Hi Colleagues!
Please help me to understand why the corporate track was rejected.
Reviewer advised me to ask here. Many thanks!
Hi, the master sounds too compressed (flat and distorted) and lack low frequencies. It sounds metallic and noisy/grainy (too much mid around 2000-3000 hz and a lot of instruments lack low end (some percussion sound very thin and grainy). I always start by eq low instruments first (it’s easy to cut too much low end on everything if you are balancing everything with a bass and a kick lacking bass and sub). Start by putting your bass line an octave lower with enough sub. Add a bit more sub to the kick too (don’t sound enough powerful). It would warm up the track. Maybe your speakers lack hi and have too much sub/bass? Do you used a mix reference to compare? A frequency analyzer could help too (try SPAN Plus) and compare your mix with the mix reference. Your instruments need each a place to peak more than the others. The guitar could sit in the low mid, the piano around 500-1500 hz, your vibes/glock around 2000 hz. Don’t overdo this. Add more reverb and maybe a delay on the guitar could be interesting.
You could use saturation, compression, limiting (in that order) on each of your tracks, if needed, to control the dynamics (compression) and make them sound more dense and loud (saturation). Add a bit of limiting (1 db) to limit the loudest peaks.
At the end, at the mastering stage, try not to limit your peaks more than 3-4 dbs. More than that and it would start to sound too flat, harsh and distorted. You need a good crest factor (a well dynamics controlled/dense mix) before to go brickwall limiting the mix at the mastering stage.
I hope it helps! 
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Thank you very much for good detailed answer! I used fabfilter pro-Q 2 instead SPAN. Maybe it was a mistake. Yes, I use references, but I can not always achieve the same sound and loudness. Apparently this was the cause too much compressed. Yes, I use saturators but not sure I am doing it right. I’ll just keep learning!
Thanks for the tips!!!
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Good day! Maybe it’s easier! Perhaps something like this already a lot, and just want to motivate you to further work and the search for perfection…
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