Well they are certainly dramatic and epic!

Of the 2 I prefer the second, the strings are particularly good.

It sounds like you have heavily compressed both tracks, maybe too much? Again, this is as much personal taste as anything though.

Thanks for sharing

Nice arrangement. Agree that it is too compressed. I would like to hear the peaks jump out a tad more. Fun stuff.

Thanks for your feedback!
Your answers are very important for me.
I tried to make the tracks as loud as I could. At the same time, I tried to keep the dynamics. Maybe I did not get it.
Also I found that the SoundCloud reduced the quality of the tracks. They sound like mp3 128, although I uploaded them in mp3 320 format. Is it normal?
May because of poor quality they sound heavly compressed? in the WAV format everything sounds good enough as it seems to me.

I used very little compression when mixing, but the SSL comp with 1-1.5 dB of gain reduction and two limiters on the master (with aggressive multiband limiting of 4 and 2 dB respectively). Perhaps it destroyed the dynamics.
I'm confused.
But I'm a beginner and I hope you'll forgive me for this mistakes.

Sincerely, Maxim Komarov

maksimkomarov wroteI tried to make the tracks as loud as I could. At the same time, I tried to keep the dynamics. Maybe I did not get it.
Also I found that the SoundCloud reduced the quality of the tracks. They sound like mp3 128, although I uploaded them in mp3 320 format. Is it normal?
May because of poor quality they sound heavly compressed? in the WAV format everything sounds good enough as it seems to me.

I used very little compression when mixing, but the SSL comp with 1-1.5 dB of gain reduction and two limiters on the master (with aggressive multiband limiting of 4 and 2 dB respectively). Perhaps it destroyed the dynamics.
I'm confused.
But I'm a beginner and I hope you'll forgive me for this mistakes.

It's all too easy it seems to get dragged into the 'loudness wars' and end up spoiling the dynamics of a piece. Maybe back of a bit into the limiters to allow some more dynamics? If someone wants to hear the piece louder they can simply turn the volume up a bit

Agreed, SoundCloud really does mush the quality on playback and I think it is less forgiving to 'loud' tracks.

Don't apologise! keep doing what you're doing and keep sharing here

@maxim

Agreed to back off all limiters/compressors except for 1 for your next go around.
The Presonus Limiter works well. Just use it on your Pre-Master insert and try to hit is where you are only getting about 3 db peak reduction and your output level is -1 db. Tell us what you think of that.

I said not quite correctly. I did not try to make an incredibly loud track, I wanted to make a very high-quality track, a commercial track. As far as is capable at the moment. And many commercial tracks seem very loud! That's why loudness is an important component for me, the more I try to sell these tracks on audiostoсks and I need to take attention of potential buyers.
But I can not reach that deep loudest sound that I hear from my favorite artists in this genre.

I will definitely take your advice and make the limitation less aggressive. And I will definitely share my work with You.

But if You know where I can increase my epic mixing skills (some tutorials, articles), I will be grateful for the link.

@Bbd
Good idea! And I already use it!
But only on Drum Bus/
I set the threshold and increase the input signal, trying to prevent a reduction of -1 -3 dB on this bus. But I also use this technique on individual hits. This leaves the hit powerful and loud. Especially with the addition of Fat Channel passive EQ.
I haven't limiters and compressors on my Instrument Bus.

Do You think I need to try utilize Limiter on Pre-Master Bus in this case?

Just for fun, turn off the limiters on your busses. Then only use it on your master pre-fader send.
Then compare.
Then you can go back and work with bus compression/limiting a bit more.
I think in your case you just over used it all. You might be surprised or not!