Waves L2: analog limiter for the "loudest snare" hits?

[bob katz]

Originally Posted by lucey

What about lowering the mix by 4db Evan, and leaving the punch in there for mastering?

You know, Brian Lucey makes so much sense! We've gone over this issue before again and again here with regard to using a peak limiter in a mixing situation:

If you are mixing and the SOUND OF THE SNARE HIT sounds too loud or snappy to you, then you MIGHT want to use a program limiter, if it doesn't screw up the sound or if the Limiter makes things SOUND better to you.

But Why? Limiters have their own sound and they can soften the impact. If you are mixing, then you have far better control manually over this snare hit and you can turn it down during the mixing process by adjusting the level of this offending snare hit manually. If you are obsessed about getting a 0 dB peak level on the meter, you could manually find the snare hit, isolate it in the track and drop its level down by a dB (this is so much easier to do in SADiE or Sequoia or Nuendo than in Pro Tools, by the way, because you aren't restricted to adding dots to an automation line. In SADiE you would cut the snare hit into a separate region, and assign it a gain of -1 dB, for example, then turn up the entire rest of the program by 1 dB if you wish.)

If the rest of the mix seems to be "down" by 4 dB.... don't worry. Let it ride, maybe drop the snare hit by only as much as the music and sound dictates... that's called "crest factor" and "headroom". Now what's going to happen in the mastering? Well, I'd like to say, if anyone is going to ruin your mix, don't let it be you, and hopefully not the mastering engineer, either!

But REALLY! If you are mixing and the measured peak level of the snare hit would cause you to go over level on the meter, but it sounds great to you, then don't process it, just turn down the level of your mix and turn up your monitor. Send (as Brian says) an open and punchy and dynamic and clear mix to the mastering house. At 24 bits you don't lose any audible signal to noise ratio at all, there is no need to mix to full scale, or even close-----EVER.

[brethes@mac.com]

Originally Posted by bob katz

... you could manually find the snare hit, isolate it in the track and drop its level down by a dB (this is so much easier to do in SADiE or Sequoia or Nuendo than in Pro Tools, by the way, because you aren't restricted to adding dots to an automation line. In SADiE you would cut the snare hit into a separate region, and assign it a gain of -1 dB, for example, then turn up the entire rest of the program by 1 dB if you wish.)

Errrr.... You can do this in any Pro Tools systems with just two key strokes (Command E to create a sepaate region for the snare, and Audiosuite "Gain" to drop it by -4db)!

[GUUS]

I was looking for acoustic frabics on the net and got stuck into your discussion, great fun. What about this. The loudness you so much like in that break is not the peak you see on your meter. I guess your eyes tricked your ears! All you need to do is ease in the attack of the snare with a little fade.