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Originally Posted by Musiclab  Respectfully I disagree completely. When a mix is not compressed and it goes to mastering, your mix proportions can change , reverb levels etc. When compression is applied later the transients will change depending on how much compression the ME will have to apply. |
If a mastering engineer doesn't know what they're doing, then perhaps I would agree with this statement. The good ones make every endeavor not to mess with the balance of the mix & this includes snare level, musical dynamics, stereo width vs centre. The challenging part is doing this while getting the rms level up to be competitive. This is where mastering engineers pull out all the tricks in their bag to make this process as transparent as possible & this is often what separates the boys from the men. A lot depends on the mix we receive, if the mix is already quite compressed then this can make achieving the above goals for a mastering engineer even more difficult because you've already taken away some of the life/dynamics. There is some techniques that can reverse this a little but it's often a band aid.
I tell you what, next time you're mixing do 2 mixes of the same track, one with your 2 buss compressor approach & then another without it (let that be the only difference). Start with mixing the track without compression first & then from there do your compressed mix approach. Don't think to much about how it will sound in mastering as this will work against you (preconceptions can be dangerous), just balance the levels exactly how you would want them as if it was going to be released that way without further treatment & keep your peak levels 2db under 0dbfs. Send both of them over to me & I'll give you a free demo master & let you decide which one you prefer. Only condition is that you share your findings here, sound fair?
The best masters (& mixes) I've done haven't had 2 bus compression, limiting or clipping before the mastering stage. Not to say that you can't get a great master from a mix that has been mildly compressed but this is usually 2nd place to one with no compression.
Matt