famous beagle
Well-known member
I don't pretend to know much about mastering, and I rarely do much to this end with my mixes. I'll do slight bus compression (1 or 2dB GR at most), slight EQ treatment (mostly a hi pass filter to get rid of sub lows), and a multi-band comp, again, doing very slight GR of around 1dB on each band (usually 3) at most.
Then I like to put a brickwall limiter on the master buss just to avoid clipping. I usually set this at -.5 or -1dB just to be safe.
But for some reason, it's not limiting this time. I've tried several different limiters:
JB Barricade
Loudmax
Peak Limiter II (Sir Elliott)
Here are the things I've double-checked:
My master fader is set at 0dB
The limiter is not bypassed
The limiter is the last effect in the master chain
I'm not trying to get massive volume or anything. I just simply want to make sure it won't clip.
Most of these have simple interfaces --- usually a gain knob and an output setting. I would think that, if you set the output at -0.5dB, for instance, then the volume would not exceed that, no matter what. The more you raise the gain knob, the more compressed the sound would be, but it would not exceed -0.5 dB.
I thought that was the whole point of a "brick wall" limiter --- that the sound will not go above your setting no matter what.
While I use all the parameters of compressors to their fullest extent on individual instruments (or a drum group, etc.), I tend to favor simplistic limiters because I don't want to have to mess too much with a bunch of settings, for fear that I might screw up the mix. Like I said, everything I do on the master chain is very subtle.
I know these limiters have worked (the way I would think they should) in the past. But I don't know why they're not today.
I can't afford to pay to have this stuff professionally mastered or anything, so I have to make do with what I can.
Anyone got a clue?
Thanks
Then I like to put a brickwall limiter on the master buss just to avoid clipping. I usually set this at -.5 or -1dB just to be safe.
But for some reason, it's not limiting this time. I've tried several different limiters:
JB Barricade
Loudmax
Peak Limiter II (Sir Elliott)
Here are the things I've double-checked:
My master fader is set at 0dB
The limiter is not bypassed
The limiter is the last effect in the master chain
I'm not trying to get massive volume or anything. I just simply want to make sure it won't clip.
Most of these have simple interfaces --- usually a gain knob and an output setting. I would think that, if you set the output at -0.5dB, for instance, then the volume would not exceed that, no matter what. The more you raise the gain knob, the more compressed the sound would be, but it would not exceed -0.5 dB.
I thought that was the whole point of a "brick wall" limiter --- that the sound will not go above your setting no matter what.
While I use all the parameters of compressors to their fullest extent on individual instruments (or a drum group, etc.), I tend to favor simplistic limiters because I don't want to have to mess too much with a bunch of settings, for fear that I might screw up the mix. Like I said, everything I do on the master chain is very subtle.
I know these limiters have worked (the way I would think they should) in the past. But I don't know why they're not today.
I can't afford to pay to have this stuff professionally mastered or anything, so I have to make do with what I can.
Anyone got a clue?
Thanks