What Instrument(s) Suffer The Most From Bright, Brickwalled Masters?

For me, it's drums. Heavy compression and limiting reduces their transients; cymbals being crushed sounds horrible. Overly bright EQ choices make them sound thin and harsh.

 

Drums have been maligned over the years. The gated snare of the eighties, yuck, but I spot a lot of compression or limiting that robs them of their natural dynamics. I also loathe the audible pumping sound when drums are sidechained badly with something else, although that bugbear isn't unique to drums, it's a general mixing technique flaw.

Guitar, I feel especially acoustic, is also treated too much, again to that flat, no-dynamics, lost transients feeling. Not always though, acoustic guitars have to be THE most recorded instrument.

I am super fussy about bass, in that, bad bass treatment is real hard to overlook.

Hell, I'll chalk it up further - I can spot when a mix is afraid of quietness, let alone silence. My Lee Mavers side goes wild when an instrument doesn't sound like it should (if it sacrifices musicality). Not every individual instrument needs to be loud.

 

Cymbals suffer

 

I'd have to agree that drums seem to suffer most. The impact of an accentuating 'smash' is muted if its level with everything else, but its the same with any instrument used by the artist to achieve a similar effect. A keyboard, a guitar. Whatever. If you look at classical music, it could be literally any instrument. But in rock or pop, yeah I'd say drums are most commonly affected by too much compression.

 

I feel like most modern masters affect the harmonic instruments most. You get smacking drums and fat bass that veils a lot of keyboard/guitar parts, and a vocal that's often too loud and cutting. So yeah, I feel like I'm hearing all drums, bass, and vocals and the chords and supporting parts get lost... Or at least walked all over.

 

I'm not sure if it's an EQ issue on lots of CDs, it could be down to compression. Compression obviously effect drums taking away their impact, I frequently hear distortion on lot of instruments, particularly in the higher frequencies and I'm not sure this down to EQ decisions.

 

My friend's son is a drummer, currently studying at college, he plays in a rock band and they've been recording an album. My friends also a musician and asked how compressed the album would be, his son didn't know what it was.

As he's probably the one who'd suffer most he brought him round and I played him a dynamic and compressed album, he went away a worried man!

 

Cymbals - have a listen to The John Entwistle Band's "Left For Live" to hear just how a disc shouldn't be mastered........

 

agreed on the drums. i know when mixing recorded music on a DAW like pro-tools or ableton when adding compression to any tracks it is the drums that change the most the quickest.

 

Whatever Rick Rubin did to Californication...love the drumming, dislike the 'whack-slam' recording technique...terrible snare sound...jeepers...what the heck happened?
Chad Smith is a great drummer, too. It wasn't his fault.

 

Agree with the comments on drums! Cymbals ,snare and all else in that order seem to get ........................................ruined? And every drummers reaction should be this upon listening to these compressed Re-masters then this

 

Cymbals for sure. Ouch.

 

I don't even understand what you'd treat cymbals with...

Surely the mix has been compromised already, and you're on some misguided salvage job?

OK, the lower end is surprisingly close to that of acoustic guitar, but basically - it's not called mixing because it stinks of one thing, which is pretty well defined on its own terms anyway.

It's like a good soup. There's a taste, a flavour, but you can still enjoy the individual ingredients without having to sacrifice flavour.

I'd ask you guys what cymbal abuse you've heard, but I'm not sure I'd hear it and benefit from it but hey feel free to depress me!

If you meet me at a party and brag about ****ing up hi-hats til they sound craaaazy maaan you're a square I'll walk off from.

Hey I've mixed drums put through various effects. I'm not a luddite, I travel hundreds of miles to see a rare Aphex Twin gig, I like stuff that is fuct up

But I'm of the school of thought where authenticity is king. Recognition.

Even in the most mashed up effect, you can still identify the instrument.

That's how music works, recognition.

That's how language works.

What else is music but a pure, international, human kind of communication?

 

Kick drum distortion. I can't even listen to tracks that have been mastered that way.

 

I think the worst example of cymbals suffering recently is on the Whitesnake 1987 30th anniversary remasters. Crushed and distorted. It's at its worst on 'Bad Boys'.

 

Now there's a mixing job I can ruin my weekend with. thanks! I'm always curious...

Kick drums are one of those instruments that need to be pure and more of a feeling...

... I'll seek crap distortion of these out too!

I think growing up worshipping Unknown Pleasures has solidified my mental drum sound forever. Not a complaint!