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Do you put a Compressor/Limiter on your master channel, what are the pros/cons of doing this?

only after final mix is done.

adjust: if you plan to send your tune to mastering studio then never use limiter/compressor, if you just want to people listen to it then compressor is recommended cause it makes tune louder and smooths the sound's frequency spectrum

only after doing a mixdown at -3db

only if i want to play it out or check it on someone else's system.

its my understanding that you should only do this to tidy up your final mix, not as a shortcut to your final mix.

compressor, not usually... at least, not usually for dancefloor music. limiter + EQ, all the time as the cheap-ass home mastering technique.

yo TER

can u expand a bit

i sit for a couple hours usually when i finish a tune jus eq'ing off frequencies/boosting cutting etc

but i never put nothin on the whole tune ie a limiter/comp/eq

what limiter / eq settings are optimal (General Q I kno, but lets say for bass driven music)

right sop i used to whack a limiter on my master before i even started a tune and mixed within its limit, always a nice loud mix etc
however for vinyl its best left to transition etc

as a follow up the the second comment i gotta say ive been using antares tube on the master instead of the limiter, as it gives a sound not unlike an analog mixer being overdriven (ie free limiting/compression without sacrificing dynamics or sounding like its hitting a brick wall)

when my wavs went to transition jason said he could tell theres some kind of limiting or comp on it but it didnt affect him mastering for vinyl (it was normalised to -1) so it doenst squash the peaks so much, if at all

this may be unconventional but hearing what transition had to say about mastering it it seems like i'll continue to do it

For the 'bedroom mastering' sound why not? For playing out and testing it makes a fair bit of difference. However I'd take everything off to send away for pro mastering, let them do it properly without my clumsy efforts at 'fatness'...

Mudda wrote:For the 'bedroom mastering' sound why not? For playing out and testing it makes a fair bit of difference. However I'd take everything off to send away for pro mastering, let them do it properly without my clumsy efforts at 'fatness'...

exactly. I tend to like a limiter-- and definitely not a brick-wall limiter, i'd like my kicks to have low-end instead of sounding like a fishfart thank you very much-- on mixes to play out just because it brings everything up in level. other than that, a little boost at 8khz, possibly a bit in the low end (but not usually) and a cut down in the superlows and it's good to go for club mixes.

as far as the limiter goes, put a meter on afterwards and aim to get an RMS level that's high without distortion, and without eating up your transient info (drums--kicks especially). not all meters read the same, but if i'm @ -10rms, i'm happy. i want to avoid anything overdriven as much as possible.

vintagewarmer doing damn-near nothing is usually good enough for me.

commercial rock records are up at like -5rms these days, which is absurd and will leave your tracks with no punch on the floor. keep it quiet enough to sound GOOD and just turn yr gain up if you've gotta, on the mixer.

I don't like compression (usually) on tracks because it really changes how people physically interact with a tune. again, different thing on rock records but i want drums to really bang on a system--not just be loud.

Do not ever compress/limit the master output. Any sort of blanket compression should be done prior to cutting, whether vinyl or CD. Even then you wont notice it if you mastered it properly during production. If you bring them a weak output then it's going to need alot of work.

Actually, it is a very good idea to use a Limiter on the Master when you are composing.

Putting a Limiter set to something like -0.5dB will keep things level while you compose, so nothing gets too lost in the mix.

It also means that things stay in check so you can concentrate on making music instead of tweaking shit pointlessly for hours.

Once you have finished composing, take it off and mix down properly. It might give you a shock when you first take it off, but you will soon work your way through the tracks and get everything in shape.

man knows

youd only have to drag a couple things donw or put a similar limiter with the same setting as the master on anything poppoin its head out

compressor on the master channel after can mess up your mixdown

Could you be more vague please?

This is what you should be doing...

1. Software Limiter on the master whilst composing

2. Take it off for the mixdown.

3a. Take what you come up with to a proper mastering engineer with proper equipment.

or

3b. Limit the final mixdown with a Software Limiter if you are in a rush/dont care about quality/dont want to release it/just want to blast it at a party.

vadarfone wrote:Could you be more vague please?

yes

compressor-master channel-venturesome

seriously tho - it can do wonders - but imo you should be getting it right in the mixdown stage and any compression on the master will modify your hard work. Its easy to get lulled into the trap of thinking that your home made mastering is reprasentative of your production skills. particually when a-b referencing your tracks.
I am of the opinion that any eq/compression is best applied to individual channels where nescessary.

Future Producer wrote:Do you put a Compressor/Limiter on your master channel, what are the pros/cons of doing this?

If you are sending it to us please do not put a comp or limiter on the master fader. Try not to squash the individual channels too much and do not overdrive any channels (when working in the box).
Normalizers are not needed either because if you want everything in the mix to be at the same level, then why not mix it that way?
All of the above processes are destructive and cannot be undone so if i need to apply eq or whatever to a heavy limited tune my options are restricted because the tune has already been cooked. Compression and limiting should be the last processes (apart from dither but that’s another minefield) that happens to a tune before it is put onto the end medium, Any pro mastering engineer who knows what he or she is doing will tell you this.

If on the other hand you are playing the tunes out on cd or you are giving them to people who will be playing on cd/Serato then do as you please.
But remember to keep an unprocessed mix for future mastering.

Jason

vadarfone wrote: This is what you should be doing...
1. Software Limiter on the master whilst composing
2. Take it off for the mixdown.
3a. Take what you come up with to a proper mastering engineer with proper equipment.

1. What for? I leave my master completely untouched because i want to know if anything is raising the levels too high or causing the output to clip. I dont want to carry on oblivious and get to the end and find out that x,y and z are fucking my levels.

2. See above.

3. In my opinion there is no point producing music unless you understand and are involved in the mastering process from the start. Mastering should be the final polish on an already well produced and finished track. You should not have to take your work to a mastering engineer to get it to sound good, more often than not the final mastering done is simply to make the music compatible with the final media, be it MP3, CD or Vinyl.

If you take your time at the start of your track to make sure all the individual components sound nice and sit well with eachother your final mixdown wont take very long at all. Sometimes i get to the end of a track and only have to spend 10 minutes to get the sound just right and ready for final export with no further mastering needed. (except for the above, when going onto vinyl for example)

All good mate. I guess we all have different ways of working. You stick to yours and I will stick to mine!

I find the techniques I posted work for me, and allow me to get my ideas down in super fast time.

As I said in my post though (that may have been misconstrued) is that I put the Limiter on the Master during composition, so I can compose. I also have years of experience under my belt which allows me to make value judgements on sounds before I stick them in the mix too. The combo means that when I do eventually take the limiter off to get into the mixdown, nothing is usually really really out of place.

This is about knowing your monitors inside out too, I guess.

Anyway, I just wanted to post my method, not get into an argument, so peace and all that.