Why does my mix sounds so.. Different?

[adriencreator]

I'm fine with what I do since I'm just a local recording artist here.. But I just can't get my mixes to get that signature production level sound.. :// If you would please click the bandpage link on this facebook page and listen to the song and help me identify where the problem is, and what I can do about it?
I really don't want technicalities, but it just seems like most people can lay down a mix and it sounds fine from there, and they just need to put some final touches on it, but I can't.. Not sure what to do..
http://www.facebook.com/ohcreator
Any help would be appreciated.. I want to tackle this.
Here's what I hear.. I think it just sounds so congested. Maybe too much you know? I wonder if it's in the fact that I have two guitars layered on both sides, so four guitar layers total. Not sure....
Make sure you check out the song at the top of the list, it's the most recently mixed/mastered one, however the second one has the same exact problem..

 

[iarebrandon]

i think you just need to work on your vocals really.

 

[Damian B]

I think it just sounds so congested.

I hear too much compression on everything. You aren't letting anything breathe.

 

[JonWormwood]

bass sounds like a gio

 

[adriencreator]

If compression is a problem I have the dynamics amount level in Ozone 5 up a pretty hefty amount. I'll try taking it down.

 

[iarebrandon]

maybe try turning off the dynamics on the ozone itself and add an ssl comp. that is if you have it... i hate the dynamics in ozone.

 

[adriencreator]

I think the dynamics in ozone arent bad, but they can screw up a lot of things it seems and just sound awful sometimes.. And iarebrandon how should I work on my vocals? I've always been at sort of a loss with those?

 

[iarebrandon]

well i cant really listen to your track again right now but basically, you cant over compress them. i have 3 compressors on most of my vocal tracks. i just don't squash them on every compressor. i don't like to eq a lot because i like the way the voice sounds naturally. i usually just hi pass it, and i usually set this pretty high at around 200 to 250. and maybe a small boost at 13 khz for some air. always a gate and always a de-esser. not a lot of verb, usually about 15 percent. and a 16th delay for me, but ive heard people using differant delays. order matters for vocals too.

pitch correction - comp - comp - comp - eq - deesser - gate - delay - reverb

 

[PremierProductions]

theres far too much out of control low end in the mix, mainly coming from the bass. try compressing the low end on that bass tone to balance it out with a multiband compression. i also use waves c4 on my master to control this on the whole mix. vocals seem a bit too loud. and overall everything sounds a bit too compressed on the master, and its pumping a bit from that. i would add a good bit of grit to that bass tone to drive the guitars and go with them better, its kind of out there on its own right now and not really working with the guitars

 

[adriencreator]

Thanks to everyone for the help!! It's very much appreciated

 

[blue_fAng]

Deessing the vocals should help, but these sound well produced. You have to work more in the low end of the mix to get a perfect point of clarity of the whole sound without losing the puch the bass frequencies bring. Your bass sounds bad and its loud. Everything that sounds bad and loud it'll make the mix/master sound bad. I would avoid overusing the functions of your mastering program unless you really need them and you have to know why would you need them. I think most important of all is that the punchiness of a song is in the MIX, and though the master could help to get extra clearness or impact I would use it just for the loudness, any mastering process could destroy easily a nice mix so you have to be careful of that. This is very general information I think but if you want something more specific here it is: If you recorded your bass with DI's, try using different amps/cabs and play with eq, also the problem could be in the kick's low frequencies making everything sound muddy, mute the bass guitar and play with eq in the lower frequencies of the kick., and vice versa until you get a cleaner sound. The low end of any of the mastered productions you like depend on the source sound and how it was recorded so the volume in the bass frequencies of any instrument may vary, you dont have to make everything overbassy as long it sounds well. Everything else sounds good and keep practicing.

 

[adriencreator]

Thanks a lot bro the bass was run through an ampeg tube head, I messed with EQ for hours on that thing.. Then I suppose I got a little bit Slider happy with the bass.. Not a good thing obviously.