DIY 'Mastering' examples?

[paravrais]

Now you guys have made my head spin. Should I be rendering my track in 24 or 16 bit??? and a sample rate of 44100 right? I always figured 16bit/44100 because thats what cds are but maybe i've missed the ball with this as well??

[Ongelegen]

Now you guys have made my head spin. Should I be rendering my track in 24 or 16 bit??? and a sample rate of 44100 right? I always figured 16bit/44100 because thats what cds are but maybe i've missed the ball with this as well??

24 44100, when mastered the 24 44100 will be bounced 16 44100

[paravrais]

Now you guys have made my head spin. Should I be rendering my track in 24 or 16 bit??? and a sample rate of 44100 right? I always figured 16bit/44100 because thats what cds are but maybe i've missed the ball with this as well??

24 44100, when mastered the 24 44100 will be bounced 16 44100

So when sending to a mastering gremlin it should be 24 44100, was about to ask what if a tune isn't going to be professionally mastered but then I realised I may as well export it as 24bit anyway to get in the habit as it's only gonna be converted to 320 in itunes right away XD

[Ongelegen]

ok thanks!

and if i mastered it in the project file itself right after the mixdown and didn't bounce and import the 24bit?

Nevermind that, i'm being dumb. I just realized it's the same as i'm working in 24bit

[vertx]

So is a limiter preferred over a compressor when bringing the mix gain up? Wouldn't a limiter smash the peaks when a compressor could be used more subtly and then one could use a gain plug to bring the mix to just under 0.0?

Or have i misunderstood the differences between the two?

[SunkLo]

So is a limiter preferred over a compressor when bringing the mix gain up? Wouldn't a limiter smash the peaks when a compressor could be used more subtly and then one could use a gain plug to bring the mix to just under 0.0?

Or have i misunderstood the differences between the two?

You've kinda got the right idea. You're right about a compressor being probably more subtle. The problem is, in this situation we're trying to turn up the whole track but the transients will cause clipping if it's brought up too far. So we need to use a limiter that doesn't let any signal past (especially those transients which would sneak by a compressor with an average attack) to pull down the dynamic range of the mix. Once the peaks are brought down a bit, we can turn the track up. If you used a compressor with an attack phase, you'd still end up with sharp bursts getting through causing clipping and preventing you from turning up the average level.

In other situations, you might use a compressor to get the type of gain reduction you like and then put on a limiter afterwards to catch the peaks that get through. The benefit of this is, you can use the compressor's settings to affect the general portion of the sound and then dial in the limiter depending on how much you want to shave off the peaks.

[Sharmaji]

? Wouldn't a limiter smash the peaks when a compressor could be used more subtly and then one could use a gain plug to bring the mix to just under 0.0?

yes. you'd be surprised how many 'peaks' you can lose w/o degrading sound quality. a brickwall limiter works just as it's called-- it chops off everything that goes past that wall. the idea is the same as a compressor but, in practice, tends to be a much more single-note thing. you use a limiter to make things louder by killing the dynamic range; that's it.

a compressor will change the dynamic (and, because of the circuitry) harmonic/tonal/elemental-balance of your mix. you use a limiter to alter dynamic range, with all the artifacts (good or bad) that it induces.

mastering is not a black science. experiment with your tools, examine recordings, get to know what bus compression and different kinds of distortion sound like, and your ears will start to know what's going on.

[vertx]

Thanks fellas, helpful stuff.