Am I doing something wrong?

[anemicrock]

Okay let me explain this as best I can.

I have posted this in the mastering forum as I would like to get some pro advise if I'm doing things wrong in my mixes.

Okay, I have been playing around with my mixes in Pro Tools by trying to get my mixes nice and loud and still keeping as much dynamics as I can and of course no clipping.

I have been practicing on a Paramore cover I did for reasons just to compare quality etc and my mix it seems is just as loud and almost as dynamic as the original. At least I think. lol

Basically all my tracks are at a reasonable level and the loudest individual tracks, kick/snare peak at around -3db. Any plugins I use I make sure peak at -6db at the loudest!

All tracks get routed to my mixbus where the ONLY plugin I use is Ac1
All I'm using it for is -1db gain reduction. Very similar to the way Charles Dye uses it but I roll of the comp a bit so it doesn't sound to squashy. I turn up the input a notch to 2.0 to give it a bit of drive and that's it.

No limiter,No Eq. I try to get my tracks sounding as best they can before it goes through the mix bus.

So back to my point and question. Does this sound wrong to anybody? I mean when I compare my mix to the original it sounds just as loud and pretty much holds the same dynamics. If I import the waves into pro tools and get a good look at them they both look very similar. Mine doesn't look slammed or anything.

Now when I ask this last question I mean absolutely no disrespect so please excuse my ignorance. I'm still learning.

If this is not a problem doing things this way what would a mastering engineer actually do to this mix? I mean it's loud and has dynamics etc.
Would i be told to turn it down etc?

Help a brotha out.

[MASSIVE Master]

what would a mastering engineer actually do to this mix? I mean it's loud and has dynamics etc.

"Mastering" ≠ "making it loud"

Just because it happens during the mastering phase doesn't mean that it's the purpose of the mastering phase.

Personally? I think you're mixing too hot. WAAAAAAYYYYY too hot. Kicks peaking at -3dBFS?

That's just me - I'm a (I can't believe I can't say a term that would indicate "selling myself" and rhymes with "door" on a site called GearSLUTZ) for headroom. Hopefully you're not tracking that hot...

[anemicrock]

I get what your saying. Thanks for the advise.

I have attached a short clip of my mix and the original to compare. Hopefully you can tell me if it is indeed way too hot!

Sounds pretty good to me though. Almost there.

P.S I understand that mastering does not just amount to making it loud. I'm ignorant but not that much. lol
I understand it's for the purpose of many things, loud,overall level of each tracks,eq,comp,time length between each song and such.

I was just getting to the point of making it loud and should have been more clear what I was asking about. I apologize.

[bachconnelly]

I'm more curious how you got the exact vocal take from the album..it also sounds like the snare as well.. hmmm.. how much of this did you retrack? The snare sounds has a very similar timbre as well..


D-

[anemicrock]

I had this posted up before under the showcase thread but I just messed with it bit since then for the whole loudness thing.

The vocals are form a mogg file that's for Guitar hero. As well as the backing vocals and synth keys.

The snare is not copied even though it sounds very close. I have been trying to recreate that sound now for months. It's a sample but not Bens. It's from my snare that I layered and processed the crap out of to get that sound.

I guess that's a compliment as I love his snare sound.

Anyway, would be nice to get some advise on if the mix sounds too crushed or not.

Thanks.