Quote:
Originally Posted by kingliar  Hi all,
Maybe some of you know this problem : snare sounds great in the mix!, but at the final stage during mastering (finalizer), the snare is getting squashed and it sounds like there's a "hole" in the mid-range of the song (like there's no energy/power in the mid-range)
My question is : how to get a loud master (-9dBfs) without squashing the snare?
I'm probably not the first to ask this question and I know it has everthing to do with compressing/limiting. But how to do it ?
Does the mix has to be "fixed" or can it be done during mastering? |
If you do your own mastering (using the Finalizer), adjust the mix to taste...
If you use a good mastering engineer, ask him to do a test with your mix and ask his advice if the results are still not what you expect. Unfortunately, in order to achieve very high levels, the trade off usually happens with the snare and you may have to increase the levels of the snare in your mix even with the best mastering engineer unless your mix is top notch with good separation and pristine dynamics in the first place. The "hole in the mids" is a different problem and probably a sign that you should get someone experienced (and hopefully using something better than a Finalizer!) to do the mastering.