api master eq/compression

[paulwalshmusic]

I have just tried using waves api eq and compression on a mix. The eq changes the mix dramatically using one of the two mastering presets. My feeling is that it makes the sound more aurally exciting boosting some bass frequencies giving the bass guitar a prominent sound, but mostly boosting high mid/high freq adding sparkle.
I suppose my question is would this cause ear fatigue and while sounding more exciting initally would it become wearing after a while?
Up to now I had never even considered using eq across a mix, because I had felt that the whole point was reproduce the sound of the instruments as played and to eq individually to make them fit together without competing for frequency bandwidth.
Have uploaded one mix without api eq/compression and one with.
both have waves L3 multilimiter
Would appreciate any thoughts on which sound best, I feel I am at a crossroads here.

[rockerdude]

I would say the first one sounded the best to me on my system.I love this tune!Makes me want to sit by the pool and sip a cool drink.I used ozone 3 and got simmilar results to your second one.Other than the rustling papers the first one sounds good to me just tighten up the double tracked vox.Nice!

[TonyB]

I'm currently listening on earbuds. The first one sounds more balanced to me.
Vocals are crisp and clear; yeah, the guitars are as prominent and "sparkly" but I don't think they need to be in this song.

In the second one, it seems the instruments are fighting the vocals. I also hear more pops and clicks; and the paper rattling is more prevalent.

That's my 2 cents on an earbud.

[paulwalshmusic]

Thanks for listening and replying Tony B and Rockerdude, very helpful and much appreciated. I was coming round to prefering the one without api eq, it seemed to grab my ears attention more but yes i agree it makes it sound busier and definitely increases the unwanted background noise. I feel there is a temptation to want to find 'the missing plug in' to get that best sounding mix. But I can lose sight of the step by step process of paying attention to detail of the basics and trying to make the sources sound 'good' rather than looking for a magic mastering plugin.
Cheers for the compliment rockerdude, sitting by a pool with a cool drink is where I want to be too!

[SonicBlade]

I guess this is why presets are not to be trusted. but your ears are. there is way too much on #2. Maybe just a teeny tiny bit on #1 would be the ticket. just to compress it a little bit. but if you are asking, 1 vs 2 - it's ways better to go with #1, just as you said - for ear fatigue factore.

[mindundermatter]

Well I beg to differ! I like #2 better. Some things I noticed: the bass is 'rounder' (no, I'm not going to say the forbidden word), the acoustic is 'brighter' and stands out more (especially the 'chucka chucka'), the paddy electric guitar seems to really sing more. I didn't feel like the instruments were fighting the vocals at all. Then again, I may have just fallen victim to the 'louder is better' cliche because I just noticed that #2 is louder than #1.

[paulwalshmusic]

Thanks for your comments MUM and Sonic, have been trying this again. It seems that the multi bandlimiter I was using, greatly increases the high eq on the api eq preset, which as has been noted, increases unwanted high freq noises.
Changing limiter/settings cooled things down quite a bit.

My first thoughts on the A/B comparison were exactly the same as yours MUM, I have tried to get rid of the paper rustling by turning levels up and down which has helped.
I still am not sure about this aural excitement versus ear fatigue business.

BTW MUM what is a 'paddy electric guitar?'

[mindundermatter]

Originally Posted by paulwalshmusic

BTW MUM what is a 'paddy electric guitar?'

The one that's just holding out the chords. A 'pad' is like when a keyboard just sustains the chords; in this case it was an electric guitar.