that EQ is pretty extreme, and I am surprised the guitar sounds as harsh in the high end with an EQ like this? It must have been really bright to start with? You don't really need to high pass any higher than 150, anymore than that will destroy the body of the guitar, I think you could probably get a great mix and low end even with the hpf set as low as 80hz, this would be my starting point by the way, if I struggled too much to clear out the low end I would raise it to 100 and maybe a bit more if I wasnt satisfied, I could end up as high as 150 on some mixes but I don't think yours calls for it, but honestly. 800hz is far too extreme., if you have too much low end buildup do a wide bell cut so you have far more control, wiping out the low end is not necessary, but turning it down will be.
It's very typical to set a low shelf filter at 220hz, hpf at 80hz (steep), just listen to your low end and pull down the low shelf filter until you get a balanced low end. Don't HPF at like 220hz to achieve the same ish result because those frequencies are important to a good rhythm guitar sound. As DMC said above, cuts at the typical 350hz and 800hz are normally needed. You should be listening to your high end while you do this though to make sure that you dont end up with a harsh guitar with no body. If your low end feels right but your high end occasionally gets harsh. leave it where it is then control the top end (4khz high shelf filter De-essing) to duck it in when it gets too much.
Making sub groups like I and others here mentioned should save you computer power, and might actually help you. Everything can be done in batches if that is the case. You get the most amount of control this way without destroying any balances that you've worked for.
Make up gain is important! Use it to bring the track back up to the same volume as when the compressor is bypassed. But autogain? Forget it! It always ends up making the track 3-4dbs louder than it should be, going from 1 plugin to the next at a consistent volume IS gainstaging, and you will never run into headroom problems if you follow it through, it isn't even something I think about anymore. Just apply your makeup gain on compressors, I use Autogain on my Fabfilter Pro Q2 because this is actually pretty accurate, otherwise I would be turning the output up or down on a standard EQ so there is no obvious level change from bypass to active. If you are using a compressor for colour like in my Logic Stock Compressors, I sometimes do turn up the makeup gain way higher to get some saturation, but there is a seperate output control, and I would use that to turn it down to where it was before.
If I wasn't going to gain back up on my first plugin on a track which is normally an EQ, my signal would be peaking at -6dbfs (for arguments sake) but after I cut away all of the crappy low end, proximity effect and maybe scoop it a bit, my signal would be peaking at around -18 possibly? meaning I have already messed up! (especially if I am close miking a bassy guitar)
Like I said in other post to you the other day, I find I get really nice results by compressing the low end a bit aswel, instead of just cutting the low end with EQ and risk having your low end right in some parts of the track but a little too thin in others, a multiband compressor or dynamic EQ really helps you here. There is a good reason why you see pro mixers all the time smashing the low end with heavy compression and even limiting with fastest attack times, as you get higher up the spectrum you take much more care with the attack. The low end makes or breaks a mix and needs to be controlled carefully. If the low end is wrong your trebly instruments will cause havoc. You'll never get a balanced mix, you will be battling with harsh sounds, the mix wont translate, your vocals will sound harsh on a laptop but buried on a hifi. etc.etc. It's a nightmare. And not intuitive either sometimes.
Your vocals don't sound too bad (buried yes, but bad no). It's the high end of the guitars that don't work. (electric distorted guitars) especially the solo one. Play the track, disable all plugins and ask yourself if you made it better than the original, or worse. if worse, start again. Shouldn't take you long to try something else out and probably get better results each time
I use a limiter pretty much everytime on the drum buss, but that would be after I have a good mix going with EQ and basic compression. It won't really help you, and some would argue that using a limiter at all is a trade off with making something sound a tiny bit worse to squeeze a tiny bit of volume. Very insignificant in your point of the mix because you are not at that point of finishing up yet.
If you are done writing your drums, bounce it down, it will save CPU, better yet. Bounce it down like a real drum kit, this is what I do when writing stuff in EZdrummer. Then you can really dig into the tracks and mix it like a real drum kit, add your parallel compression track, automate each drum to flow with the song. and above all, PHASE! Especially if you have layered in another kick.
edit: Oh and if your drums are clipping, open up EZdrummer and turn the master volume of that vsti down. Let it hit at around -10, or -12. one all of your other tracks are balanced to the drums your master will probably have over 5dbs of headroom. But bouncing it down to each track similar to what your in-built mixer in the EZdrummer plugin has is definitely the way to go. If you can be bothered how to work it out in your DAW, otherwise forget it for now. it's not completely necessary. I just like that extra control. for eg: I cut lots of 110 and 350hz from the kick, if I was to do that on the track then I would destroy the snare drum by doing that. Then if I wanted to boost the top end of the snare, Hello washy cymbals. Etc. I mix drums to sound artificial and less organic, I prefer that sound. Compress the drum room mic and low pass to take the cymbals out of it, then I high pass the OH's so I'm pretty much leaving only the HH's and cymbals in and essentially use the OH mic as a cymbal mic. I would just be pulling my hair out if I had to do that all inside EZdrummers in built mixer. And it would be too intense on the cpu, even though I'm sure my computer would handle it.
