Mastering 2 track song (vocal transients)

davecg321

New member
I have a completed song which consists of piano (addictive keys) and vocals. When I raise the threshold on the limiter to get the mix into 'commercial' ball park territory I end up with 6-7dbs of gain reduction on the loudest transients of my vocal. The vocal is maybe a bit louder than most people would mix it at but that is the desired effect I'm after. Apart from these transients there is no gain reduction being applied to the rest of the track. Can I increase the threshold further? it's only milliseconds we're talking about when GR is being applied.

How can I effectively measure the amount of time those transients are being squished?

Tah
 
Don't worry about the gain reduction if it sounds good.

If it sounds bad, compress the vocal track in the mix. This will smooth the vocal out a bit and the mastering limiter won't have to work as hard. That will.help the limiter sound more transparent.
 
"How can I effectively measure the amount of time those transients are being squished?"

I sometime want to know how close or over my mix is going past full scale. Sonar has 'Peak Markers' that can be turned on that drop in a tag with the value at the last highest peak.
 
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