Loudness with Finalizer?

[MetalSound]

I just bought a finalizer plus and am messing around with this piece of gear.
I used to master with nuendos multiband compressor so far and was quite happy. I could tweak the soft clip knob until I got my desired loudness (around 9,7 db RMS mostly).

But now I just tried the finalizer and I don´t get this loudness.
I have to compress it to fuck and then it sounds crappy. The average level I got was around 11 db. Everything above sounded just like distorted shit.

Do you have any solutions? Do you guys use the internal limiter and let it clip often? I find when the softclip is working too often it sounds too distorted but when I don´t drive it so hard I don´t get the desired loudness....any ideas or starting points?

 

[LSD-Studio]

I just bought a finalizer plus and am messing around with this piece of gear.
I used to master with nuendos multiband compressor so far and was quite happy. I could tweak the soft clip knob until I got my desired loudness (around 9,7 db RMS mostly).

But now I just tried the finalizer and I don´t get this loudness.
I have to compress it to fuck and then it sounds crappy. The average level I got was around 11 db. Everything above sounded just like distorted shit.

Do you have any solutions? Do you guys use the internal limiter and let it clip often? I find when the softclip is working too often it sounds too distorted but when I don´t drive it so hard I don´t get the desired loudness....any ideas or starting points?

make sure you have all your frequencies sorted in the mix. (it's often the case that it clips cause one frequency is too prominent..eats headroom).

I'm not using the finalizer's limiter at all, just the 2 clipper-sections, no problems getting loudness.
(although I don't really aim for maximum volume, I prefer some dynamics instead).

give it more time, the finalizer is great once you've found your way working with it

 

[MetalWorks]

I have the 96K and I often start with the Wizard Mode on a song, then come back and tweak EQ if needed or do little bumps in the Normalizing and Compressor Output if I want more volume. Then run each of the songs through it.

Im not 100% confident when it comes to Mastering, but so far it works that way for me.

 

[MetalSound]

Are you really using the normalize function? I think it´s no more than a level adjustment.....maybe I´m wrong and need to spend a little more time with it.
BTW, I noticed that each time the snare is hit the overload led in the finalizer lightens up although the overall volume level isn´t that much. Can I ignore it?

 

[Aaron Smith]

The compression stage in the Finalizer will definitely distort and destroy a mix if you push it too hard, and it's easy to push it too hard. Try using the multiband compressor you mentioned as an insert before you go out to the Finalizer, so you can lay off the Finalizer compression a little more. I actually like the way the Finalizer sounds, when you don't rely on it alone to complete a master.

 

[JBroll]

There was a huge thread on loudness a while back, http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/278894-getting-your-loudness.html - I wouldn't expect one thing to do too much, splitting the work between different stages really helps things.

Jeff

 

[MetalSound]

Yeah, I read that thread. I was just wondering because I read that Andy masters ONLY with the finalizer and I know another Andy (Classen) who does so too. Maybe my mixes aren´t that balanced enough to get the finalizer doing all the mastering work...

 

[Splat88]

On the master bus, clip the peaks off your snare using a clipper and then feed it into the Finalizer. Make sure the kick or music does not get clipped very much though. Your Finalizer is probably peak limiting to the snare drum and sucking down too much. That's a perfect way to get the Waves L1. L2 L3 family of limiters to sound like complete crap. Clip the snares first and they sound great. This is all in my opinion, however!

 

[LSD-Studio]

the "normalize"-function is actually a "clipper"....make sure to set it to "soft".

 

[Aaron Smith]

I read that Andy masters ONLY with the finalizer

I've never read such a thing...in fact, I have seen Andy state more than once that he uses mainly the Finalizer, with a couple other inserts (don't take the word "couple" as verbatim, though). I don't know if he wants the inserts he uses or the specific chain of inserts to be a secret, but I would really doubt that he's got some kind of secret magical voodoo combination that makes his masters awesome. Then again, he does have some secret magical voodoo SM57s that make his guitars kick ass...

I do know he's used the Alan Smart C2 in his mastering chain before.

 

[nwright]

I've found that I actually have an easier time making my mixes crazy loud using the Finalizer along with a clipping plugin and a limiter.