crosstudio
New member
here's the deal. i've always been disappointed with the loudness level of my mastering, even though my individual instruments were nicely compressed, my normalized stereo mix tracks never got where i wanted them unless i squashed the hell out of them with the attack set to 0. then i read an article in recording magazine that put it all together (and made me feel like quite the idiot for not thinking of it myself).
when you compress in analog letting some of the attack through before the clamp down gives you a nice sound and if you overload from time to time it's no big deal, just a little tape saturation; however, any digital overs will sound like shit. that's why you set a limiter (with 0 attack) behind the compressor of your individual tracks. that way you don't compress everything, while simulateously preventing any signal from exceeding your set level. then when you normalize your mix every instrument is closer to it's average level so the mix is 'hotter'.
awesome! i'm glad i subscribed to that mag. i've been checking out sound on sound too, but i haven't subscribed yet.
ps. if i listen to the mix 3 days from now and it sounds like crap, i'll let you know.
when you compress in analog letting some of the attack through before the clamp down gives you a nice sound and if you overload from time to time it's no big deal, just a little tape saturation; however, any digital overs will sound like shit. that's why you set a limiter (with 0 attack) behind the compressor of your individual tracks. that way you don't compress everything, while simulateously preventing any signal from exceeding your set level. then when you normalize your mix every instrument is closer to it's average level so the mix is 'hotter'.
awesome! i'm glad i subscribed to that mag. i've been checking out sound on sound too, but i haven't subscribed yet.
ps. if i listen to the mix 3 days from now and it sounds like crap, i'll let you know.