spamatica wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:27 pm
Rainmak3r wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:07 am
No, no compressors there: I really didn't process drums at all here, just the louder reverb. I didn't apply volume automation either, so I guess it could have been some normalization done by Ardour?
The process of mastering usually includes normalization but also a multiband compressor and limiter, to "glue it together". Especially in metal I find it is a big part of the mixing process. You can push the mix harder and make it sound more heavy (and angry) with a mastering step.
But it is of course partially a taste issue and what "sound" you are aiming for. Can't say I have listened to any of the bands you mentioned.
I know I have a tendency to over-compress in my pursuit of getting as much energy as possible... I like energy
I never tried working on the master itself, only on the individual tracks. It may be worth spending some time on that too, if it makes everything more dynamic and energetic.
spamatica wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:27 pm
Rainmak3r wrote: ↑Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:07 am
I wonder if guitars sounding thin may be a phasing effect? Do you get that when listening via headphones as well, rather than speakers? Guitars seemed a bit weaker when playing the song through my phone, for instance, while they're mostly fine via the laptop speakers, and good in headphones.
I listened on headphones now and it sounds similar. I think it must be just my taste
Basically I prefer the guitars and drums mixed in a rather modern fashion. Guitars loud and detuned and the drums a little lower.
I must admit I'm not a fan of how modern metal sounds: most of the times they sound really heavy but also, to me, quite flat and way too homogeneous, if not muddy and very hard to control. It's probably because I grew up listening to classic metal from the 80s and 90s, when guitars could be heavy but alo expressive, so that's my reference: make it too modern, and it reminds me of nu metal, which I hate
It's very likely also why I struggled so much to get a tone I kinda liked for "Frozen Ground" and "Fragments", I guess, since any search I'd make would lead me to videos like
this, where people seem really happy with a tone that really doesn't say anything to me. The pain of being the only metal guy in the world who doesn't like Djent in a Djent-like world