Oh right, right. Yeah, that's a conscious decision to try to make really concise songs. One day I'm going to get into trying stuff like much longer intros or much longer outros, or even extended solos if possible.

Really like how the guitar worked out on the tele. Love the song too.

Just a quick note on the rcr preset---I was going strictly for the bass crunch response lower string rhythm sound. For a lead, I would have lowered the 5k icepick, filled in the midrange and cut some bass and treble out depending on context and stuff. I usually do an A rhythm and a B lead like on the "Dear Mr. Scuffham" (ie, the Dear Mr Fantasy sound) preset you can find with a quick search. This one is based off that but flavored slightly different, being not much good for anything higher than the D string. Not an all-rounder at all, but chugs nicely with the tens close miked just off the caps to make up for what gets lost from going from 12s to 10s. Have not checked out your preset yet but will soon now that I'm back home.

Oof, I really dislike the metal scooped mids. The model for the earlier mid scoop sound i was aiming for is exile-era Stones, which was mostly done on Ampegs (vt40 with 4 10s and an open back) that have a totally different tone stack the fender/Marshall passives. It was baxandall bass and treble, which boosts the mids when the bass and treble are backed off and vice versa, with a separate tube stage for the semi-parametric 3-way rocker switch that set the frequency of the mids at about 200-800-1.2k. Super versatile amp but can sound horrible if you try to dial it in like a fender/marshall tonestack. The nearest thing to it was the 5band on the Mesa Boogie mark IV played without digging in to Santana territory on the Boogie--just barely breaking into overdrive, touch (and volume pot) responsive. gainier than that and it loses all impact and mushes up completely.

" I'm not really down with subscription stuff. "

Totally agree, I generally hate subs. the one exception is the plugin alliance stuff. You get a ton, and if you go yearly, you get a coupon to spend the subscription price on buying the ones you like permanently, and the have qurterly sales where most of the prices get cut way down, so the $250 can go a long way if you wait for the sale. THen you would just quit once you have the ones you want to own. Oops, actually they just changed the dollars coupon to gettingX number of plugins owned per year, which makes the sales moot. I'm in my second year and own all the ones I thought I wanted -- they have some great amp emulations -- but the clever b@47rds keep adding new and exceptional plugins to the catalogue. Anyway, it is the only sub plan I ever thought works. Ooops, except I forgot, I sub to Airwindows on Chris's Patreon, cuz his stuff is amazing for the most part.

Lol, sorry for what looks like semi random comments....each was a response to a particular post but I missed the quote button and thought the quick reply was going to do that. Anyway, I have really learned a bunch from this thread too! BTW a great video on how to hear compression is here:

All of the youtube videos by Gregory Scott (Kush) are worth a look. He gets into philosophy, feel, vibe of mixing. I've learned a lot from his info. And his plugins are superb. Clariphonic is one of my faves for icing on guitar tracks.

rcrath wrote:

" I'm not really down with subscription stuff. "

Totally agree, I generally hate subs. the one exception is the plugin alliance stuff. You get a ton, and if you go yearly, you get a coupon to spend the subscription price on buying the ones you like permanently, and the have qurterly sales where most of the prices get cut way down, so the $250 can go a long way if you wait for the sale. THen you would just quit once you have the ones you want to own. Oops, actually they just changed the dollars coupon to gettingX number of plugins owned per year, which makes the sales moot. I'm in my second year and own all the ones I thought I wanted -- they have some great amp emulations -- but the clever b@47rds keep adding new and exceptional plugins to the catalogue. Anyway, it is the only sub plan I ever thought works. Ooops, except I forgot, I sub to Airwindows on Chris's Patreon, cuz his stuff is amazing for the most part.

Yeah I picked up Metric A/B at Plugin Alliance when it was on sale for $24 a couple of months ago. Pretty handy plugin for referencing.

Metric A/B is excellent; I never finish a mix without using it to compare to some reference tracks. The ability to choose between the references and get instant level matching is excellent! Get it when its on sale...

The only thing I struggle with is thinking of a song to reference! But I'm getting better at it.

I'm coming to this thread late, but thought your "Building a Fire" mix sounded good. The guitar tone is more than fine. My main complaint with the mix had more to do with "depth." Everything sounded right up front. A great mix should have some elements up front and some pushed back. It sounded a bit crowded for that reason, in my opinion.

Maybe everything's a bit too dry? Or maybe some elements need some frequency roll-off to make them sound further back? I don't claim to be an expert in this genre, so I couldn't tell you exactly which elements should be situated where in the sound field.