Loud Mix Recording Principles

[SmoothM]

Of course, it's the old "How do I get a loud mix?" question. I know many engineers are recommending you don't worry about it so much, but there are two arguments I have against this:

A) I'm making metal; I don't really need a lot of range at this point
B) I'm not even in the NEIGHBORHOOD as commercial mix levels.

I know compressing the final mix is the absolute easiest way to up the level, but compressing it enough to get it in the same neighborhood as commercial mixes results in it sounding absolutely terrible (SoundForge graphic dynamics).

So I am wondering if the real problem is with the way I'm recording/mixing the tracks down. Since I am working solo and programming the drums, I have the luxury of looking at the waveform and going back to say, remove kick drums hitting at the same time as snares if it's spiking the level (though I don't like the idea of having to do this) to get a more even level even before compression. But it's not even close to enough. What am I missing? Do I need to compress every track individually before input to get its' signal hotter? Do I need to mess with EQ more? (I highly suspect that I do; both for more loudness and better instrument separation).

Also on the subject of final mix compression, I have some questions. Though I've read about the basics of compression, I fail to understand how compressing a mix can result in digital distortion (>0dB) when the pre-compression mix has none. Compression squashes peak levels lower. Normalizing is supposed to bring everything up so the highest peak is right at 0dB. HOW does it end up over? Can anybody point me to a guide on expirementing with multi-band compression? Is "gain compensation" just automatic normalization after compression?

 

[Massive Master]

Oh goodness...

http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/html/blog_files/My_Mixes_Are_Too_Quiet.html

http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/html/blog_files/Proper_Audio_Recording_Levels.html

http://www.massivemastering.com/blog/html/blog_files/Mastering_DURING_the_mix.html

It's *sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo* much more than just strapping a limiter across the buss that I don't even feel well now. And what it takes for mixes to be able to handle those levels without completely falling apart is something that the vast majority of mixes will never know. It's a struggle - especially with metal - to get *pro* mixes to those sorts of levels.

 

[santiu]

great articles Massive Master. really useful.

just FYI RMS = Root Mean Squared (not Room Mean, squared )

 

[Massive Master]

Whoops... Do I have a typo?

I should say, has yet another typo been found...?


EDIT:

D'oh! Found it - Thanks!

 

[drossfile]

this is easy. everyone knows you just strap a limiter across the buss.

 

[roflcopter]

yeah i was having the exact same dilemma as smoothM, and i think i'm figuring out that there's more to it than i thought. i thought there was like a plugin or a single technique that people used to get their mixes that loud...apparently not.