Comparing waveforms, My recording Vs. top producer

It's pathetic, certainly. He may or may not actually believe he was doing evil, but would have probably done it anyway for a number of totally stupid reasons.

Depending on how you mix and master the song you are recording for them... yours might even sound better than the "big time" guy if you were to keep the dynamics in the music and let it breathe a bit....... wouldn't that be a nice compliment?

ChuckC


Yeah it would, but this is a metal band and historically (well actually in more recent history...) they are ALL compressed to hell & back.  It's the in yer face sound I guess.
 
 I was working on it some more for a bit last night and made some headway, still have tweaking to go though I am trying to talk the band in to letting me have Danny D. Deal with mastering & level matching my work to this guys crushed production...  I have actually resaved the project under a different name now "Band-Songtitle-Crushed"  because that is what I am having to do to it.

 Ya know one side effect I have found is that if you are stepping on the mix like this, you mix skills (or in some cases a lack there-of) are less evident.  Everything is now up front!  Ya know that imaginary stage in yer head you use to mix on??   All of the band members are now standing up there where they would take a bow at the end of the show, only the MUSIC IS STILL PLAYING!!!  and it's LOUD AS HELL  haha   

Hahaha! It's funny though Chuck...some of this stuff literally sounds good being crushed. Could you imagine Godsmack or a band like Periphery not being crushed? Here's how I look at things bro...and maybe this will put your mind at ease.
 
We have recording technologies from back in the day that simply don't accentuate *some* of this stuff TODAY. I'm not saying it's an excuse to ruin music...but for the times, some of this stuff doesn't need to be dynamic. I know....I can't believe I'm saying that, but it's true in a sense for SOME bands. They want to be loud, proud, aggressive and rip the flesh off peoples bones. The crushing can also hide mistakes because let's face it, if you solo'd some of these bands up or make the recording cleaner, people might just get a clue as to how much help they really do need, ya know?
 
The other side of the coin....most classic rock guys or the older crowd may not listen to or appreciate the new stuff anyway...so you sometimes have to watch how much you take in from others. Listening to a guy that loves The Doors ain't gonna help you much with what YOU are working with. That's not a bash on any of the older folks or classic rock lovers here that have posted or may be reading, honest. It's just that you would want to be careful taking advice from someone that sings like Freddie Mercury when you are looking to sound like Manson or Soilwork. Way different styles regardless of which may be better to people.
 
This is a totally different style of music. I'm on the train where nothing needs to be crushed like what we hear today...but some of it actually benefits from it as much as it pains me to say that. There's nothing worse than a band that isn't very good sounding clear as a bell to where I can hear the mistakes. LOL! I'd rather dirty them up and crush em up with compression and limiting if it hides their mistakes...especially if it makes them happy. Although, I seriously try to stay away from that.
 
There is "loud and acceptable" and then there's "loud and obnoxious that sounds like crap". I had a guy beg me to master him as loud as Metallica....I declined for two reasons.
 
1. I have no interest in those jobs. Oh joy...what fun. LOL!
 
2. I just will not participate in anything that loud and ruined and have my name on it. We all want to make money, but I'm not gonna do that for the sake of a paycheck. There are plenty of guys out there that would love to fly a blinking sign on their wall stating "loudest engineer alive"....I'm just not one of them. LOL! :)
 
-Danny

True, there is much more to dynamics than volume alone, and you can mitigate the limitations of ubercompression by accentuating those other dynamic elements. But why on earth would you toss out the hammer from your toolbox and make up for its absence with a great collection of screwdrivers?

All you have to do is listen to some punchy pre-volume-war material. Listen to it loud. Really loud if that's what you like. Crank up some Rare Earth and see if you can keep your toes still.

Hey Chuck.... another option you might want to ask about..... all they can do is say NO....  

See if you can get the un-mastered master tracks all mixed and everything....and then do your mastering on ALL of them..... perhaps that would give continuity to the sound and like I said, it might sound better not being so crushed up....... then let them choose.