Loudness maximizer ?????????

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StratFreak

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Ive been trying to dabble into the mastering part now, its like trying to split a atom for me
Okay, i mix down my tracks to a stereo file, open Wavlabs, drop the file in there

I have Stein's mastering edition

Question is, does it matter what order to have the effects in the master selection in Wav lab? if so what do most people use in ME and in what order? EQ in 1, Compressor 2 etc..

I read somewher that the LM should be second to last with the peak master last, leave it as preset to stop it from peaking above 0db?

Speaking of the LM, whats the proper setting for the desired gain? or most common setting? adjust the fader so the yellow light is right at 0db?

What about the "more density" fader to the right, i dont hear much of if any at all a sound change by moving this fader, maybe its my ears..

Whats a standard or common setting for the density fader?

What about the soft/hard setting? whats a common setting?

Do most people enable the boost?

Sorry for the lame questions but im trying to get a feel as to how to properly have the plug-ins arranged and to get a better feel of the ME

Thanks for anyone thant can help me
 
Eq
Compressor
Limiter
Dither (If needed)

That is my chain.... The top being the first..


Most people use this arrangement, but as with any subject opinion will vary :)
 
Thanks VOXVENDER

but whats the scoop with the LM?

if ones suppose to record at 0db, isnt it almost a neccesity to boost the sound with LM?

or is this a matter of opinion as well?

it seems as though one almost "should always" use the LM

thoughts?
 
Im not sure what a LM is....

Im guessing it is some sort of Limiter, and yeah it should be last before Dither..

I use the Waves Gold Bundle and My maximizer/limiter is called an L1

Im sort of lost in your question about the 0 db thing...

Yeah one should record as close to 0 without going over, and yeah the limiter/maximizer will bring you up to that if needed.....

What im thinking (and this is a guess),is that you are talking about limiting when tracking,,, so you get your input signal as close to zero.... And, I would say, no don't do that...

I don't use any limiting (especially when tracking), only on the 2 track stereo master....in the mastering stage..and I never limit or maximize my seperate instrument tracks.... you shouldn't need to... compression, is what I use for those...

Sorry, Im sort of lost, but trying my best.....:)
 
The Steinberg ME Loudness Maximizer is really a compressor and a limiter in one. I believe the "density" slider controls the amount of compression. Once it gets beyond the compressor's reach, it begins limiting the signal.

I have found that the compressor part is not all that effective, though. I usually use a compressor seperately before I use the LM. This has helped reduce any distortion due to the LM.

Here's a good link: http://www.audiomidi.com/info/spectraldesigns/douglas_mastering.html
 
If the stein' loudness maximizer is like the waves ultra-maximizer, then it is a look ahead peak limiter that allows you to push your mix beyond 0db and limits the overs to -0.3db

for instance,

I had a mix where the average volume level was -4db (i think i'm saying that right), but I couldn't normalize it any higher than that because there were peaks in the mix that did not really contribute to the sound but kept me from being able to push the overall volume up. so... I set the ultramaxizer such that the output volume is set to +3db and the stuff in the mix between 0 and -3db becomes +3 to 0 db and is thereby limited to -0.3db thereby raising the average volume level without making a great sacrifice to the sound.

push it too far, and your mix will sound like crud.
 
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