compression, limiter, effects on master track

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BrianCRX90

New member
Thank you for the previous help, got another question.

A couple quick questions. I've read some articles online about putting effects such as compression and eq on the master before the mixdown. Never really occurred to try this. I've been working on getting a mix around -6 to -3 which I did then adding effects on the mix. Is there any incentive in putting compression, eq...limiting on the master? If I did this, well then there isn't much to do except some light noise and hiss removal and dithering so I can put it on a cd.

Since I'm here also I found a very good vst multi-band compressor that also has a built in limiter. Is there any incentive vs using a separate compressor and separate hard limiter?
 
Main mix levels will vary from project to project for me so the amount of comp and limit always vary.

1. I EQ my mains first
2. I use a CA2A - maybe 3-4 db of gain reduction to glue it all together.
3. I use a Concrete Limiter to boost the volume up and set the limit to about - 3 db (just an average we use for our mixes). This is pretend "mastering" just to get a bit of volume :)
 
You can put processors on the main bus and some people do, but it's generally considered best practice to get as much as possible of that done in the mix rather than on the mix, export that to a file, then master the stereo file as a separate job. If the project includes other songs then mastering them all in one project is the way to go.

Why do you have to remove noise? Did you track on cassette? In any case that should probably have been done earlier, on individual tracks rather than on the whole project.

For the most part in mastering multiband compression is for repairing a mix that can't be redone. Avoid it unless you have an excellent reason. In your case you can just go back to the mix and fix things properly so multiband compression shouldn't be needed.
 
BrianCRX90 said:
Thank you for the previous help, got another question.

A couple quick questions. I've read some articles online about putting effects such as compression and eq on the master before the mixdown. Never really occurred to try this. I've been working on getting a mix around -6 to -3 which I did then adding effects on the mix. Is there any incentive in putting compression, eq...limiting on the master? If I did this, well then there isn't much to do except some light noise and hiss removal and dithering so I can put it on a cd.

Since I'm here also I found a very good vst multi-band compressor that also has a built in limiter. Is there any incentive vs using a separate compressor and separate hard limiter?
Click to expand...

That's kind of what I was thinking to get a leveled mix. I was thinking about just putting Adobe's limiter and setting it at -3 and perhaps take out most of the attack and release so it doesn't sound squashed ont he mixdown.
Or I have a basic limiter plugin I downloaded (called basic limiter..lol) and it very basic but may be a better idea that way. Only has a DB setting on it I think so don't know what else it does. I haven't really used it much.
Just need an idea of what would be appropriate settings... and using my multiband compressor on the mixdown and eq...etc.
 
While 3db isn't really a lot it is noticeable, and -3dbfs is very conservative for peak levels on a final master. I use -0.6 for kind of historical reasons, but a lot of people go to -0.3 or even -0.1. If you're at all struggling to "compete" with other people's loudness, this could be why.
 
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