A Question About Buss Compression (on The Final Mix B4 Mastering)

czar of bizarre

New member
ok i have a question about buss compression. should i use it or should i let the mastering engineer compress the mix? i know once the compression is on it cant be taken away. i do want the mastering engineer to do a good. however when we recorded the songs from the board directly to alesis masterlink i asked the engineer (his name is jason) about the buss compression. his reply was "i often use it and i didnt know if you could tell or not". it didnt sound "squashed". in fact it sounded GOOD. however i dont want our mistakes (he and myself) coming back to haunt me later on.

so should i use the compression or bypass it?

just so you know the music was recorded in pro tools but mixed on an ssl4000 E. we will dump the tracks to half inch tape at 15 ips on thursday. after that i will have it mastered here:

http://www.paulstubblebine.com/



thanks for any feedback replies etc etc etc.


czar
 
If you are planning on having it mastered by a proper mastering house, then you definitely DON'T want to apply any compression on the mix buss....... no question about it!
 
hey bruce its been awhile. how are things in canada? i was looking for you or sjoko to answer the question. problem solved no compression on the mix buss.

thanks bruce


czar


ps i like getting advice and opinions from the pros. im still green.
 
i don't know too much about sending to pro ME's and what not, but from my browsing thru recording sites i found out that u should use it if it sounds good, like u said it didn't sound squashed so i'd say its ok i don't see how any one can argue wit your ears

Blue bear happens to be the 1st 'pro' i've seen to be against it

the only other people i've seen who are pro's and are against it are a few ME's and thats because they yearn to mix ;)
 
^^^^ thanks for the advice. i have read MANY magazine articles with engineers saying to stay away from it. ive also talked to a couple of "houses" that said to leave it alone. my thing is this. i DONT want the mastering house to try to correct something if its done wrong. so to be safe i will leave it alone and let the house worry about it.

my mission is to help get a good mix. we are mixing on ns 10's (boy those speakers are CRAP),genelecs (dont know which model) and these big speakers (dont know which model but a pic of them can be found in the hip hop forum. just look at my "album cover" post and look at the last pic).


i dont want the house to "undo" whats been done. so i might as well give it to them FLAT. im not looking for a LOUD cd. thats not what im going for. im not into all that limiting and compression. i mean its good but thats not the sound im going for. i want the DYNAMICS to remain intact. so the less compression and limiting the better it is for me.


when i call the house in the house in the morning i will get advice from teh mastering engineers who will work on the product. i will see what they want me to do.



thanks teacher


czar
 
Very good suggestion. If nothing else it gives the ME something to do better than.

Somewhere on the internet there's an ME who suggests providing a whole bunch of versions including mix w/o vocals and vocals only so that there are more options for dealing with problems. For the small amount of extra studio time, there is the potential saving of a return trip to the studio for a remix which would definitely cost more.

...Mike.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't any adjustments made to a final mix generally be left to the mastering engineer? I mean even if the mix sounds good when you compress it, It will probably sound ten times better with an experienced proffessional compressing it with equipment that us regular folk can only dream about.
 
^^^^the studio i recorded at is a PROFESSIONAL studio. i wouldnt track vocals with reverb or a delay and try to mix it. i would apply the fx after. so i dont think taking a dry reel to the ME is a crime. i think this is a good way to ensure that no mistakes occur.


heresy the jesus of rap
 
Theoretically the overall mastering process comprises the normilization,leveling,eq adj'ing and true stereo enhancement of your final mixdown. One of my old questions was if orig tracks were recorded at the hottest level w/o peak distortion with sig efx & dynamics processed just right and each tracks musical performance was 2-tracked down evenly and spaciously creating
a bomb-diggity mix, should it still be submitted 4 mastering even
though opinions from others with capable "ears" state recording is of quality!!??

Just curious!
 
I figure it can go a few different ways. If the two track comp is part of the sound you'r going for, then it's part of the mix. Do you want (or need) the mastering time spent on each song if it's an effect you might be looking for? It also depends on if you have the tools needed to get 'that sound'.
Maybe the safe bet is to do both. You might at least want to monitor the mix with the compression you think might end up on it, as it can alter what you hear as the correct reverb levels, amounts of compression on tracks, ect.

Cheers
 
MR.Q WE ARE TRYING TO GET IT TO SOUND "RIGHT" *BEFORE* MASTERING. WE HAVE TWO VERSIONS. COMPRESSED AND UNCOMPRESSED. I THINK THAT THE UNCOMPRESSED STUFF SHOULD BE MASTERED. SIMPLY BECAUSE IT ISNT "PROCESSED".


WHAT DO I WANT? A CD THAT PLAYS FROM SYSTEM TO SYSTEM. SOUNDS LIKE A COHESIVE PRODUCT,ALL SONGS AT THE SAME LEVEL OF VOLUME WITH SIMILAR BASS AND HIGH FREQUENCIES,NO DISTORTION AND SPACIOUS......

IS THAT 2 MUCH 2 ASK 4?????????


AS ALWAYS *******DONT********* MIND MY CAPS........


CZAR


PS THANKS 4 ALL TEH INFO AND HELP. IM GOING TO POST SOME OF THE TRACKS ON MY BDAY HOPEFULLY (SEPT 3RD).
 
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