how to level out a mix without overcompressing?

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a27thletter

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i've got a mixdown i did a while back and it has a couple of loud spikes that need to be brought down a little bit in order for me to get the song at a decent volume level. i'm using adobe audition 1.5's wave editor and was wondering what would be some recommendations for starting points on compressing the mix without making the compression too noticable. i know this is very amaturish of a question but i still ahve a lot to learn about compression and volume balancing.
 
I'm far from an expert so don't take this as gospel but...

What I usually do is do a mixdown, and look at the spikes on the waveform and keep a note of where they are in the tune, and go back to the mix...

Then I'll go to say point x, where it spikes, and play the part over and over, muting different things, and watching the levels on the master fader. I have found that a lot of times its like 1 instrument causing it to spike. So then you know its that track thats causing some trouble, possibly in conjunction with other tracks. I have often found that lowering the level of an individual hit can make a lot of difference.

All in all its kind of playing around and seeing what it is thats causing the spike. It could be that one track is fighting with another, in which case some EQing of the conflicting tracks may be in order, or maye some very mild compression. Try solo certain tracks together to see if they are fighting.

Once you have a rough idea of whats causing it, you are well on your way to finding a solution.

Sorry if this post has been pointless :)
 
a27thletter said:
i've got a mixdown i did a while back and it has a couple of loud spikes that need to be brought down a little bit in order for me to get the song at a decent volume level.
Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question.
 
well yeah sortof, i just wasnt sure what the best way to bring the spikes down would be. legionserial, thanks i'll try your suggestion, it's probably just a hard strum from the accoustic guitar causing the spikes, i didnt compress the main acoustic guitar track, maybe i need to/
 
you could always automate the gain/fader whatever you have in audion.

don't compress everything if it's just a spike


:D
 
that's what i was thinking too. if its just one or two identified spots, go into your wave editor and fix the problem rather than putting a compressor on the whole track. of course if you do put a compressor on the whole track, you should set your threshold so that only those two spikes cause a reduction.
 
FajitaTone said:
you could always automate the gain/fader whatever you have in audion.

don't compress everything if it's just a spike


:D
Click to expand...

I second this. However if it is indeed a whole song per se, one way you can do the trick without overcompressing is to hit the whole thing lightly, but hit it with compression more than once. Sometimes, I'll use Waves L2 on a whole mix, but instead of mashing it once, I do it lightly a couple of times.
 
heres something i tried that seems to have worked greatly. in adobe audition i went into the wave editor and i zoomed in on the spikes, i then highlighted just the spike and opened up a limiter and set the limit to just enough to pull the spike down and leave everything else untouched, actually i probably could have just ran the limiter on the whole track using a setting that would just get the spikes. anyway, i listened to the song and theres no noticable drop off or anything and i was able to raise the overall volume about 3db.
 
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