Mastering Compression?

[Raddons]

My advice if you're having trouble getting your limiting down is to download some other software limiters and find one that sounds best for you. Get to know each one of them. One of them is bound to work better with you than others.

Also if you're making EDM and don't have your limiters attack to zero you're doing something wrong (I'm only half joking).

[bartekko]

Also if you're making EDM and don't have your limiters attack to zero you're doing something wrong (I'm only half joking).

One word: Lookahead

[HMage]

Thread hijack complete. Moving on.

[cplbradley]

I make loud bass music so my music is compressed limited like a crazy mother fucker. I use the maximizer in ozone, and i end up putting the threshold at 0 and the boost at like 10

[cplbradley]

guys you have to realize that modern EDM is all about loudness. get that RMS as high as possible without distorting the music!

[bartekko]

guys you have to realize that modern EDM is all about loudness. get that RMS as high as possible without distorting the music!

no

[ChocolateChicken]

So I suppose compression really has no purpose in mastering unless if you already have good dynamics in your song beforehand. Another use for mastering compression is what 4th Impulse said, which is to make it so that your limiter doesn't have to pull off as much gain reduction if you have large spikes and transients throughout your song.

I used to think that mastering compression was more about making your song louder, not on a section-to-section basis, but overall.

Many mastering engineers also utilize parallel compression, with the purpose of making the compression sound more transparent.

I think we can all agree that when using compression on your master, it is best used very lightly, meaning low ratio (no higher than 3:1) and not too much gain reduction; perhaps 6dB of gain reduction is too much.

Attack and release times, according to HMage, should be very slow. However, others would argue that an attack time of about 20ms to 80ms would help make your mix more "punchy." I've read that release times can be quicker than 15ms to reduce audible pumping, while most others, including HMage, say that the release time should be a lot slower reduce the pumping itself.

Also, I'm wondering if anybody agrees with using multiband compression instead of EQ to even out the frequency spectrum on your master. It sounds like a good idea, but perhaps somebody knows for sure if it actually sounds good or not.

[the4thImpulse]

Lets get back on topic here. The loudness wars have been argued many times before and this isn't the place to do it.

So I suppose compression really has no purpose in mastering unless if you already have good dynamics in your song beforehand. Another use for mastering compression is what 4th Impulse said, which is to make it so that your limiter doesn't have to pull off as much gain reduction if you have large spikes and transients throughout your song.

That's pretty much what I meant, take the load off the limiter a bit so it could be pushed harder and cleaner. Of course it all comes down to how it sounds, I'm sure some people will say I'm 'doing it wrong', if its sounds good to you than you're doing it right.

Also, I'm wondering if anybody agrees with using multiband compression instead of EQ to even out the frequency spectrum on your master. It sounds like a good idea, but perhaps somebody knows for sure if it actually sounds good or not.

I would use the multiband compression to get the larger frequency bands even (or just sounding good) and then use an EQ to do more 'surgical' adjustments. I also would use mid/side processing for that EQ stage.

[HMage]

Attack and release times, according to HMage, should be very slow. However, others would argue that an attack time of about 20ms to 80ms would help make your mix more "punchy." I've read that release times can be quicker than 15ms to reduce audible pumping, while most others, including HMage, say that the release time should be a lot slower reduce the pumping itself.

You're confusing microdynamics and macrodynamics.

Microdynamics is for stuff around 15ms attack that change the shape of every sound — this changes how the kicks sound, how agressive the guitar passage is, etc.

Macrodynamics is basically a bird's eye view to the song — don't change the sections themselves, but change volume relationships between sections. And with proper compression and makeup you can make loud passages stay at same level, while bringing up quiet passages as much as 12dB if you really want that.

Both are treated separatedly, and I honestly believe that microdynamics should be preserved as much as possible during mastering because they were shaped by mixing engineer and the client approved that sound.

And it's a limiter's job to compress peaks properly — if it doesn't do that well you probably need to tune it. I spend hours fiddling with the limiter.

[cplbradley]

The mastering is really dependent upon the mixing. When I mix, I mix so that my average peak during the loud parts is -8db. Then when I master, I use ozone and boost the gain so that it peaks around 0, then EQ, limit, compress, maximize.