Sound Forge Wavehammer

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Drummerbones

Drummerbones

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Okay, let me make this perfectly clear from the start. I am totally aware that every song and every mix is different, and everything is subjective. And I am a total advocate for having a true pro mastering your work. Having said that...

I don't have a choice. I'm in a situation where I need to "master" a project pronto, on my own. I have Sound Forge 6.0, but I've been using it for other applications.

I've got the EQ handled. What I'm having trouble with is the artist I'm recording wants his CD as hot as the latest GodSmack CD (or whoever).

So I need some advice for some BASIC settings to squash the piss out of this material using the 'wavehammer'. I've fiddled with it, and have not been pleased so far.

I hate asking this question because it goes against every principle I stand for in recording....so you can all save the preaching bla bla bla. I need positive advice!! Thanks in advance.
 
An effective way to get loudness without it all turning to mush is to do more limiting and less compression. If you boost 12 db and limit at -1db, then everything that was between -13db and 0db will now be -1db, but you'll still have your full dynamic range (but 12db louder) for levels below.

I have WaveHammer, but haven't used it much, so I can't give you settings. This is what I do in Cubase, though, and I'm pleased with the outcome.

Thinking about it (and only theoretically), if you wanted to retain a bit of the dynamics in those top 12db, there's no reason you couldn't set your range to 12db and use 6:1 or 8:1 compression there. You'd still want to limit, too, but this way you would retain a portion of the dynamics between -1db and -13db pre-processing. No actual experience doing this (though it's on my list of things to try).

Daf
 
Okay, I went home at lunch at messed around with Sound Forge a little more. There is no 'limiter' per say. I'm very experienced with compressors and what not (I almost feel like a newbie again asking these retarded questions). My problem is I'm not very computer-savy as far as recording. I use a multi-tracker and external gear for recording and mixing. So what feature is equivalent to a limiter in Sound Forge? Duh...
 
uh-oh.

What about SF's built-in Dynamics processor? Does that do limiting?

Y'know, I have this stuff at home, but I'm NEVER there...

Daf (off to school now, home about mdnight:( )
 
Start with the presets......

if you open up Wave Hammer (or any process/effect) there is a drop down menu at the top with a list of presets.

I believe one is call loudness or something but try different ones.

Then preview the track and while its playing, screw around with the threshhold and other settings.

Watch how much gain reduction is happening (the red downward meter).

Push the sound until you hear it start to break up and distort and then come down a litttle from that.......or if you need it to sound like Godsmack or some of the other new stuff out there then keep going until it really sounds like shit.
That's called "heavy" now.....actually i'm just kidding.....it's called "radio".

Sorry....I just read that you know about compressors and stuff so you get the idea...but just attack it like it was a piece of rack gear...instead of knobs, you mouse around sliders (with real time preview) until it sounds good.....or real loud....the customers always right.

The point is start with the presets and check out where the settings get moved to....its a good way to get the feel for a particular plug-in.

Wave hammer rocks....especially if you use it a touch on individual tracks and then gently on the mix.

-mike
 
...

for SoundForge 6.0 I have found the best thing to do is use Wave Hammer, then go to the list of presets and select Soft Compression... I have had the best results this way, don't even tweak any settings after it's selected... and you can do it at least twice without screwing up the recording royally
 
loudness maximizer

the limiter in the wave hammer is on the second page (at least in SF 5.0) of the plug in. it's called the loudness maximizer i think. 2 controls. one for the ceiling (limiter) and one to boost. it's really simple to use, and can be quite effective.

of course, you could also always do more than one stage of compression by using the plug in chainer. set up 2 or more wave hammers in a row and use gentler settings. as long as you make sure the last one has a super quick attack time (or the last one uses the loudness maximizer to limit) you will avoid clips. that may or may not matter with "heavy" music though.

hope this helps. good luck.

marcus
 
loudness maximizer

the limiter in the wave hammer is on the second page (at least in SF 5.0) of the plug in. it's called the loudness maximizer i think. 2 controls. one for the ceiling (limiter) and one to boost. it's really simple to use, and can be quite effective.

of course, you could also always do more than one stage of compression by using the plug in chainer. set up 2 or more wave hammers in a row and use gentler settings. as long as you make sure the last one has a super quick attack time (or the last one uses the loudness maximizer to limit) you will avoid clips. that may or may not matter with "heavy" music though.

hope this helps. good luck.

marcus
 
Great stuff guys. I've been making some mixes using wave hammer and to me they sound like radio crap but other people like it. Possibly softening compression will warm me up to it a little more, it seems to have a lot of potential. Most all my stuff is acoustic stringed instruments and vocals and though WH brings everything out, it's pushed too much. I use some compression in recording and a lot on bass.
 
Cool. Just found a preset I liked and with a few adjustments and changing the output gain from song to song it'll give me the results I'm looking for.
 
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