Is this mix too compressed?

STAT1STICK

Active member
I started working on this project on Sunday and I have been working with my new software and gear now that I have relocated. This is the first real attempt at recording that I've done in over a year. I'm curious about the compression on the mix. Feedback on the mix itself is also welcome. Here's the mix:
 
It sounds pretty compressed alright. The drums and especially the kick are in a different space from everything else. There is a grating quality to your upper midrange that often seems to come from too much boosting, compressing, and limiting on the mix bus. I think you'll hear it if you crank up your monitors and listen for the sounds that make you want to turn down.
 
Yep - too much on the drums and quite apparent when the track first starts. The drums never seem to fit into the mix so they need to be less compressed. The guitars aren't as bad but could use less too. Good guitar tones in any case. :D
 
Guitars come with a built-in compressor anyway. It's called "all that distortion." :D

Yeah, the drums really don't sit in the mix. It's super-loud drums sitting on top of a muddy bed of guits.
 
oooh. yeah drums are in a different space altogether. That verb on the snare is putting it somewhere else where the guitars aren't. Guitars could use some shaping, little blurry/muddy like Steve said. There's something real good under there, I can hear it...just mold those guitars a bit and examine the verb application on the drums.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I started work on the problems last night and I've already made a lot of progress. I backed off the compression on the mix bus and it already sounds a lot better. I also tackled the muddy mids by cutting the bulk of the frequencies that the guitars are using on the bass track. So now there's not two instruments fighting for the same space. I'm going to start working on the drums tonight and hopefully I'll have something better to show you. But it's coming along.

However, please keep in mind that this is a very early draft of whatever this happens to become. I'm planning on changing some of the drum beats here and there and I also want to add some synth. I just need to come up with the right sound.
 
Here's an updated mix. I changed a bunch of stuff. Mostly just what you guys pointed out. I think the kick may be a bit buried now, though. Maybe I've just been at it for too long. Anyway, I hope I fixed the issues that were sticking out.

 
Definite improvement, yes!

The drums still seem to be in a pretty different "place" - they're much dryer than the guitars - but they're much better.
 
Definite improvement, yes!

The drums still seem to be in a pretty different "place" - they're much dryer than the guitars - but they're much better.

everything here.

Also, I remembered the riff as soon as I heard it again. That's a good thing. ;)

I do think the kick is low, though.
 
Interesting choice in using a piccolo snare for this, as that kind of snare is usuallyt associated with reggae/ska/sublime/etc and, imo, a bit too loud in this mix, Also, the kick is too "clicky", (in mix 4) as you may want to back off on the hi-end of that bass drum. To that end, the kick and snare are drawing too much attention away from the great rhythm guitar tracks you recorded. The bass sounds good.
As to the op question, not over-compressed, but could be mixed a bit better, imo. I liked to ratio of guitar to drums better in mix 4 than in mix 5, as I would start on mix 4, reduce the "point" of the kick and snare, and start working on gluing all the instrumentation together, as if it were tracked in the same space.
 
Thanks for all the replies, guys. If you've seen some of my other posts, you'd probably know that drums are not my strong suit. I've never been able to get them right on any song that I've done. I always have some kind of trouble. Usually EQ. I am using EZ Drummer since I don't have a kit and I don't play drums, ha ha! Maybe I'll experiment with some different drums sounds to see if I can get them to play nice with the rest of the instruments. I'll be tinkering with it this weekend.

At the moment, I'm writing lyrics. I have the idea and a few lines written. I just have to flesh it out and make it all make sense. Thanks again for listening and providing feedback.
 
I am using EZ Drummer since I don't have a kit and I don't play drums, ha ha!

Many, many people here use drum software. There's a good sticky somewhere around here with tips for programming drums - check that out. I'll post the link if I can find it
 
STAT1STICK,

The 2nd one is a fair bit better than the first one - there are some much meatier sounding snares in EZ Drummer though.

Still sounds way compressed to me, but then I like music that sounds really open and live - I don't think you need to add extra compression to guitars with that much gain. That style of metal of does lend itself to compressed "modern" style production though I suppose.

One thing you could try is to make the guitars bite a bit more (particularly when you're Djenting), the whole thing gets a bit too thick around the low end and it starts to sound a bit like a low noise.
You could try dialing back the bass and adding a touch more mid or treble and a touch less gain - you don't need to worry about it sounding weak - there's more than enough meat in that track.
If you can't be arsed to re-track, you could always EQ it, I quite enjoy re-tracking guitars once I've got a full track together though.

I'm assuming that you're playing through a amp sim? If you are tracking a real amp, definitely try cranking the volume up more and dialling the gain back.
 
I know it's been a while but I think it's finally starting to take shape. I was this close (pinches fingers together) to scrapping the project because I didn't think it had a future for me. But I think I like where it's going now. I still have a lot of work to do but I think the worst is behind me. Let's see what you think.

New mix:
 
I know it's been a while but I think it's finally starting to take shape. I was this close (pinches fingers together) to scrapping the project because I didn't think it had a future for me. But I think I like where it's going now. I still have a lot of work to do but I think the worst is behind me. Let's see what you think.

New mix:

much better, sounds more 'pinched' in the midrange, which is what I'd expect for metal, it lacks a bit of extreme high end though, but definitely the best mix so far.
 
much better, sounds more 'pinched' in the midrange, which is what I'd expect for metal, it lacks a bit of extreme high end though, but definitely the best mix so far.

What exactly do you mean extreme high end? Should I boost my highs on the whole mix? Or are you thinking of something more specific like the guitars or overheads?
 
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