ZITAT
Should I add compression to my mixes?
Some mastering engineers will tell you not to compress your mixes, giving various reasons such as the quality of your compressors or your monitoring environment not being up to par., but I disagree. Mix compression radically changes the instrumental balances within the music – if left to the mastering engineer your mix will often come back sounding very different from what you sent. I recommend judicious use of compression, checking the results in various listening environments with varying levels until you are sure it is beneficial. If you feel uncertain, print versions with and without compression, and remember, the mastering engineer is there to polish, not repaint your mixes …
Should I use a Finalizer, L1, L2, T-Racks, etc. before I send my master to you?
Please do not! Limiting should always be reserved for the last process in mastering. Some confusion is added from old devices such as Fairchild and Universal Audio limiters. These boxes are indeed limiters (compression ratios available above about 10:1) but not like their digital counterparts! Modern digital limiters make further processing sound rather nasty. We have the proper tools to get your mixes loud; this is not something you should be worrying about while mixing. The rule of thumb is this – anything you do for loudness should be avoided in mixing, if it’s done for sonic reasons, go for it. Also, if you find that you have to apply limiters to avoid ‘overs’ while mixing, pull the faders back instead …
Some mastering engineers will tell you not to compress your mixes, giving various reasons such as the quality of your compressors or your monitoring environment not being up to par., but I disagree. Mix compression radically changes the instrumental balances within the music – if left to the mastering engineer your mix will often come back sounding very different from what you sent. I recommend judicious use of compression, checking the results in various listening environments with varying levels until you are sure it is beneficial. If you feel uncertain, print versions with and without compression, and remember, the mastering engineer is there to polish, not repaint your mixes …
Should I use a Finalizer, L1, L2, T-Racks, etc. before I send my master to you?
Please do not! Limiting should always be reserved for the last process in mastering. Some confusion is added from old devices such as Fairchild and Universal Audio limiters. These boxes are indeed limiters (compression ratios available above about 10:1) but not like their digital counterparts! Modern digital limiters make further processing sound rather nasty. We have the proper tools to get your mixes loud; this is not something you should be worrying about while mixing. The rule of thumb is this – anything you do for loudness should be avoided in mixing, if it’s done for sonic reasons, go for it. Also, if you find that you have to apply limiters to avoid ‘overs’ while mixing, pull the faders back instead …
