I need someone to tell me I didn't make a mistake...

N

nwright

Member
Apr 19, 2005
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New Castle, Indiana
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So, I've finished up the CD for my band, but I think I may have made a mistake.

I posted a couple songs on here and got some good feedback, but I just couldn't leave it alone. While I liked the mix/master, there were things that bugged me...Mainly some wierd frequencies I heard in the high mids/highs and lack of some low mid thickness.

So, I remixed and remastered everything, and I'm feeling uneasy about it.

Here's the old mix/master:

http://geetarguy.tripod.com/Distort6.mp3

and here's the new:

http://geetarguy.tripod.com/Distort.mp3

The biggest difference I hear is the high mids/highs are a bit tamer and the low mids are thicker on the new mix...which makes it a little more muddy. What I do like, however, is I feel the drums sound better. maybe not as "big" in the low end, but the snare sticks out better and just has a better tone. I also feel the mix gels better together, if at the sacrifice of a little clarity (and a little volume, the RMS level is about 1/2 a dB lower on the new mix).

Which sounds better to you guys? I submitted the new mix to the pressing plant, and I'm totally thinking I made a huge mistake.

Anybody care to tell me I f*cked up, or is it OK? The mix pales in comparison to pretty much everything on here anyway, but comparing these 2 against each other is what I'm looking for.
 
Maybe it's just my monitors, but sounds like just very subtle differences. I think maybe the snare does sound just a little better in the newer mix. I have to say, if you're happy with it, then that's what matter the most. :kickass:

"The mix pales in comparison to pretty much everything on here anyway......." Whatever dude! The two songs you posted are sitting in my archive of ideal mixes from this forum to compare my mixes to. :)
 
Hmmmmmm....

For my opinion and what it may or may not be worth ... I personally like the 1st one just a LITTLE better. However, I also think the 2nd one is very good, just in a different way. Can't say for sure that changing it qualifies as a "fuck up" on your part. To me it just sounds like you traded one set of pros for another. I like the overall thickness of the 2nd as the 1st one did seems a little too bright in some spots but I also hear the slight bit of "mud" you mentioned. Hard to say really and I'm sure this was of NO help to you at all.

But from a listener perspective, if I went out and bought this, I would no more complain if it all sounds like the 2nd than I would if it all sounded like the original so honestly, I think you're safe as far as that goes. The important thing is that its enjoyable to hear and any small changes you made really don't seem like they will have taken away from final sound. Just my opinion.

Killer tune, by the way!

Cheers!
 
^ Thanks.

In the end, I feel I did choose one set of pros over the other...Or perhaps the lesser of 2 evils, lol. Who knows. Producing your own band from tracking to mastering can be such a headache. But, at the same time, it's so hard to give up the control to someone else (even when you should). I value the opinions of everyone on here to somewhat keep my feelings in check.

The first mix is a little clearer to me, and I honestly think it's my preference in my preferred listening environments. But, it didn't translate on the variety of systems I played it on as well as the new mix has. The little things I didn't like on the first mix seemed to pop out more on other systems that I'm not used to (other people's stereos, cars, etc.).
 
i only listened to the new master, and it sounds pretty killer. seriously.

that's crazy you live in new castle...i lived in richmond for a couple years, and am moving back there in a couple months. hopefully i can get a band together and shit...who knows, maybe one of these times we can chill and :kickass: or something
 
I kinda like the first one better. The new one sounds more squashed than the old one. However, I don't think its a big enough difference to ever be called a mistake. They both sound great!
 
^thanks.

And Colonel Kurtz..haha, we used a sample of Kurtz for the CD!

I worked in Richmond from 99-03 at the hospital there. Can't say I have much love for the city, but they seem to have a decent little scene there, from what I hear. When did you live there?
 
I liked the second one, and only because its is less muddy. The first mix was a little bigger sounding, but at the expense of clarity. Either would have been fine.
 
richmond does pretty much suck...i'm originally from CA, and wound up there through weird circumstances...i lived there from 01-04, then moved back to CA with my girl at the end of 04...now she's putting the gauntlet down and moving back with or w/o me, so i guess i don't have much of a choice but to go back!

the one nice thing is that there's a lot more metal in the midwest than here, and richmond is somewhat centrally located between quite a few larger-ish cities - i live smack between SF and LA right now, and you have to go a good 3 hrs. either away to find shit to do
 
colonel kurtz said:
richmond does pretty much suck...i'm originally from CA, and wound up there through weird circumstances...i lived there from 01-04, then moved back to CA with my girl at the end of 04...now she's putting the gauntlet down and moving back with or w/o me, so i guess i don't have much of a choice but to go back!

the one nice thing is that there's a lot more metal in the midwest than here, and richmond is somewhat centrally located between quite a few larger-ish cities - i live smack between SF and LA right now, and you have to go a good 3 hrs. either away to find shit to do
Click to expand...

Whereabouts are you at? I'm not quite in the middle, but on the coast between the two (Santa Barbara). Oh yeah, Kazrog is as well (obviously).
 
Damn, I couldn't comment on the mixes earlier due to not being near my monitors. But the second mix has a really powerful low end. Both are extremely clear and I would be more than happy with either. The second one also seems to have a less jarring high end above 14kHz or so. These monitors (BX5a) tend to bring out the bad parts of the high end, though.
 
On my computer speakers it was very subtle difference between the two. I honestly almost could not tell but after a few back and forth i think mix two is a little more pleasurable to listen to. Like most others said both mixes are sweet though!
 
Thanks guys. I listened to it about 100 times yesterday and this morning and I'm feeling better about it.

I would agree that there is some funkiness to the first one on regards to the high end. I boosted it a little more on that one and I also had a 1.5Khz boost going as well...In hindsight I don't know why, but I took that out, too.

Overall, the 2nd one seems less fatiguing to listen to, and referencing a shitload of discs, I'm more content with the 2nd one now.

I'm starting to wonder how much high freq. hearing loss I may have, lol. The first clip I put up sounded good for so long, but in studying frequency analysis of reference mixes, I'm boosting way too much on the high end, and I tend to boost upper mids as well. Upon initial listens, I like it, but subsequent sessions, those frequencies pop out and start to fatigue my ears quicker. That's one of the reasons I went back and remixed and remastered, I wanted to see if I could lessen that. I then got carried away tweaking other parts of the mix.

I feel like I'm having to use my eyes almost as much as my ears by studying frequency analysis more than I ever have before. Hehe, is that good or bad? :(
 
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