Limiting and compression.......Balance?

[pappy999]

When mastering basic rock music (drums bass guitar vox), what kind of balance between limiting and compression do you guys use? I have been finding that only a little compression and a lot of limiting works for me to get the perceived volume up in the songs.

[Massive Master]

You use the balance the mix is asking for.

[pappy999]

Thanks for the help.
Is compression used to bring volume up while limiting is used to prevent volume from breaking a certain db level?

[bigj]

Newbie myself in this, but i believe that's the way it works Pappy999

On the compression side i think there are more variable than just bringing the volume up.

Question, i see the different threads and what not, and sometimes people say something like;"use a medium to slow attack" "medium release"

The attack part, what do you consider medium? 30-60 or that's consider a fast attack already? On the release, the compression plug i have have #'s to the thousands, is this the norm? and if it is then what would you consider a medium release?

thanks

[Docaroo]

Compression makes a more even overall volume depending on what settings you use - ie quiet parts louder and loud parts quieter...

Limiting actually limits the biggest volume peaks that you have so that the overall track can be louder without these "freak" peaks causing you to clip at that particular point.

Hope that helps a little!!

[Robert D]

Originally Posted by pappy999

Thanks for the help.
Is compression used to bring volume up while limiting is used to prevent volume from breaking a certain db level?

Hi,
Maybe think of it this way, they both bring the volume down. One does it by gently reducing the dynamic swing of the *entire* program, the other does it by agressively stopping the highest peaks of the program from going higher than the normal peaks. In both cases you can then use makup gain to raise everything up louder after the gain reduction.

As Massive's massive response indicated, it really does depend on the mix. If the mix has an overall abundance of dynamics with no big peaks, compression may yield good results without seriously lopping off the tops. But if the mix is already lacking a bit in dynamics and/or has some big peaks, then it may be better to leave most of the program alone and just limit the peaks.
Remember, it's almost always better to go back and address unruly peaks at the mixing stage than to fix them in mastering. And of course, never sacrifice too much in dynamics for the sake of loudness.

[bigj]

Originally Posted by Docaroo

Compression makes a more even overall volume depending on what settings you use - ie quiet parts louder and loud parts quieter...

Limiting actually limits the biggest volume peaks that you have so that the overall track can be louder without these "freak" peaks causing you to clip at that particular point.

Hope that helps a little!!

So in my chain i should do a limiter, and then the compression.

Limit the peaks first, so everything is more even
and then take the stuff that is more even now and compress it so it can be flatter.

[Docaroo]

well i wouldn't even say you can do it in that "method". it really depends on what the song calls for, that doesn't help but it's true!

If you want some dynamics in your song, then compression will reduce the range of the dynamics - if you want a really flat mix that can be normalised well than you will need to do some compressing/enveloping I would guess...

It's realyl hard to say with hearing the song dude - but in the end if it sounds ok and works, then just do it!

Make a backup, and try limiting alone, compression alone, then both together in varying amounts just to see what each tool does - that will be more helpful than us!