Hi all, I have a query about something that's bothered me for a while and I can't really get my head around it. Once I've completed a mix of a track and want to apply some limiting on the master bus I can't seem to get the limiter to work as I'd expect it to - i.e. clipping any remaining peaks and bringing up the overall level. When I apply the limiter and set it so that it's actually doing some gain reduction it starts to distort - I can hear this and also see it visually on my Audient ID14 mix levels as well (going into the red).
The mix is set to be no louder than -6 db so there's plenty of headroom. I've used a couple of compressors and then added the limiter at the end so it's not being overworked.
I've tried reducing some of the low end on the track and that helped a little, but the problem remains.
I'm not interested in blasting out loudness but I would like to use the limiter to be working effectively.
To my ears the track sounds good, although I am mainly using good headphones to mix as my room is untreated. I try to listen through speakers and other devices as well to check balances.
Any ideas?
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Make a screen capture video, or record a video with your phone.
What limiter are you using?
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If the actual individual tracks have too much dynamics then using a limiter to really even things out will add distortion .... the trick is to get the various parts, especially kick, snr and bass guitar very even in dynamics. This means small rides of automation as well as compression generally for me.
I find FF stuff very clinical sounding, good for surgery, but not sure I would use it on a master session.
Loudness wars over etc etc.
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The level shown on my interface matches the level shown on my DAW Master track.
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Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youBut seriously, if it sounds good in the mix, I would treat the mastering as a separate process to be carried out under special circumstances. All the streaming sites use different LUFS levels anyway, better to try to keep the mix as dynamic as possible and allow someone with magic ears and the perfect environment to do their magic on your mix, leaving them with some room to manoeuvre and maybe give them stems too.
It is just as useful to run the track through something like Izotope, as an experiment to see what the algorithm does to it, but when it comes to publishing, if the track is too loud it will be turned down, which completely ruins the effect of the few critical Db you have squeezed from your own limited master.
I wouldn't hesitate to use FF limiter on drum bus, or even Mixbus, but very sparingly, and still leaving some headroom for mastering.
If you can hear the limiter really working then it probably isn't a great mix.
I think of master bus limiting in the way I think of ABS in a car.
You don't want it triggering all the time, because it means you are driving like a twat (mixing poorly).
I also mix into master bus compression and limiting, even though I use a mastering engineer for a final mix.
-6dB is possibly a bit too quiet
Try mixing to -3dB, with a limiter on the master, a touch of EQ maybe a compressor for 1-2db of gain reduction max.
I've sent mixes done this way to Metropolis for mastering and never had anything come back with 'too hot, please do again' pinned to it.
I mix of buses, meaning everything gets grouped together, either by instrument type (all guitars, drums, basses, keys, vocals on their own buses) or by pitch region (google 'brauerize').
I tend to use minimal compression and EQ on the individual tracks, maybe a bit of filtering, minimal compression.
The busses get compressed and EQ'ed if needed and then summed together on the master with a minimal compression.
This isn't the only way of course.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Kind of, but only in the sense that they require a specific level. You could take the principles and apply it to whatever you like.