Is this rock mix harsh?

T

TSOTS

Member
Hi everyone,
We have been mixing this song over and over for the past few months as we cannot seem to get it right. At louder levels it seems to be very harsh. We don’t have any boosting on the master and generally subtle eq moves in the high end. Maybe my ears are overly sensitive but I can’t help but think it sounds harsh in the high mids. I’d say that the instruments contributing are they vocals and cymbals. I’m worried the tracks were recorded with too high gain. Let me know if you agree or disagree and any advice you have so we can get this finished and move on.

Thanks so much

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/d1Hf5iSqPLEEgyk56
 
Great song!
The mix doesn't sound overly harsh to my ears. It could be smoother but it isn't bad now. Just remember 2 things that cause harshness:
Too much compression and too much 2k frequency.
So, if you compress a vocal or guitar heavily you are going to probably have to cut the frequencies in the 2k range to compensate.
Bottomline is that harshness comes frome the 1k to 3k eq range. So, that is where to cut if you want to smooth out harshness.

Great work on this!
 
jimistone said:
Great song!
The mix doesn't sound overly harsh to my ears. It could be smoother but it isn't bad now. Just remember 2 things that cause harshness:
Too much compression and too much 2k frequency.
So, if you compress a vocal or guitar heavily you are going to probably have to cut the frequencies in the 2k range to compensate.
Bottomline is that harshness comes frome the 1k to 3k eq range. So, that is where to cut if you want to smooth out harshness.

Great work on this!
Click to expand...
Hey! Thanks for listening. Glad it didn’t pierce your eardrums lol. Any suggestions to adding some smoothing? Saturation? As far as compression, we have a good deal of that throughout the mix though not crushing things too much. Only a few dB worth on certain instruments. Anyway, we really you taking the time tom listen and comment!
 
I love this song , it sounded a little bright but im the last person to take advice from as far as mixing goes..

I did find myself wishing the second verse was doubled(longer) and I was waiting for that keyboard interlude part to part of the outtro.

great job!
 
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