I hate multiband compression

pingu

pingu

New member
Why is it that when people (often novices) think of mastering they immediately get in to there heads that they need multiband compression.

Multiband sux.

Once a year does it come in debatably useful.




Be gentle
 
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Because if you get a real crap mix, it might be the only way to fix the relative levels of the poorly mixed instruments.

Of course, in a self-mastering environment, you could just fix the mix :rolleyes:
 
I'm starting to take a liking to multiband compression, but never on an entire mix. I'll usually use it on a single track more like a dynamic EQ. It's great when you want to keep things under control, for example while doing resonant filter sweeps.

As for using it on an entire mix... I still think that if you need to use multiband compression on an entire mix, it's because the mix itself sux.
 
Like any tool, there's a difference between use and abuse. When you need MBC, only MBC will do.

I still haven't found a really good MBC plug-in. Is the Universal Audio one any good?
 
I've dabbled with it mastering in Sound Forge, but generally keep away because I haven't a clue what I'm doing with it or how to use it properly... :D
 
I started to like Multiband Comp.... can't live with it now :). It kind of difficult to master even myself still learning how to utilise it to the most. I use it to increase overall song RMS ... (don't know whether this is correct).

Ok guys, off for now!
 
staring said:
I started to like Multiband Comp.... can't live with it now :). It kind of difficult to master even myself still learning how to utilise it to the most. I use it to increase overall song RMS ... (don't know whether this is correct).
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That's a complicated question to answer. First you have to address why the multiband is needed. If your mix has real bass-heavy hits, especially if they are uneven, that will be a limiting factor for increasing RMS, so yes multiband would help. But again, so would compressing the kick in the mix, and tweaking the levels.

That's only one example though. Nobody can really say if multiband is getting you killer mixes or not without listening to the before & after, or at least the after.
 
are any of you guys using Voxengo Soniformer? What exactly is it? I mean, its a multi-band compressor, but its pretty different than the other ones I've seen. If I could figure out how to use it properly I might buy it... Its very intriguing.
 
pingu said:
Oh is it.....
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I did say kinda. I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase, "this thing sucks, I can't figure it out". Some people just think certain things sucks because they can't figure them out. I personally think if used properly and NOT abused a multiband can be nice on certain tracks. I don't always use mine but there are situations when its needed. Now I do have a friend who soley relies on multiband for mastering and nearly everything he does sounds great up until the point he slaps the multiband on, he's just got it stuck in his head that he needs to use it. He's also guilty of using the same formula for every single band he records.
 
Saying that you don't like MBC is like saying that you don't like de-essers.

Silly, it's just a tool that has it's right place for a particular set of problems.
 
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