Any good tips on mastering with multiband compression?

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JG96

JG96

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I have noticed multiband compression can be really nice if done right. However it is very mysterious and difficult to do right from what I understand. If anyone has any good advice or articles that do a good job of teaching it would be much appreciated. Most of the tutorials I have found seem to be from people who barely know what they are doing themselves.
 
I 2nd this. compression in itself takes a while to "really" understand. multi band compression for me has been more frustration than anything. i have tried with metal mostly, which you would think would need some sort of mulit band to handle the low end? i digress.

shed some multi band compression light. and is there anyone out there that has a preference in plugs? ive tried the c4 and all the L series multi stuff. ive got the mercury bundle. the c4 for me has been worthless. i havent dug into the others yet
 
yeah C4 is quite confusing. I think logic pro has a good multiband but I have logic express on my home system :(
 
Maybe part of 'mysterious or difficult to understand is 'cause people pursue some of this stuff backwards.
You're stating with 'there's this cool tool therefore I should be using it'.

Instead wait until 'there's this 'mix I'm working on.. And it has this problem. 'It has this frequency that seems to be sticking' out, but only in certain times or ways. 'Eqing isn't working 'cause it tackles it in one place but makes it worse in other ways.
Something along those lines.

Yes play with it to find out the controls work, get a feel for the concepts and such.
But ask yourself why would you try to 'fix problems you don't hear?

Some tips?
Build a high frequency shimmer/smoother' preset.
Build a Deesser'

Find a guitar track (an ac guitar track with a boxy' resonance is a great candidate) and make a narrow band dynamic eq to tame it. How wide? - 'Q. How deep? Ratio and threshold..
:)

I can't speak to the C4, use the UAD most lately.
Here's a fairly cool dynamic EQ I really liked a while back (free still?) but I haven't touched it in a while 'cause it was a little glitchy for me in Sonar.
http://www.platinumears.com/iq4gui.html
 
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well it is a tool. just like eq and compression or time based effects. and i understand where you're comming from. but you dont necessarily have to come across a problem to use it? so what your saying is that you can't use multi band compression to enhance your mix on the 2 buss? seems strange.... i use eq all the time not necessarily to fix problem frequencys ( subtractive eq) but i use it just as much bring out nuances in things, brightening up the high shelf, or get some mid range warmth. whatever. the question was what how do you use mulit band compression effectively. cause thats the part i havent grasped yet. its funny cause my mixes sound good with out it. but i feel like once i use it in the right ways it will only be another color you can add to the mix. no?
 
Any good tips on mastering with multiband compression?
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Contact the mix engineer and have him correct the problem.

Tips otherwise? Use it how the mix needs it. If it doesn't need it - if it's not asking for it, it's very likely not the right tool.



The slightly ironic part is that I actually needed to use a maul-the-band compressor last week on a mix (that was admittedly "in trouble" according to the artist, but not able to be remixed). Probably the first time I used one in a couple years...
 
Massive Master said:
The slightly ironic part is that I actually needed to use a maul-the-band compressor last week on a mix (that was admittedly "in trouble" according to the artist, but not able to be remixed). Probably the first time I used one in a couple years...
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Can you elborate on the "in trouble" part...and your use of the multi-comp to fix it...?

Just curious where/why/how you ended up using it.
 
Dirtnaper2323 said:
well it is a tool. just like eq and compression or time based effects. and i understand where you're comming from. but you dont necessarily have to come across a problem to use it? so what your saying is that you can't use multi band compression to enhance your mix on the 2 buss? seems strange.... i use eq all the time not necessarily to fix problem frequencys ( subtractive eq) but i use it just as much bring out nuances in things, brightening up the high shelf, or get some mid range warmth. whatever. the question was what how do you use mulit band compression effectively. cause thats the part i havent grasped yet. its funny cause my mixes sound good with out it. but i feel like once i use it in the right ways it will only be another color you can add to the mix. no?
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No I would not at all want to imply it couldn't (or take the position it shouldn't.. be used to enhance' even.
But then again, your post sort of plays to both sides of my point -On one hand let's say ok we'd like to do some enhancements. Then came back to the question of -how.

I was just sort of saying 'how it's easier lets say.. if that is preceded by a 'Ya know what this could use '..or would help here is' ..
Now you at least have a target, something to work out 'how'. :)

And I think some mastering guys around here (and I, but I'm not a ME..) will also say; If these are your mixes and now you're 'enhancing them, what's to say this new insight' isn't/couldn't be.. applied as part of and done in the mixing.
Sort dancing about what is 'fixing (as 'it has problems), vs enhancing, vs finishing' (as in maybe we see now the mix isn't done.
 
miroslav said:
Can you elborate on the "in trouble" part...and your use of the multi-comp to fix it...?

Just curious where/why/how you ended up using it.
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A very glassy "squeal" in the guitar -- Could've been a bad preamp tube... If I pulled away enough 3k to tame it, the whole mix sounded like crap. I narrowed the (Samplitude's) MBC to catch and tame the nasty squeals. While I was at it, I sort of wide-banded the top to take the edge of the uber-sizzly hat (too wide for a de-esser). It was more or less a rough mix done on a machine that left this earth along with all the original tracks (backups, people - Backups).
 
multiband compression can be a nice problem solver. you need it, if the mix has bandlimited problems in the time domain, e.g. too loud snare oder bassdrum, too loud backing voices in the refrain on the s-channel, etc. where singleband or static treatments would introduce unwanted side effects.
in general i'm using waves linMB for the slower "riding" and flux alchemist for tasks that need fast response. i also like to use dynamic EQs, since they can be more "invisible", esp for de-essing.

as with all tools, the rule is to not overdo it. always make A/B!
 
my 2 cents...

Multiband Compression comes handy to me when a single track needs some altering. for instance, when i use percussion or bongos, congos and toms, it helps alot adding or removing the sludgy sound.

(I use Digital, no analog yet)

Sonalksis Multiband Compresser offers elite editing and fixing. but Abletons Multiband is very good.
 
I used a multiband compressor on an organ once. I wanted the organ to be trebly when played low, but it got really grating when played high, so I put the multiband on there to tame the highs when played high, but to keep the highs intact when played in the lower registers. Worked really well.

But yeah, I see no use for it in mastering.
 
Using multiband compression is hard because it's a lot easier to make it worse than make it better. You have to learn to recognize problems for which multiband compression is a likely solution. That means listening to the dynamics of one frequency range as compared to the dynamics of other frequency ranges, which is not a natural way to listen.

I almost always use multiband compression as a corrective tool rather than a creative one. When I use it creatively I am generally looking to add a subtle rhythmic bounce to a track. There's no "right" way to do this, but a hundred million wrong ways, all dependent on your source material and your own creative goals. The best advice I can give is to just try stuff and be prepared to ditch multiband compression if it doesn't really make things better.

Generally it's best to go back to the mix and correct things, but that's not always an option. Many of the mixes I get have issues in the LF or low-mids that I can mitigate with multiband. The attack and release settings are crucial to making it sound as natural as possible. Almost always in these situations I use only one band and bypass the others.

I've used the C4 and C6. The functions seem fairly self explanatory to me. I like the band solo function in particular and use it to home in on the range I want to treat.
 
Trust me. If you're not a trained mastering engineer you cannot master properly. That's what the MBC presets are for. Try them until you find one you like. Be sure to keep a copy of the unmastered version. And never master on mixing day. Your ears are too fried.
 
Hello, JG,
I second Rod Norman - always keep a copy of the unmastered version. Simply save the mastered one under a different name. Then you can always go back and do it all again! You don't necessarily have to use multiband compression, but if you go easy with the settings and use the suggested ones for beginners, you might like it. In its more advanced mode, it can be used almost like an bass/mid/treble enhancer. If you think for example that the bass is lacking, multiband can rectify it.

As for useful articles on multiband compression, I am a rather new member so can't put links, however, if you go to Sound on Sound and do a search for "Multiband Workshop" fourth down on the list of results in burgundy is "Multiband Workshop, Practical Multi-band Compression." this is a good article with some suggested settings to start with - the 1.1:1 ratio with -30 to -40 db threshold is a good gentle one to start with. Also, if you Google Ian Shepherd production advice, you can see plenty of tips and advice, watch his videos, listen to his BBC Radio 4 interview, etc.

Have you tried the MBC in Reaplugs made available for free by Reaper? They make Reaplugs downloadable so you can use their plugins even if you haven't transitioned to or are not using Reaper. It seems very effective and straightforward to use.

I do hope this helps, JG.
 
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