Mix in studio sounds good, but in car test, not so good

Hello,

Been through mastering tut etc. and have come a long way. Many suggest to bounce to CD and check in car, which I did. Lost a lot. Added one notch of treble and down one on the bass and it helped.

I'm using UAD tools for the most part. Do you think it is possible and logical to push down the bass a bit with the multiband and also raise the higher band to fix? It's almost as if the whole thing was smashed down...couldn't hear the intricate parts like I can in my studio.

Shared a bounced 24 bit file with a team putting together a U tube video for me and they say it sounds good on their system. It's almost as if good speakers sound good and the alternatives do not....

Also, using the UAD precision limiter, I didn't get the flattened waveform I expected...does that indicate I need to push loundness even more on the plug?

Suggestions...thoughts....

Thanks,

Bob

Hey Bob,

It is interesting how different speakers simply behave differently to each other! I'd also suggest you test your mixes using Apple's iPod/iPhone headphones - this is still one of the most common ways for many music lovers to listen to music...

YouTube adds further compression which isn't great for the audio either - but it sounds a lot better at 480p and above.

Question: Why do you wish to get a flat waveform? If you do so then you might be over-compressing/limiting the song and risk obliterating any dynamic range in the tune. True, most radio tracks are mastered this way - and while it does make them stand out and grab you by the ears, they also lead to ear fatigue.

Oh, the good old loudness wars... Just my $0.02 :)

EQ after Compression because it's been so smashed that now, it is easy to EQ, Exciter, Reverb... Thats what I heard on a tutorial, I tried the Exciter/Reverb on the out 1-2 which worked great, I still have to try out the EQ after Compressor part... lol my two pennies.