-When I listen to some of my favorite tracks it sounds like they are super compressed with a mulitband compresser and that is how the bass and mids are so huge and clear maybe? What do you think would be a healthy level to compress a track with a mulitband compressor in the mastering stage? I am reluctant to compress more than 5db because I like the idea of not altering things to much from the mixdown stage but I haven't been able to figure out how these tracks I hear are so warm...???

Thanks
posted by:
Luke Mandala
offline Luke Mandala
Oregon
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  • Re: mulitband compression in the masterings stage

    Thu, June 5, 2008 - 2:51 AM
    It's my impression that multi band compression is used in mastering only to fix really problems in the mix
    and is not used as a matter of course. However, I'm NOT a professional mastering engineer (I only
    play one on TV during my own low budget mixdowns).

    Remember, too, that 'warmth' in bass frequencies is a complex phenomenon and can have to do with whether
    bass has been recorded with the tape saturation from 2" analog tape (always a great trick) or even put through
    a convolution program that digital stimulates that same process.

    It also has to do , frequently, with whether the bass sound suffers from timbral masking with the low mid frequencies of other instruments
    like the kick drum.

    Somewhere in here (maybe this tribe) I wrote a little post on an old analogue studio trick called 'Zipper Eq'.
    If you haven't read that, write me and I'll hip you to a great way to keep your kick drum and your bass sound (guitar or synth)
    sounds from masking each other with a cool psycho acoustic effect.
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  • kage
    kage
    offline 86

    Re: mulitband compression in the masterings stage

    Fri, June 20, 2008 - 9:36 AM
    i think it's a mistake to think that there is some correct approach to compression - some people try to use it transparently, some people try to use it as an effect (benny benassi, for example, who by the way destroys my ears). you can do a lot of things with compression, so it is a good idea to have a sense of what you are trying to achieve before you come up with your plan of attack. are you trying to even things out? are you trying to sound like a radio band? are you trying to create pumping artifacts for a club track?

    compression in my experience is seldom responsible for warmth or clarity - these elements typically come from the mix.
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    • Jan
      Jan
      offline 95

      Re: mulitband compression in the masterings stage

      Fri, July 25, 2008 - 12:17 PM
      What oudplayer said is right. Really nice and fat tracks were that way before mastering.

      Do this as an experiment...

      Next time you're writing a tune, keep some of your favorite tunes in a playlist on iTunes...

      When you're getting the final mixdown of your tune, go back to iTUnes and check one of the songs BUT bring the volume on iTunes down so that it's basically at the same volume level of your unmastered track. Now you can compare the sound of the track without getting messed up by volume differences.

      Get the track to sound as fat as you want it BEFORE going in to master.

      I personally very rarely use multi-band compression during mastering... Instead going for multi-STAGE compression, which means compressing the track a bit at a time with different compressors, instead of once with a huge setting. I do sometimes use the lowest band on the Ozone's multi-band comp, just to get the bass up by a tad... usually around 1db at a very low setting.
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