Anyone have a Finalizer or use multiband compression?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MegaBooger
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MegaBooger

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Hey all,

I'm curious about techniques for maximizing punch and loudness in my final mix.

No, I don't want to take my mix to a mastering house. I don't give a rat's ass if they can do a better job than I can.

Yes, I just want to learn about techniqes through education and experiementing. I want to bang out CD's at my leisure without having to deal with any external sources. Yes, I realize it's good to have another set of ears on my music...


Mainly, I'm curious about multiband compression settings. I'm experimenting with heavy metal music. Therefore, squashing the music is somewhat acceptable for my purposes.

I'm particularly curious about attack and release settings for the low, mid, and high bands. I want the kick, bass, and low frequencies of the guitars to slam a listener in the chest. Thus, I would think that a slower attack and a larger threshold (e.g. 1:4)would let some transients through to accentuate the punch.

Is this true? Or will I get better punch by setting the mid band accordingly?

Also, I am experiementing with less compression on the highs. I.e, faster attack, slower release, higher threshold, and lower ratio. However, a faster attack would possibly smooth out the highs too much. Thus, do I keep a slower attack and faster release? If so, do I set every band (low/mid/high) for slow attack and fast release to maximize punch?


Thanks for any advice.

MB
 
I use an aphex aureal exciter for my finalizing It punches up the lows and crisps up the highs. fattens up the sound real good.

I hear that musicians friend has them for 100.00 right now.
 
If it was recorded properly to begin with, you wouldn't need to "crisp-up" the... aw heck, never mind......

;)

Bruce
 
The way I get "punchy" mixes is to "punch" the moron musicians that don't know what the fuck they are talking about who try to tell me how their shit will sound "punchier"! I usually wind up working solo when I want that sound.....:)

MegaBooger. You answered your own question in a round about way. Get to it!!!

Ed
 
Yessssss... MegaBooger , your multiband compressor settings are good - slow attack, fast release, but try fast attack, high ratio and high threshold in middle section - limit the mids.
This way you control mids, and prevent "screaming" when chrash cymbals and solo guitars play at a same time. This way you get loudness and punch - try also dipping the midrange for 1-2 dB at 800-1000 Hz. Check all on small reference speakers. I use Auratones. Jim Morris uses Yamaha NS10. I also mix/master metal music ( in my free time ), but Croatian metal scene is not that huge. :(
I think that we need Metal Mixing/Mastering thread. :)
 
Alright. Thanks for the validation. It's good to have a point of reference to start out with.

Bruce and darrin, I (generally) tend to stay away from exciters and maximizers. I'm usually not a big fan of the way they color my mix.

Sonus, vid-tape your next studio session. It can compete against "Backyard Wrestling" on late night TV ads.

Igor, as usual, good constructive comments.

Hmm. "Screaming" between the crash cymbals and the solo guitar. I'm not too sure where you're coming from. I'll have to check for this on a mix.

Yeah. I've gotta set up some small reference speakers.

Metal Mixing/Mastering thread? I think we need a Metal Mixing/Mastering/Recording FORUM. Yeah!


MegaB
 
I met lemmy at an ozzfest show two years ago. bad complection for a dude that age.
 
Just push the "Wizard" button on your finalizer.

Next we're gonna have a "Wizard" button for recording engineers. Just play your instrument into a box and push the "Wizard" button.

Then we're gonna replace the musicians with a "Wizard" button. Just enter your musical choice into a box and press the "Wizard" button. *poof* Instant song.
 
I have a TC electronic finalizer...

Ive since learned that if you can get a decent mix this should only enhance it by adding compression/gain and not used to solve any major mixing problems. Yes its great if not overdone. Well worth the investment.
 
Yeah. It's not too bad so far. However, I can still get a better/more drastic effect by using an analog compressor on the whole mix as opposed to the finalizer. I had worked with the single compressor to where I could dial in excellent punch and loudness to really accentuate a well recorded mix. I'm still dinking with the normalizing, compression, level and limiter functions to achieve the same results.

MB
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
If it was recorded properly to begin with, you wouldn't need to "crisp-up" the... aw heck, never mind......

;)

Bruce
Click to expand...

Man...did I know you were gonna say that. ;)

Honestly I think you may be right but I don't think to many of us amateurs DO record or mix properly according to pro standards. So if an "enhancer" or "exciter" can help us out, I don't see the problem. The Finalizer has enhancing functions yet is definitely considered a piece of pro gear. The Aphex and the BBE stuff may not be of the same pedigree but it has the same intent. I'm sure a lot of pros use the Finalizer and I know for a fact that the BBE and Aphex stuff is used on a lot of pro live rigs. If I could mix like you, Bruce, maybe I would poo-poo this enhancement stuff too, but thus far I can't. :(

Personally, I have to wonder what exactly is going on inside the box when you use one of those things though. Some kind of harmonics thing, frequency masking, phasing? I've heard that they "time-align" the low and high frequencies to compensate for woofer/tweeter delay issues, but I've also heard that most speakers these days don't have this problem. To be honest, I would rather do all of these things myself and have more control over the final sound rather than running it through some mysterious "enhancer." At this point in my recording career I don't think I could do all these things as effectively as some of the better enhancers out there. So for now, I'm content to think of them as a "crutch," but I won't kid myself into thinking that they're a replacement for better recording/mixing/mastering (and any other hats I wear) techniques. I have only used some of the enhancer plugins, not the actual gear, and sparingly at most so I could definitely do without them but they just seem to, well, "enhance" - for lack of a better word. ;)
 
Dolemite said:


Man...did I know you were gonna say that. ;)

Honestly I think you may be right but I don't think to many of us amateurs DO record or mix properly according to pro standards. So if an "enhancer" or "exciter" can help us out, I don't see the problem.
Click to expand...
Yup - true enough - hey if it works for ya, great!

BUT.............. my point is that regardless of the equipment you have at hand, you can still follow a number of "pro" techniques to get the most out of your gear. And getting the most out of your gear usually translates to needing less post-mix processing, period... which for the most part means better recordings overall!

And "recorded properly" can mean something as simple as using the right mic in the right spot, thru a decent pre, picking up a great sounding amp/vocal/whatever.... not at all beyond the means of even the most amateur recordist with modest gear!

Cheers,

Bruce

:)
 
use it tastefully

Its just an improvement to make the whole production sound bigger.
thats all nothing more.

Im sure you have some stories Bruce of how some have gone and added this stuff and messed up some recordings, but there is a right way to do stuff and a wrong way.

As with bass I was taught to record at a low level and to boost on the way out and that aureal exciter helps define the bass, I also like the cymbles to ring( this is difficult to do with electronic drums alone).
 
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