compression on the mix.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Spider
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Spider

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so does anyone recomend this , cos ive recently started using compression where before all my mixes were never given the fine privelege... i think it works fine , i had some absolutely loose mixes which were really brought together with the thanks of a dbx compressor... any thoughts on this ???
 
Whatever works.

But, if you plan to send this stuff out for mastering, make sure you are not compressing too hard, as it is nearly impossible to undo compression on a mix. Mastering facilities have much better compression to apply, and an ear for doing it in a way to will make the song rock!

Ed
 
So where would be a good limit to compress to? Should the song be sounding just about how you would like it or a lot less... Basically how much compression is done at the mastering stage.
Cheers
spider
 
Well, if your plan entails sending the material to a mastering facility to have them do their magic, I recommend not compressing at all. Unless you have the top of the line dbx compressor (did you pay about $2k for it? If not, is is their budget stuff...) you don't have a compressor that can work as invisibly as the stuff frequently found in mastering studios. I am looking at mastering quality limiters right now that cost in the ball park of $4000! With my past experience of using stuff that expensive, you can bet it is a whole other world of compression then what you are using.

If you just have to use your box though, I would keep it set to about -6 on the threshold, 1.5:1 ratio, attack fast, release about 100ms. Anything more then this will start to really do some damage with a cheaper compressor. Those settings themselves could do some damage, but, they should work okay....

Ed
 
Oh, and if you are getting more then about 2 or 3 db of gain reduction, try upping the threshold....3 db of gain reduction on a mix with a cheap compressor is a lot!

Ed
 
hey thanks ed , ill give them a go ...
cheers...
perhaps the mastering studio might be best while im trying to afford those $2000 limiters..!!!
anyway thanks ed ...

Spider
 
Hi Spid

A Mastering Studio is going to cost you a lot less than those limiters.

Ed was talking US $$$ too :)

Tony
 
That depends on the mastering studio, and how much time you spend in there. Well equipped ones go for around $100 an hour... :(

But, they usually offer other little goodies that can really make it worthwhile if the engineer is any good at what he does.

Ed
 
Hey all,

in addition to Spider's question (since i know nothing about mastering)..Do you send your music to the studio AFTER the mixdown etc? do they work their magic on an already-finished product just to make it better? and can it be on CD? or does this kind of thing require DAT or the like.

And Spider..what good mastering facilities do you know of here in this great city of ours?

-Clarko
 
sorry to disagree with you here but compression will change the mix so if the track requires a certain amount of compression - and they all do - you have to do it yourself else your mix will change at mastering - I've said this before - the best mastering engineer is the one who leaves your work alone - the main job of mastering is the keep the flow of level and EQ. You might have mixed track 1 at 3pm on thursday and track 2 at 4am on saturday and they sound different because your ears were tired and track 2 is too bright so it needs to be EQ'd back a bit to match track 1. plus Track 1 finishes full bore and track 2 starts quiet and you've mixed it too low so the intro has to be brought up on level so the change is not too dramatic - that to me is what mastering is about.
 
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