So, I think this version is finally pretty close to acceptable (for me). I actually went to a mixing engineer to help and educate me. The various changes included (among several other things):
- a high pass at 40Hz for the bass and kick
- a boost in levels for the bass and kick between 100Hz and 200Hz
- a low pass at 5KHz on the bass, and 10Khz on the kick
- low pass at 150Hz on the vocals (really cleared them up)
- a high pass on the whole mix at 35Hz, and a low pass at 17Khz; and a reduction of 5dB at 250Hz
There was some other stuff done, but the main things were to boost and round out the low end (mainly bass and kick) while, at the same time, getting rid of some of the sludge. And then tame some of the high end without losing too much clarity.
At this point I'd say there are two issues. One, the mid-highs might be a little too high in the mix. Two, there's not great separation between the guitars and vocals in the mid-high range (they're fighting with each other a bit). But I'm not sure if I really care a whole lot about either of these. I'm just glad it sounds meaningfully better than the last version, which was borderline ok. This is almost acceptable to my ears:
- a high pass at 40Hz for the bass and kick
- a boost in levels for the bass and kick between 100Hz and 200Hz
- a low pass at 5KHz on the bass, and 10Khz on the kick
- low pass at 150Hz on the vocals (really cleared them up)
- a high pass on the whole mix at 35Hz, and a low pass at 17Khz; and a reduction of 5dB at 250Hz
There was some other stuff done, but the main things were to boost and round out the low end (mainly bass and kick) while, at the same time, getting rid of some of the sludge. And then tame some of the high end without losing too much clarity.
At this point I'd say there are two issues. One, the mid-highs might be a little too high in the mix. Two, there's not great separation between the guitars and vocals in the mid-high range (they're fighting with each other a bit). But I'm not sure if I really care a whole lot about either of these. I'm just glad it sounds meaningfully better than the last version, which was borderline ok. This is almost acceptable to my ears: