November 1, 2009
Author's Response:
Guitar sound: just two tracks, hard left and right. There's some reverb on them, but it's really subtle. I could make it a bit more pronounced without hurting anything, I think; I'm always scared that I'm overdoing it, haha. I also added a slight rise in the high end around 3500Hz on the newest mix, which I haven't updated here yet.
Vocals: most of the reverb is the room we were in while tracking. There's some additional delay and a flanger (both very low in the mix, but it's there), but my living room is very big and has no carpeted surfaces. Awful, I know, but that's the price you pay for cheap recording. XD
Also, in the previous mix, the vocals didn't pop out enough, so they got lost at some parts; I wanted to make sure that didn't happen anymore, so I mixed and effected them differently, to add some dimension.
Drums: I also brought the snare up on the newest mix. And I'm working toward a new drum program, just haven't gotten there yet.
Mastering: believe it or not, the multiband compressor and limiter aren't working very hard at all. The multiband is set so that it compresses the piercing highs of the snare by about 2dB, and just barely compresses the low bass of the kick (about .3dB). That's pretty much it.
The limiter is set so there's about 1.5dB of signal gain, which really isn't much, all things considered. I could probably take out the limiter completely and not hurt anything; I just like having loud, energetic masters. I mix REALLY low (my mixes usually peak around -9dB), so I have to make it up somehow. XD
Thanks a lot for the high-detail, in-depth review. This is what I was looking for, and you delivered with flying colors. I'll keep what you've said in mind, and try to ease up on the vocal and add some depth to the guitar; maybe I can make it work.
Good luck with your studies, man. I wish you all the best.
\m/
