Can anyone school me

[Quad]

on mixing tracks on acid pro 6.0, mastering is something i want to be able to do, ive messed with the graphic eq, track eq, but i feel like im destroying the drums and such, i know pick up a book, but ive spent alot of time with this and enough time reading and im still lost, im not going for huge loud, im going for up to par, something i can pop in my car stereo and feel it without having to crank it to high.

Note: I dont want to participate in the loudness war, something i feel id mention cause i agree that the sonic age is cute, but is seemingly sucking life out of the instruments.

[Riccardo]

It takes time and much more than just a book.

Mastering the tracks you have mixed is not easy and defies one of the scopes of the mastering process.
Understand the process first, then if you "have" to do it yourself you will need a "time" between finishing the mixing process and starting the mastering (i.e. weeks)

Trial and error, listening, asking yourself questions, understanding, again trial and error, and so on.........................

There is no easy way and no shortcut.

[beachhunt]

Originally Posted by Quad

on mixing tracks on acid pro 6.0, mastering is something i want to be able to do, ive messed with the graphic eq, track eq, but i feel like im destroying the drums and such, i know pick up a book, but ive spent alot of time with this and enough time reading and im still lost, im not going for huge loud, im going for up to par, something i can pop in my car stereo and feel it without having to crank it to high.

Note: I dont want to participate in the loudness war, something i feel id mention cause i agree that the sonic age is cute, but is seemingly sucking life out of the instruments.

Riccardo's points are excellent. Mastering is difficult for the same ears in the same room listening to the same speakers that a song was tracked/mixed on. Any overcompensation done for room inaccuracies (for example, if the bass gathers at the listening position, you'll mix too little bass into the song so that it sounds "right") may occur again.

If you are happy with the sound of your mixes and just want to pick up the volume a little, hit a fast single-band compressor for a few dB. Most home recordings and home mixes tend to be bassy/boomy, so you might want a gentle downward bass shelf before the compressor (or use a compressor with sidechain if that's an option) so that the bass doesn't skew the way the compressor is being pushed.

Obviously there's no recipe that can cook every mix without being fined tuned for what the mix actually needs, but if you keep reading and keep trying, eventually you'll learn what works and what doesn't.

Good luck!