic processing on kick 10 just makes it sound "harsh" and clippy and adds that short little ms of decay. I normally just EQ it to hell with 2 EQ's, masterbus processing generally gives the kick that gluey sound.
TACT for me, I use the term alot lol, is when everything is super loud, punchy but isn't "harsh", but smooth and still smashing you in the face, like warm and analog in way, like a perfectly blended lemonade, you could just drink it until you throw up. if I can refer to one of this great forum's many heroes, ol' joey sturgis is super keen about gettin it right with EQ's and stuff, and some producers around this area (in sweden) are starting to find their way aswell, analog helps with smoothness too, like outboard compressors and stuff. it's hard to describe, but the best I can do is: Listen to Circle of Contempt, and think the opposite of that. haha. the toms need that perfectly balanced tact-ish high-end to sit right. your toms could do with some more low-mid cuts in the 200-400hz area. try making weird narrow cuts anywhere from 4khz to 9khz (perhaps boosts aswell) and find the spot where they sound best, then do a highshelf on like a tom group or something. toms get sooo much stick and high-end from the OH's that they do better with a roll-off than a boost, atleast with software, but it generally applies if you're recording in a small/medium size room with fresh skins aswell. it's sort of an 80's thing boosting tom high-end really, haha. I did my best, AE terms are so hard to get down in words.
and yeah, an FX track running a bad-ass plate verb with 15-30 ms pre-delay sent to the snare and the toms can do wonders!
