Mango, I don’t like pineapple much at all, but Dragonfruit sounds all right as well. Mango sounds the most balanced, lets the vox shine through the best. It’s the one where the gear gets out of the way and the song is just presented. My two cents, though I’m probably wrong.
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I’m going to reply more comprehensively when I get a chance, but I just wanted to pop back and say: Fantastic feedback so far, guys and gals - this is really helpful to me - much appreciated!
Pineapple: here
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Hey everyone - I’m just about ready to reveal what’s going on here - any more votes as to which file you prefer?
I’m digging Mango, personally
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THE REVEAL!
Okay folks, seems like we have a definite winner:
Mango with 60% of the vote
20% gave undecided
Pineapple and Dragonfruit got 10% each
Results
This is actually a mastering test. All the files are mastered from the same source mix file.After spending so much time on the mixes of my album songs, and mixing the songs over a long period of time, I want to give them a cohesive sound that translates as well as possible. My objectivity only stretches so far, and I’m realistic enough to know that, while my mix conditions and monitoring work reasonably well, there are still some sonic 'blind spots"…
…so I’ve been thinking about getting my album mastered, but after hearing many horror stories of mastering cowboys butchering hard won mixes, I’m pretty reluctant to jump in feet first. I recently came across an ME who offers a free sample master, which includes a “slammed/hyped” version and a more open, less compressed version…
So here are is the reveal of the blind test:
Pineapple: Slammed/Hyped/Compressed sample master from mastering engineer.
Dragonfruit: My original "Faux Master"
Mango: The more “open” less compressed sample master from the mastering engineer.
Thanks for all your replies and comments - they were very helpful - much appreciated!
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You could always go for gold (or diamond)…
http://www.gatewaymastering.com/bob-ludwig/
http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/
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I checked them out an I didn’t see any talk of money??? 
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I was going to say that i like pineapple for the opening and then mango when it kicks in with all the instruments. For what it is worth.
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Yes that would be nice, but I also need something within my budget…
I gather you referring to CPF’s post above, Paul. Yeah, since they don’t publish their rates on their websites, my guess is that it would be pretty expensive. I’m happy to pay a reasonable amount, but I don’t have the budget of a major label!
Cool, thanks Eric.
Personally, I was pretty happy with Mango overall, especially considering that the ME never had my “faux master” as a reference. I auditioned the mixes on a number of different systems, and Mango seemed to translate best.
I’ve been in contact with the ME, and he said he’d be happy to do revisions without additional charge, should they be necessary… I still have the final mix to complete (and it’s a doozy), so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
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After this shootout, I kind of wonder what the results from https://www.cloudbounce.com/ would have been for comparison.
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Thanks Tensen…yeah, I really didn’t consider automated mastering, because basically, it doesn’t perform one of the other main things that I want from an ME, which is to get a second set of Un-biased ears to review and adjust.
Also vitally important to me is getting a group of songs to work together as a cohesive whole - to flow from one song to another in an album format.
Automated mastering by definition can’t do these things.
I’m not opposed to it per se, and no doubt it does provide value for some people - I just don’t see it working for me in this situation.
As far as getting the mix up to a good level, and getting it eq’d - which IS the domain of automated mastering - I think I can do (and have done) a reasonable job of that myself.
There are also otherthings the real ME will provide for me that are important to me, and often get overlooked in the mastering discussion. For example DDP CD authoring & ISRC encoding. Granted, I could do these things myself too, but it’s nice to not have to spend extra time researching and learning the ins and outs of something I’ll probably only ever do once in a blue moon.
Barry Diament charges $350 an hour with a standard album taking 12 hours to master so that’s $4,200. Singles are done much quicker, and he’s been known to offer discounts to indie artists if he likes the music. I don’t know about Ludwig.
Yup, like I said way outa my league, even at half the cost.
I highly suspected they were the same mix but I thought you were playing around with 2bus processing lol.
Check out Dave Harris at Studio B.
I’ve worked with this company in the past, and I’m very impressed with what Dave does at what I feel is a reasonable price. He’s mastered stuff I’ve produced, tracked, mixed, and every time the stuff comes back it sounds incredible. I would talk to this guy first if I was sending him my own song, even if I had to pay for it myself.
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this one was right in my zone 
it was a no brainer for my preference -
I like Mango (much more glued and rock solid). As a hard rock/Rock n Roll fan, I appreciated that mix a lot more than other 2 mixes.
I do like the vocals from Pineapple (but that could be because of the way you have the space defined)
they have just a tad bit of modern day polish , Chris Daughtry style. In mango they are a bit more classic-ish
didnt care for dragonfuit much.
– edit–
just realized you published the results that was quick, but it was as I had suspected.
Results
This is actually a mastering test.All the files are mastered from the same source mix file.
Pineapple: Slammed/Hyped/Compressed sample master from mastering engineer.
Dragonfruit: My original "Faux Master"
Mango: The more “open” less compressed sample master from the mastering engineer.
Lenient compression usually wins hearts for rock n roll Mastering - crunch, gritty low end roars, not too much processing. The key is how you put mix together, doesnt take much to glue a rock track and doesnt take much to unglue it all.
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For me:
First off, fantastic sounding mixes overall. Really all sounded great on their own. Very impressive! Loved the song, too. Nice guitar playing and vocals.
To my ear, I pick:
Pineapple
Mango
then Dragonfruit.
The guitar in Dragonfruit lacked a bit of top end compared to the others.
For me, it is a very close call between Pineapple and Mango. The biggest difference i hear is in the low mids, which is definitely more prominent on Mango which I would normally tend to like, but it brings in just a hair too much thump and perhaps a teensy bit congested (I mean an infinitesimally small amount). If the emphasis was shifted slightly lower that might make a difference.
I love a big low end, too, so I would be agonizing on picking Pineapple over Mango, but I think Pineapple would be my pick overall.
Nice work, in any event. Looking forward to hearing more mixes.
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Lenient compression usually wins hearts for rock n roll Mastering - crunch, gritty low end roars, not too much processing. The key is how you put mix together, doesnt take much to glue a rock track and doesnt take much to unglue it all.
Cool, thanks Michelle - always great to get more input. Totally agree with that last statement too.
Thanks Kevin - I really appreciate the careful listen and thoughtful comments. Should have another mix finished soon hopefully.
Hey Andrew, you need to run these tests a little longer so us slower folks have time to find them and give unbiased feedback. Also, you should name the different mixes “A”, “B”, “C” so as not to bias those with stronger fruit preferences. 
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Ah yes, but what about those with strong alphabetical bias?..
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