I’ve put together a 55mins continuous mix of largely soul / funk music and I want to release a digital download and a cassette tape

The mix is done and I’ve not applied any master buss fx at this stage

The tape company will likely use cheap tapes so type 1 I guess

Keen to avoid distortion

Will likely put some sketch cassstte across the digital release

I’d rather master it myself for cost reasons. Would appreciate any tips on what sort of mastering works best for a cassette release eg: loudness, eq etc. Thanks.

Hello everyone, trying to get a mix to the finish line and I’ve brought in several reference tracks. It’s got a lil bit of a 80’s dance vibe with big guitars in the hook.

I’ve brought in several reference tracks: Get Lucky, Foster the People, Arcade Fire, and Queens of the Stone Age for the guitars etc. they’ve been volume matched.

The issue here is my kick and bass are generally either a little quieter or louder than the references so I assume they’re okay. But my midrange is consistently too loud and harsh.

I’ve got 6 guitar tracks playing either the same riff or an octave up. I’ve gone in and tried to clean up the offending frequencies/lowering the volume. Then I’ll go back to my limiter and adjust so I’m hitting around the same decibels as before. The limiter just ends up undoing any EQ volume changes and my midrange is still too much.

Literally chasing my tail here while I consistently make my mix quieter and quieter with no real tonal changes being made.

Advice please!