OK, had a fiddle with JS:Mastering Limter in Reaper. Seems pretty handy and easy to use and I'm getting used to the effects that adjusting some parameters have a how a mix sounds.
Some mixes immediately work well and are improved just by applying the limiter then I can adjust parameters to taste.
Some mixes pump like fuck and there's no amount of fucking about with knobs that can save them. Is this generally 'cos they are mixed two loud in the first instance?
Could be, or it could just be that the mix sucks to begin with. A good base mix can handle some compression/limiting. A bad mix can't.
If it was just mixed too loud, simply moving the threshold up would stop the pumping. Most likely, some instrument is up way louder than the rest (at least in comparison to your other mixes) Most likely the drums.OK, had a fiddle with JS:Mastering Limter in Reaper. Seems pretty handy and easy to use and I'm getting used to the effects that adjusting some parameters have a how a mix sounds.
Some mixes immediately work well and are improved just by applying the limiter then I can adjust parameters to taste.
Some mixes pump like fuck and there's no amount of fucking about with knobs that can save them. Is this generally 'cos they are mixed two loud in the first instance?
I mean, a limiter is supposed to set a limit. Preferably, it will be a little more polite about it than the fixed-point digital ceiling might. This can allow you to increase the average level (the loudness) without quite so much nasty distortion on the peaks.Limiting isn't supposed to make it sound better. It's supposed to make it louder.