I usually don't do full albums. It's mostly just do one song at a time that I attempt to "master". I like to wait a few days and not listen to the mix, then pull it up as if it wasn't mine and maybe a touch of EQ if it needs it, see what kind of effect some compression might have and then a limiter to get it a bit louder. It's mostly just for experimenting.
Anyway, I use voxengo SPAN for metering, and it has a k-14 meter. I pull in a reference, and run it through that at it's full volume, then I go at least a few pegs below. I'm not trying to get them that hot, just louder than my quite mix.
My question is, are there any best practices or tips to avoid transients being killed by the limiter? I mean, I get the point is to catch peaks, and I'm not trying to make a wave form that looks like a sausage, but it always feels like my drums get pushed back a bit after limiting and lose some of the oomph that I tried so hard to get. I just don't hear that in professional releases. Are they pushing into the limiter, using shaping?
Anyway, I use voxengo SPAN for metering, and it has a k-14 meter. I pull in a reference, and run it through that at it's full volume, then I go at least a few pegs below. I'm not trying to get them that hot, just louder than my quite mix.
My question is, are there any best practices or tips to avoid transients being killed by the limiter? I mean, I get the point is to catch peaks, and I'm not trying to make a wave form that looks like a sausage, but it always feels like my drums get pushed back a bit after limiting and lose some of the oomph that I tried so hard to get. I just don't hear that in professional releases. Are they pushing into the limiter, using shaping?