hey guys i was just wondering a few things about your finalizing process for your live sets and mixtapes especially.
i understand some people prefer the dry mix sound with little to no processing afterwards and some people like to lay on compressors, limiters, tube warmers etc.
i’m curious how you use compressors and limiters for this purpose, in particular what settings do you punch in?
what are the best compressor,limiter and tube plug-ins for this purpose?
The mastering software i use for production is Izotope Ozone, which is bloody amazing. They even had some great presets which dont take much tinkering generally.
i think every 6 months, a topic can be reposted without a ‘use the search button’ post.
(this isnt a response to you photojojo, im just saying this should be an unwritten rule)
Assuming you play decent-quality released tracks (which have already been professionally mastered), your mix shouldn’t require mastering. Compressing a mix can easily degrade the sound. Those are just my 2c, though, I’m not a mastering engineer or anything like that.
Anyways, while mixing, you should keep the levels consistent by means of proper EQ and gain usage. Of course, you also want to record the mix as loud as possible. In practice, it will be difficult to attain those goals perfectly. Therefore, you can put a mild limiter on the master which hits at, say, -2 or -3db as a safety net. I use teh limiter included in Live 8.
For years, I’ve processed all my mixes through Ableton Live. I record pretty quiet by most people’s standards (highest peak is around -6) which, thanks to a 24-bit interface and 32-bit floating point summing and effects, still gives me plenty of dynamic range…the limiting factor is still either the original tracks or my DJ mixer, depending on some specifics.
I use Live’s included limiter plugin–which is actually quite good–to give myself at most 3 dB of limiting at the loudest volume peaks of my mix using the Limiter’s pre-gain setting with a cutoff of about -0.2dB, though I use the free SSL plugin X-IMS (or something like that) to check for intersample modulation distortion and adjust the ceiling and gain to get rid of it if it’s there. It does make a noticeable difference if you A/B it, but it should be as subtle as possible…the volume war has already been fought by the time you hit play…there’s no reason to make it worse. Actually using the dynamic range you have available to you is another story….
for the folks who use compression as a way to bring the levels up a bit.
what are some general guidelines for punching in your settings to get it to lift the sound without creating distortion, like the squashing effect and the nasty pumping/sucking sounds.
long or short attack, long or short release?
ratio? threshhold?
i’m just looking for a general ballpark so i can adjust it to fit the mix properly because it’s probably different depending on how the mix is recorded.
i prefer to record at a lower volume, around -9db so that i have lot’s of room to play with before i add eqing, gain adjustments, limiter etc.
