Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Achieving loudness in stages, does it help?

Kiwiburger · 21st March 2006

I'm not a ME either, but my goal is to mix so the ME has little or nothing to do.

IMO - there can be advantages in multiple attempts at loudness, but ...

I don't believe eq can fix the damage done by excessive squashing,

I don't believe there is any advantage in hitting the waveform with the same limiter/compression setting - i.e. raising the gain or lowering the threshold.

Every process does damage, so if you can achieve what you want to achieve in one hit, I think that's better.

IMO - limiting some peaks before compression can be useful - the compressor doesn't have to work so hard. And compressors don't really control transient peaks anway (unless you set the attack ridiculously fast and damage your sound). So limiting after compression can deal with the stuff the compressor didn't catch.

Remember, compression is multiplicative - not additive. In other words, if you apply a 2:1 compression, then a 10:1 - the final result is 20:1, not 12:1. (Assuming minimum threshold, which is unlikely).

But I think the idea that a little bit of damage more often is better than one massive hit is probably wrong. Less is usually waay more.

In my uneducated opinion.

21st March 2006	#2
Kiwiburger Lives for gear Joined: Feb 2006 Posts: 4,075	I'm not a ME either, but my goal is to mix so the ME has little or nothing to do. IMO - there can be advantages in multiple attempts at loudness, but ... I don't believe eq can fix the damage done by excessive squashing, I don't believe there is any advantage in hitting the waveform with the same limiter/compression setting - i.e. raising the gain or lowering the threshold. Every process does damage, so if you can achieve what you want to achieve in one hit, I think that's better. IMO - limiting some peaks before compression can be useful - the compressor doesn't have to work so hard. And compressors don't really control transient peaks anway (unless you set the attack ridiculously fast and damage your sound). So limiting after compression can deal with the stuff the compressor didn't catch. Remember, compression is multiplicative - not additive. In other words, if you apply a 2:1 compression, then a 10:1 - the final result is 20:1, not 12:1. (Assuming minimum threshold, which is unlikely). But I think the idea that a little bit of damage more often is better than one massive hit is probably wrong. Less is usually waay more. In my uneducated opinion.