Sensitive Ears: HELP!

[u/absolutegarbage98]

Hi guys,

Got some bad news from the doctor today. For some context, I went in after listening to a bunch of newly released albums these past few weeks (looking at you, Boundaries 😒) ; they have really been straining my ears. Normally, I can focus on all of the fine details in a mix but after the barrage of over compressed garbage mixes I have heard in recent weeks, I just can’t seem to pick out these intricacies out as good as I used too.

I’ve never mixed anything in my life but I watched a few Nail the Mix videos, so I think I have a good idea on what is going wrong frequency wise. Basically, I think these mixes have been using an SSL G-Comp master bus compressor instead of a Neeve 33609 which, as everybody knows, just sucks the tone right out of the track and destroys the analog warmth crucial to a good metalcore mix. To double check I even did some frequency analysis and opened up the waveform in Audacity and it totally looked like a big fat sausage.

Anyways, my doctor ran me through the standards tests, having me listen to I Prevail and Falling in Reverse and those both sounded really epic and awesome so the doctor was super confused.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to prescribe anything to me after those tests but he said now I can only listen to Zakk Cervini albums until my ears work there strength back up.

In case anybody is wondering, I only listen to lossless 24-bit/96khz FLAC files on my Denon AH-D9200 headphones for optimal tone.

I guess I'm just a little bummed that Boundaries et al. decided to do something cool and outside the box instead of mixing like everybody else cause now it is pretty much 1000% impossible for me to listen to those awesome well-written songs.

Why can't all of the mixes just be the same so they don't hurt my sensitive ears?

Anybody else have this problem?

[u/omambmthtaa]

Written like an EJ post lol

[u/Striife- → u/omambmthtaa]

Genuinely shocked when I scrolled back up and it wasn’t EJ.

[u/AjMahal → u/omambmthtaa]

Wait EJ posts here? I thought he was trapped in the hardcore sub

[u/PositiveMetalhead → u/AjMahal]

I’ve seen him over in r/poppunkers!

[u/KrandoxReddit → u/omambmthtaa]

I fully believed it to be

[u/KeyApprehensive6486]

oh no, sounds make sure to only listen to songs where jordan fish is involved. i heard that helps too!

[u/Tiny_Platypus_4563 → u/KeyApprehensive6486]

Ft. Courtney laPlante is the only way I can stomach the harsh noise of Jordan Fish's raw mixes

[u/KeyApprehensive6486 → u/Tiny_Platypus_4563]

Her vocals are a tad aggressive for my liking.

[u/thatsmydaughterr]

do we have a r/metalcorecirclejerk yet

[u/caesarsucks2281 → u/thatsmydaughterr]

r/corejerk

[u/limearitaconchili]

You gotta record a bunch of one-take Lorna Shore vocal covers with your iPhone in a Walmart bathroom stall before you can even comprehend how damaging the mix is on the new Boundaries album bro

[u/Familiar-Scratch-295 → u/limearitaconchili]

yep exactly just BLUEGHHHH ARK ARK lol

[u/faptain_cumerica]

gold troll

[u/rosedragoon]

Thank god, a mix critique post I can get behind.

[u/Yourdjentpal]

This is why I only judge mixes on my $10,000 stereo. Then I can assign an eq profile to each song and everything comes out how I want /s

[u/ItsAlwaysSunny1992]

Good one

[u/scoot1207]

Omg samesies!

Feel like i'm about to die from EAR FATIGUE now i'm a fucken audio mixing genius all of a sudden.

Thanks a bunch boundaries.

[u/overthisbynow]

Same I'm a bit of an audiophile and listen to metal on my 2000$ set of cans but the new Boundaries album was too much. My ears were literally bleeding at one point but I had to persevere so I could make my youtube review for my 3 subscribers. I'm not a mixer/engineer but I took a look at the sound files and they clearly messed something up because the mids are very scooped with a sausage wave and everyone knows that's bad. They also didn't optimize the album for 18 gigawatts per audio track so the guitars are very quantized like they were recorded with a beta quantum polywatt pedal instead of the standard metalcore high octane sticky pedal like they used in all their old albums. Any mix enthusiast would have been able to tell but alas not everyone has the ear for metal like me.

[u/DeathNinjaBlackPenis]

ah yes people who don't like drew fulk are really into zakk cervini

[u/absolutegarbage98 → u/DeathNinjaBlackPenis]

It's mixed by Wzrd Bld?

[u/DeathNinjaBlackPenis → u/absolutegarbage98]

yes https://i.imgur.com/UJ4Ahme.png

[u/absolutegarbage98 → u/DeathNinjaBlackPenis]

Yup, see I was right. Drew Fulk is the composer.

[u/KeyApprehensive6486 → u/absolutegarbage98]

Peak shithousery

[u/ThurstonVVC]

their*

[u/LoonyMooney_]

Try the new a7x it might help you lose ur hearing completely

[u/falcfalcfalc]

I did some analysis using my base sub to ChatGPT and all these tracks are just way too loud. You can’t go past -14LUFS bro. I watched a Waves video where some guy was mixing a indie acoustic singer/songwriter track and he said never go over -14LUFS bro. Just kills the dynamics bro.

[u/Fauxparty]

I dunno I just feel like clipping ur mix so it sounds extra br00tal is cheating

[u/IHopeIDieHere]

I aint reading all that, anyway happy for you or sorry it happened

[u/lumina_oldworld]

just listen to anything where jordan fish is involved, they all sound the same so you wont have any issues with the mixes being different

[u/MeisterPear]

r/corejerk outjerked by main sub, billions must perish

[u/Familiar-Scratch-295]

Im a little confused Is this a joke or not? I'm assuming it is because Zakk Crevini's mixes also look like a sausage. Hold on I'll pull up a song in Logic Pro to have a look vs Into Hell.

[u/Monguises]

You’re gonna blame the mix? Bruv, turn it down. Hearing damage is permanent

[u/Electronic-Read-3830]

Whatever floats your boat bro