Whacking a limiter on the Out channel to get some Loudness. Good idea?

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parsons19

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Howdy all,

Another question from me ! :lol: I have finally finished my EP. (woohoo!) Mixdowns too :)

I was thinking about having a little bash at mastering them but all I really want from a master is to get the tunes to a level where they compare with other tunes. Is a way of doing this to whack a limiter on the output channel rather than trying to master it? :)

I have the W1 Limiter which is meant to be pretty ideal for the job. Just thought I would confirm how to go about it!

Jordan
 
limiter or maximiser. or you could do it with compression. gota be carefull tho mate, you can take the punch out of everything with one wrong move.

if you want pass em over n ill bring em up for ya, i'm rockin SSL, there pretty nice for gettin volume up

don't have to use it or anything but yeh, ill try it for you.
 
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I don't think its a good idea to master your own tunes.
A few people do it and achieve decent results but you need a decent set up and a lot of experience.

A fresh pair of ears would be more beneficial to the overall product.
 
Well, I was hoping to get a preview out tomorrow or on Monday as the release is Jan 30th. :) I will happily hand em over if its easy work for ya but don't want to rush you if you're busy!
 
elmaruk said:
limiter or maximiser. or you could do it with compression. gota be carefull tho mate, you can take the punch out of everything with one wrong move.

if you want pass em over n ill bring em up for ya, i'm rockin SSL, there pretty nice for gettin volume up

don't have to use it or anything but yeh, ill try it for you.
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You're using an SSL desk?
 
parsons19 said:
Well, I was hoping to get a preview out tomorrow or on Monday as the release is Jan 30th. :) I will happily hand em over if its easy work for ya but don't want to rush you if you're busy!
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got nuffin to do till i go out later mate.

send em over -3dB .wav

you kno the email.

---------- Post added at 17:35 ---------- Previous post was at 17:34 ----------
sam the dnb man said:
You're using an SSL desk?
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loooool i bloody wish.

nah, some of the plugins.
 
If you had upcoming gig and wanted to play your tracks on a club system, the W1 will get your levels up to par.

It's great to try some DIY mastering, however, I'm of the opinion that having your mastering done from someone else is always a better approach for the following reasons:
  1. A fresh set of ears gets to listen to and analyze your track. After hearing it many times over throughout production, your ears tend to get use to the frequencies and you may not be able to pin point any potential issues. Or you may start trying to fix what you think are potential issues only to wind up squeezing the life out of your tune.
  3. Whatever mastering plugins/equipment you have, a mastering engineer has a better version.

Of course if you can get your DIY mastering on par with professional releases or are looking to save some money, go for it! I'd like to be able to do the same one day but until then I just fire that tune off to a mastering guru and eagerly wait for him/her to apply their magic.

Cheers!
 
lostnthesound said:
If you had upcoming gig and wanted to play your tracks on a club system, the W1 will get your levels up to par.

It's great to try some DIY mastering, however, I'm of the opinion that having your mastering done from someone else is always a better approach for the following reasons:
  1. A fresh set of ears gets to listen to and analyze your track. After hearing it many times over throughout production, your ears tend to get use to the frequencies and you may not be able to pin point any potential issues. Or you may start trying to fix what you think are potential issues only to wind up squeezing the life out of your tune.
  3. Whatever mastering plugins/equipment you have, a mastering engineer has a better version.

Of course if you can get your DIY mastering on par with professional releases or are looking to save some money, go for it! I'd like to be able to do the same one day but until then I just fire that tune off to a mastering guru and eagerly wait for him/her to apply their magic.

Cheers!
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Cheers for the input man. You, and samthednbman, are correct indeed! A fresh set of ears is always a good idea! So, I will send em over elmaruk ;)

Doubt you remember but I had major troubles getting the tune to you in an email last time (as my email account has limits on what I can send, it even stuggles with mp3s! I will get em up on SC as private available for download in a wee bit :) Will let you know when there on!

Jordan
 
they are some sexy little beasts.

they have some free plugins on their site too.

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parsons19 said:
So, I will send em over elmaruk
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Please, call me Aid. :P

Ok bud, quick quick before i die of boredom.
 
elmaruk said:
Please, call me Aid. :P

Ok bud, quick quick before i die of boredom.
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Haha ok :lol: I am uploading them now, pretty slow uploader though!

Cheers for this dude, and the other master from a while back :) You can have a free download as a thanks when its out :D (Yeah, thats the best I can do... :lol:) If you like the tunes of course!
 
anytime

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 ----------

dya just wan em put up in volume as far as i can or dya wanna keep some dynamics in their?

and do you want some extra spice in their or just the volume?
 
If you got the time to give em a bit of extra love that would awesome!

Volume will be fine though if you prefer :D

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Sorry for the delay, SC being an arsepain. Different solution. Whacking all the tunes in a rar file. If thats to big for an email I will put it on a mediafileshare or whatever its called :)
 
I tend to leave my master channel alone. Try and get the mixdown sounding as polished as you can, then export to wav. I then either re-import back into my DAW, and run Izotope Ozone where I tweak it to my taste. Oe I'll run it through Adobe Soundbooth for the finishing touches
 
Mr Fletch said:
I tend to leave my master channel alone. Try and get the mixdown sounding as polished as you can, then export to wav. I then either re-import back into my DAW, and run Izotope Ozone where I tweak it to my taste. Oe I'll run it through Adobe Soundbooth for the finishing touches
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What db do you mixdown to?
 
Alright Fletch cheers :)

I did have a go before and I did just that :) Whacked the wav file in my DAW and did some further EQ and stuff, I don't actually have any mastering plugins, some are supposed to be pretty handy!

---------- Post added at 21:37 ---------- Previous post was at 21:30 ----------

Oh, yogi, I normally mixdown to about -3db :) Simply because thats what I was originally told to do for the first master Aid did for me :) Never really thought about it but -3db seems to be fine! Fletch could be different of course but I reckon -3 is pretty much bang on. Likely just far away enough from the red where you clip so it is probably optimum loudness :D
 
I don't think I've ever mixed down a tune, ever :/

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well, not in the true sense of a mix down. i do everything as i go along, eq, levels ect. always have.
 
parsons19 said:
Oh, yogi, I normally mixdown to about -3db :) Simply because thats what I was originally told to do for the first master Aid did for me :) Never really thought about it but -3db seems to be fine! Fletch could be different of course but I reckon -3 is pretty much bang on. Likely just far away enough from the red where you clip so it is probably optimum loudness :D
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Sweet, i started mixing down to -6db and wondered if that was just to quiet.


Yea i do everything as i go along aswell makes it more easier at the end for me
 
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It probably doesn't matter too much as long as you aren't around like -12 or something silly :)

I normally sort out percussion straight from the word go and sort out EQ and reverb choices as I go along, but I like to sit back at the end and have a few little tweaks and then sort the levels out. I think my mixdown skills have been improving quite a bit actually! :) (Hopefully :lol:)
 
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parsons19 said:
Never really thought about it but -3db seems to be fine!
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the reason most people, or at least me, ask for the tune exported at -3dB is to allow head room for compression. some people might ask for something else. there of other factors that can change this tho.

---------- Post added at 22:22 ---------- Previous post was at 22:19 ----------

i shouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. just concentrate on your tunes.

a quote from icicle, not word for word but, "I usually put stuff on the master bus and things usually clip. Haven't had any complaints from the mastering engineer yet so ill carry on :P"
 
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