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Volume
Nov 26, 2012 14:29:22 GMT -5
Post by oswlek on Nov 26, 2012 14:29:22 GMT -5
I've been digging deeper into the mixing/mastering thing, and I'm running into a very basic issue. No matter how I try, I can't make my mixes get to the volume levels of professional mixes, or even the levels of some HC members.
I use T-rackS3, which has a brickwall limiter, and it helps me get the mix up higher than it would otherwise. But I can't push it too much or else I start getting some residue from the crushing it has to do to keep the dbs at 0.
So, what do you use to finalize your mixes? How do you get the levels up to radio heights?
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Volume
Nov 26, 2012 16:47:09 GMT -5
Post by bee3 on Nov 26, 2012 16:47:09 GMT -5
I pay for my mastering.
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Volume
Nov 26, 2012 17:16:02 GMT -5
Post by rsadasiv on Nov 26, 2012 17:16:02 GMT -5
Ugh, the loudness wars.
I haven't used T-Racks, and I'm not a compressor expert. Ususally I use a mastering compressor (Voxengo Elephant) on the mix and give it a bunch of headroom to work with. If I'm still concerned about overs I'll put a brickwall limiter after that, just to catch anything that's over -1 dbfs or so.
Compression behaves very differently depending on the source material. The transients on drums require very different compression settings than the transients on vocals. I usually do a bunch of track level compression before I get to the mastering compressor. Also, you may want to fine tune the EQ of the track before it hits the compressor - try cutting everything below 50hz and see what happens, or take a look at your mix in a spectrum analyzer (I use Voxengo SPAN, it's free) and watch where the peaks occur (frequency wise) and then either go after those with an EQ or a multiband compressor.
Or else, just leave it alone and let listeners adjust the volume on their playback system as they see fit.
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Volume
Nov 26, 2012 17:38:54 GMT -5
Post by oswlek on Nov 26, 2012 17:38:54 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of volume wars, but it can be a real annoyance when someone has to turn up the volume every time one of my tunes pops up in the shuffle. Hell, even for my own enjoyment, since the odds of my tunes ending up in anyone's ipod is remote. I have a spectrum analyzer, but never thought to target specific frequencies at small instances of time. Thanks for the tip.
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