I'm tired of this (mixing question)...

[InnerCircle]

Alright, I don't seem to understand how to do this.
When I finish a mix, I can NEVER pump the mix to a normal volume level.
I always have to use like tons of compression on the mastermix, but that fucks everything up (+ crackling etc).

I'm sick and tired of this actually. I hear alot of mixes around here (and on albums) and they're all like around the 0 dB line without alot of compression and crackling.

How do you raise the volume of a track to a normal level (drums, guitars etcc) without alot of comp?

How to do this? Do you guys finish this in the mix or on the mastertrack?

Please inform me!!

Thanks.

 

[kev]

a limiter of doom

 

[InnerCircle]

like L1?

 

[kev]

like a L2, or a timeworks

 

[InnerCircle]

like a L2, or a timeworks

When I use L2 on the drums it gives me this really f'ed up sound when I try to boost it.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong...

 

[kev]

hmmm... its always seemed to have excited mixes up nicely when ive used it! How do you operate it?

 

[alexrookie]

i have limiters on nearly every bus i use, but i don't lower the threshold!
on drums, my limiter is the very last instance, but it only affects to the peaks my multiband limiter and the comps on the tracks can't control!

my main mix has a limiter in use, too - but no lowered threshold!

just my vocal bus has a limiter that is really hard working. - ah yeah, the bass one, too!!

since i do it that way, my mix is much easier to master and it is really nice to listen to, because of a overall level that is loud enough to compare to other mixed and mastered cd's!!

i really like it, doing it this way, bit you have to be careful with dynamics and transients - but it works.

 

[Eduardo Apolonia]

You must use compression on almost everything except maybe the distorted guitar that is already compressed. And on the guitar you can use the Andy Sneap C4 preset to compress only a frequency range.
This way when everything reaches the mix bus you don't have a so bigger dynamic range. Then you don't need to compress the mix bus so much.

 

[Black neon bob]

If the mixes come out really soft and low in volume, then you should look for improvement, but if the mix is just a bit lower, then i would just forget to compete with the volume levels modern cd's have these days... i mean, i really hate to hear crackling and clipping on a album just because the mastering engineer decided that it needs to be louder then anything out there...
I'd rather hear a decent mix without that on a lower volume.

My two cents.

 

[InnerCircle]

I get the point.

Actually you're right Black neon bob, it's just a tiny bit.
But after reading all this, I'll definately work on it.