MASTERING

[Seth Munson]

oh ok, so you mix down just the mix (which would be pretty quiet) do you have a typical set volume that that is at before you master it?

I eyeball it, when I look at the meter I keep it in the green. Hard snare hits and bassdrops can touch the bottom part of the yellow but I tend to keep it lower than that these days.

No need to make it super loud in the mixes stages when I am just going to crank it in mastering.

 

[Seth Munson]

ps. I do clip my snare by itself, pretty hard, and I still have this massive gain reduction problem pretty much no matter what I do. Should I try faster attack times on my 2bus compressor or something?

I have to be honest, I HATE clipping drums because it does exactly that, Clips. I dont know anyone that really enjoys a good clippin on the master. Once I stopped clipping my snares a while back everything started to open up and breathe a bit.

and to answer your question, yes start messing with the attack and release times of your 2buss comp.

 

[tempe]

Seth have you tried using the IK clipper as opposed to Gclip? I noticed the other day since my studio partner is on cubase and for some reason was clipping a snare, I was shocked at how harsh Gclip was in comparison. I'm usually using the IK on with the knee around medium-soft and it does some nice things to the snare.

Also you really don't want to be limiting more than around 2.5 - 3dB on the master. I get everything mastered externally but fortunately the engineer I work with is also in Perth, so I attend all the sessions. He gets most of his perceived loudness via EQ and Saturation, then clipping the Cranesong HEDD on the way back in. Usually he's limiting 1-1.5dB on my stuff.

Also for anyone who's interested http://www.forensicaudio.com.au/ (beware; serious gear porn)

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I have to be honest, I HATE clipping drums because it does exactly that, Clips. I dont know anyone that really enjoys a good clippin on the master. Once I stopped clipping my snares a while back everything started to open up and breathe a bit.

and to answer your question, yes start messing with the attack and release times of your 2buss comp.

yeah I hate it on the master but I've found it to be at least acceptable on the snare. but I'm definitely gonna put some hours in messing around without it. thanks man!

 

[[UEAK]Clowd]

Actually, one more question - when are you putting your 2bus compression on? right from the get go or like after you get your drums worked out or what?

 

[Fandus]

Actually, one more question - when are you putting your 2bus compression on? right from the get go or like after you get your drums worked out or what?

I am going to say both. i'm always tweaking the master compressor during mixing, purely to see what's going on. adding more lows in to the bass or kick for example, will be effected by the 2bus comp. They kind of go hand in hand. mix with it off, then mix with it on, then mix with it off. get a feel for what it's doing.

 

[Beneath_the_Bliss]

seriously, WTF is '2buss'. Are you referring to the master bus?

 

[Seth Munson]

seriously, WTF is '2buss'. Are you referring to the master bus?

Kind of, if that's where you do your mastering then yes.

Actually, one more question - when are you putting your 2bus compression on? right from the get go or like after you get your drums worked out or what?

yup, whenever I open a session I toss an eq on the 2buss followed by a comp with a "starting point" setting I have made and go from there. But when I go to bounce it for mastering I bypass all of it.

 

[timislegend]

"2buss" is a superfluous audio engineering term that describes a stereo (2-channel) bus - master fader or wherever you are subgrouping to 2 stereo channels.


it's a yankee expression... but i have heard tons of limeys use it.

 

[OneDaySky]

Using 2 instances of Gclip right afer each other with 2x oversampling works better. First stafe clip the few extremes only (soft) and then clip it again on the 2nd 1 but nothing more than 3db IMO

 

[OneDaySky]

"2buss" is a superfluous audio engineering term that describes a stereo (2-channel) bus - master fader or wherever you are subgrouping to 2 stereo channels.


it's a yankee expression... but i have heard tons of limeys use it.

You mean 2 mono channels right Tim? ;p

 

[timislegend]

yes