Serious problem with BLACKLIST mastering. Help!!

[acappa]

Hello Guys!!
Thanks to everyone that reads this topic, hope you can help me:
We have mixed our album and there´s no money for sending it to a mastering studio so I must do it myself.
This is the problem:
The overall RMS level is set to -6db, as many engineers have said on this forum, to let 6 db of headroom. So, the fact is that several songs have a sub-bass and when compressing and limiting, at the moment of the sub-bass the level decreases suddenly and in a second it starts to release again.....in spanish this efect is called "bombeo" but I don´t know the name in english.
I tried with different settings in attack and release of my compressor (Waves LinMB) and stuff......but it´s still not working....
At the first time I set subbass higher and then the RMS went up until -2db, but now, I set everything (I guess) for a correct working....
So if anyone of you could help me...
Thanks a lot.

 

[mickrich]

The compressor is pumping.
Try rocket compressor by stillwell audio. It has a hpf on the detector which is perfect for solving your problem. It will allow the sub to pass through without squashing everything. Just turn up the hpf until it stops over reacting to the sub bass. Really great compressor for very little cost. It is also great for parallel compression.
http://www.stillwellaudio.com/?page_id=68

 

[Sean in Silence]

-6 RMS is a little high
try running it for -9 rms and put the output of your mastering plugin at -.5 to leave a bit of headroom
What's happening is the mastering plugin is compressing your mix
so if your subbass (aka 808) is louder than the rest of the mix
then when it hits, in order to keep the mix at the same volume, the compressor "turns down" everything else
This is known as pumping
Try turning your 808 down, lowpassing it at 100hz or lower and mastering a little quieter at -9 RMS and see if that works

 

[-Noodles-]

-6dB RMS???

My mixes come out at around -18dB RMS [or whatever they do naturally], peaking around 10 or less.

When I'm roughly mastering stuff, the peaks are at -0.3dB and my RMS is around -10dB.

You're really over compressing the (hence the pumping) mix.

Everyone does things differently, but a "loud" record is around -8dB RMS - so you're actually going into serious crushing up to -6dB. Back off the makeup gain and compression, and let the mix breathe a little.

 

[acappa]

Thank you all guys!!
Oh sorry I made a mistake, RMS is -17 db and the peak -6db.
I´ll try your recommendations tomorrow, thanks a lot!!

 

[RCW]

I have had this exact same problem before. I am not sure what DAW program you are using but I know this trick worked in cubase:

Route all audio except the bass drop, (808) or whatever you want to call it, to a subgroup and put your mastering chain on the that group channel and then let bass drop be routed straight to the master channel/fader with no limiter or processing of any kind. This will allow you audio to be limited but the bass drop won't be affected by the limiter when it hits so your audio won't have that quick decrease and then swell back up effect.

Hope this helps/makes sense!

 

[deschete]

I am by no means a pro, but i've done a lot of mastering over the past 10 years. If all you have to go with is the Waves limiter, here's my suggestion.

Open the track in a program like soundforge and highlight the "loudest" section in the unmastered wav. It will give you a number for the "average RMS." Let's say this number is -18db.

I shoot for -10 or -11db, so to start with pull the lever on the waves to -8db to bring the track up to -10db. After you process the track, highlight the same section and see if you are at -10db. In reality, I will usually end up with -10.5 or so and that's good enough for me.

Commercial metal gets up to -8db or higher which is just too crushed. I listen to some albums and hear how it's just ruined because of that. You can try going higher if you want, but what's best is to go up a db at a time and compare them at moderate volume. when it sounds too crushed, back off a bit. I usually use .5db or 1db increments.

Hope that helps. It won't replace a real mastering engineer, who will use corrective EQ and other magic tricks, but it will get the job done.

Good Luck!

 

[nwright]

I am by no means a pro, but i've done a lot of mastering over the past 10 years. If all you have to go with is the Waves limiter, here's my suggestion.

Open the track in a program like soundforge and highlight the "loudest" section in the unmastered wav. It will give you a number for the "average RMS." Let's say this number is -18db.

I shoot for -10 or -11db, so to start with pull the lever on the waves to -8db to bring the track up to -10db. After you process the track, highlight the same section and see if you are at -10db. In reality, I will usually end up with -10.5 or so and that's good enough for me.

Commercial metal gets up to -8db or higher which is just too crushed. I listen to some albums and hear how it's just ruined because of that. You can try going higher if you want, but what's best is to go up a db at a time and compare them at moderate volume. when it sounds too crushed, back off a bit. I usually use .5db or 1db increments.

Hope that helps. It won't replace a real mastering engineer, who will use corrective EQ and other magic tricks, but it will get the job done.

Good Luck!

:zombie:

 

[Neil_Mad]

I don´t know much about the mastering but... I use TS Rack 3 with the copy of vintage compresor and ecualization and I have good results you should try cheers.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Try using a linear phase eq. They make a major difference.
I currently use the Waves LinEq plug for mastering.
I use it 'only' for mastering cause that baby is capable of generating latency till 40ms or something. lol.