i'm just trying to find a happy place with my monitors. i went from one extreme to another unfortunately. i did a quick mix and didn't reference a cd, so the mix is what it is....warts and all.

i didn't add in the mastering compressor to the second one because it was pumping too much on the first mix. i added about 5db of high end fizz to my main guitars after because they sounded so dark....i went too far.

oh well, that was only quick mix 2.....more to come as i figure out how to deal with my monitors.

thanks for the feedback guys.

i just edited my post and changed it up to have the newest mix first just to see how it effects everyone's ear. when i listen to the new mix first, the original one seems too fat.

In the updated post, I prefer the 'after.' On my cheap little speakers, I can hear the reverb on the snare better in that mix.

It brings up another interesting question when recording - do you mix/master with the realization most are going to listen on average to less than average equipment, or do you do it hoping your listeners will listen on better gear?

Like that article on the Yamaha NS10's, I've heard of many engineers and producers doing similar. I believe it was Quincy Jones back in the 80's who would dub cassettes and play them in jam boxes and car stereos, since that's how most listeners would hear it.

This happens to me at work every night, the same machine punches and blows air to clear itself and sometimes it seems like super loud like I wasn't expecting it or something even though it does it all night long. I want to say that it's because there's another noise further away I'm honing in on and then I come back.

When I took audio classes, one time we to sit outside with our eyes closed and listened and everyone had to recall what they heard. I heard trucks and low rumbling things. Everyone else heard footsteps, doors opening, a cigarette being lit, etc. I was a truck driver for a few years and naturally hear engines and things over everything else.

You're used to listening to tones, but also noises and things too but may selectively listen and ignore things that are there because that's just the nature of digital sound.

Anyway, I know it's more complex than that as you may not have had the frequencies as accurate with monitors before or something. That's good, I usually listen back on mixes I did in monitors and hear all the noises I couldn't catch and really ruined my faith in monitors. I did however find I could play better with minimal reverbs and things because you can hear that better.

Just listening in Sol Republic "Master Tracks" headphones, and the "before" guitars sound like the Circus Maximus sounds I listen to a lot in these, the after is missing something in the lows or something. The after is airy, but sounds like the noise you were referring to. I thought maybe you mislabeled them, but you were going for the drum sounds but the whole thing is different. So I listened again and the drums are better in the after, yeah. There was a boxy frequency going on or something, but the guitars were nice & thick too so put that back lol They guitars are really sounding great, I'm hoping to get those kind of sounds myself with a similar setup.

yeah, i thinned out the whole mix....including the guitars. i was listening to some cd's right after i did some eqing and it sounded like the guitars were thinner, so i had that in the back of my mind when i finally redid my mix. granted, i didn't spend much time on the remix, but i really should have referenced a cd again.

i'll do a better remix when i get home later. thanks for the feedback guys.

Just curious, since you are comparing your tracks to CD tracks that also have the benefit of being mastered, do you ever put mastering plug-ins in your main bus to simulate a mastering job?

yes, i normally do add izotope ozone to the finished mix and go through the time it takes to set it up correctly. in this case....epic fail!

i will at least put a multiband compressor on the next on.

one thing that i find true is that if my initial mix is right then adding mastering tools only ices the cake. when the mix is off then mastering becomes a chore.

my 3rd try at a quick mix after eqing my reference monitors. i feel a little better about this one.

https://soundcloud.com/singtall/fall-away-test-mix-3

my fourth try at a quick mix. i took all 3 of the master plugins off the 3rd mix and inserted Izotope Ozone instead. i used a 4 band preset with very little tweaking.

https://soundcloud.com/singtall/fall-away-test-mix-4-ozone