Compression on final mix

[Jack Real]

Hi

When a song is completed, I usually compress and maximize the song to give it more volume. I either find a threshold that has no meat above and apply 75% compression or if there is a little meat above the threshold, I apply a more gentle compression like 40 or 50%. Yesterday, I changed that process to use successive compression. One compression pass consist of 50% compression for everything that is above 0.8 volt (max is 1 volt) and after, I remaximize to 1 volt. I redo the same process over and over until the volume is high enough. Yesterday, I redid the process 3 times to this means that what was between 0.8 and 1 volt on the original wave was compressed 3 times, what was between 0.72 volt and 0.8 volt was compressed 2 times and what was between 0.63 volt to 0.71 volt was compressed 1 time. I find that process easier because I just redo the compresson pass until the volume is right so I don't have to look for the right threshold or the right compression %. Are there advantages or disadvantages to use this technic ? How does it affect the dynamic or the proximity effect of the song ?

Thanks,

Jack Real

 

[masteringhouse]

Hi

When a song is completed, I usually compress and maximize the song to give it more volume. I either find a threshold that has no meat above and apply 75% compression or if there is a little meat above the threshold, I apply a more gentle compression like 40 or 50%. Yesterday, I changed that process to use successive compression. One compression pass consist of 50% compression for everything that is above 0.8 volt (max is 1 volt) and after, I remaximize to 1 volt. I redo the same process over and over until the volume is high enough. Yesterday, I redid the process 3 times to this means that what was between 0.8 and 1 volt on the original wave was compressed 3 times, what was between 0.72 volt and 0.8 volt was compressed 2 times and what was between 0.63 volt to 0.71 volt was compressed 1 time. I find that process easier because I just redo the compresson pass until the volume is right so I don't have to look for the right threshold or the right compression %. Are there advantages or disadvantages to use this technic ? How does it affect the dynamic or the proximity effect of the song ?

I assume that you are compressing digitally. Every time you process audio it adds more distortion in the way of quantization errors. So I would suggest that you find the proper amount of compression the first time and get it right, rather than processing multiple times even if it involves cutting several CDs and listening/comparing.

Volume is usually measured in terms of an RMS value (dBFS for digital), I'm not sure where you're coming up with these voltage values. Are the voltages measured against 600 ohms, 10K ohms?

Additionally proximity effect is used to describe the low frequency boost of a microphone, I don't know what you are referring to here. If you mean the perceived level of the bass of a mix, then increasing volume is going to increase the perceived level of the bass (see previous threads on Fletcher-Munson curves).

 

[Jack Real]

I assume that you are compressing digitally. Every time you process audio it adds more distortion in the way of quantization errors. So I would suggest that you find the proper amount of compression the first time and get it right, rather than processing multiple times even if it involves cutting several CDs and listening/comparing.

Volume is usually measured in terms of an RMS value (dBFS for digital), I'm not sure where you're coming up with these voltage values. Are the voltages measured against 600 ohms, 10K ohms?

Additionally proximity effect is used to describe the low frequency boost of a microphone, I don't know what you are referring to here. If you mean the perceived level of the bass of a mix, then increasing volume is going to increase the perceived level of the bass (see previous threads on Fletcher-Munson curves).

Hi

Yes, it's digital, I'm using the GoldWave mastering software. I don't know why but I thought the amplitude of the signal was given in volts but I checked again and it just goes from -1 to +1, no units. It make sense that multiple processing introduces noise so I will stop that and go back to 1 compression pass only. For the proximity effect, I was referring to the fact that compression usually reduces the reverb and gives the impression that the sound is comming out of the speaker as opposed to far in the background.

Thanks again,

Jack Real.

 

[helyfede]

But with Waves ,compressing and maximizing ,is sufficient to do only one time!
You can obtain a good level sounding just the first rack of plugins.-