Loudness is still one of the hottest topics in mastering. In this episode we discuss why louder is better, but Too Loud is worse. And...
- Why you must set the gain FIRST
- How your plugins are fooling you
- Optimising dynamics for online loudness
- How loudness matching can be liberating
- 90% of mastering in nutshell
Links
Thanks for the information. Great stuff as usual.
Hi guys! First of all, congratulations on the series, very insightful!
Question: Do you ever do any processing related to the stereo image, like width etc? Do you consider that to be strictly a part of the mixing process?
Also, do you ever employ any "exciter" type tools in the mastering stage? (Thinking about Master Tape plugings and such)?
Maybe you can touch on these in the next episode.
Thanks for the great info, once again!
Hi Gruia,
Take a listen to episode #7 and get back to me 🙂
Ian
Hello guys,There is one subject that i cant really get totally yet, why the gain has to be set first in the chain? is there any difference in seting it in the limiter in the final on the chain, as you said? I experiment recently on a master with your method, exactly with the trimmer plugin on protools, level up the program first in the chain, and set the threshold on the limiter at 0, loking for some gr occurs on that, but im worried about internal clipping occur on the leveler plugin. Isn't just more safe just turn up the limiter in the end in cause of doubt, and then apply other proccesing with the limiter active? is there a direct benefict (sonic, perspective. i dont know) in applying that a aproach of yours? I dont know if I'm missing something.
Great show, o hear every episode so far.
Grettings.
Maximiliano
Hi Maximiliano,
You can set the gain at the limiter if you like, sure. Choosing gain first is more about making the decision first. Personally I like to actually make that change at the beginning of the chain, too - but that's probably just because I'm a little OCD :-p
But as I said in the show, you don't need to worry about clipping if you boost earlier provided you DAW uses floating-point DSP, and you don't have any analogue modelling plugins.
Bottom line - apply the gain where you feel comfortable.
Hope that helps,
Ian
Thanks Ian!
Hi Ian -
Just started from the beginning of the podcast yesterday, here on episode 6 now, really helpful stuff! I was wondering, in order for the floating point dsp to come in to play, does the file you receive need to have been exported as 32 bit float, and beyond that, does the session that the file has come from need to have been created in a 32 bit float session? I am thinking the answer is yes but I just wanted to double check that I am understanding what you are talking about correctly.
Thanks!
Thank you Ian.
Just one quick question regarding matching loudness for fair comparison,
what mixing level in the control room would you recommend?
Should we follow smpte RP 200 recommendations?
Thanks
GG
Hi Gauthier,
I think this is a personal thing, so you should go with what's comfortable. Personally my level is roughly 80 dB SPL (C-weighted) peaking up to 86 dB for the loudest moments.
Ian
Thanks
I need to listen to this episode again. I thought I had it figured out, but apparently I'm still confusing loudness with dynamics. Is there a loudness 101 post on your site (or other site) that can explain the basics? What is volume vs. loudness vs. dynamics vs. headroom vs. any other of those terms that get all mixed up in it all? Sometimes I think I have it figured out, then I feel I'm in over my head.
Hello again! I also wanted to ask, do you ever use Parallel Compression when mastering; how would that affect the dynamics of a track? Thank you!
Ian
Many thanks for the wonderful Podcasts. However, I have one problem which has so far eluded me, and the answer is not obvious to me (at least). I wonder if it might be a subject for a future Podcast?
When I record drums, I want them to be loud (I'm experimenting with Drum 'n Bass), but they tend to have loud spikes causing my limiter to kick in. If I turn them down so that I can bring the general level up for the other instruments, they lose their impact.
Do I go for heavy limiting and risk distortion or am I missing a trick?
I hope this may be considered in a Podcast as I am at a loss how to treat this situation.
Best regards
Ian,
Comment:
Great show! Setting the loudness at the beginning of the chain makes so much sense!
Question:
Initially, when making decisions on how loud you want your songs to be, do you go by:
A. Integrated LUFS (PLR), or
B. Short-term LUFS (PSR)?
Each is dependent on the other. Which is the primary consideration?
Thanks! : )
Keep up the remarkable job !! Lovin' it!