Alright, I have to totally agree, SPL. The bass drum was an endless problem, I blame it on the ****ty preamps (all Mackie). I don't know why but there is this upper-midrange spike to those guitars, I'm assuming it's cause all of the guitars were on their bridge pickups. It's funny but that harshness wasn't there until AFTER mastering. The vocals are just tough. They are so dynamic and you can only ride the fader so much until you have to resort to compression. It was kind of an "either over-compress or deal with unintelligibility" kind of deal. Great analysis of the recording, man. Thanks. I want your take on the next stuff when I get it up.