Mixing and Tracking for LOUDness

[guinsu]

I just wanted to say thanks to Tony for his post, I tried his idea last night and it worked great. And this is coming from someone with little mixing experience, and not so great compressor plug ins. The drums jump out more, plus when I was done I was able to set my master limiter at -4db instead of -8db on my original mix.

Whoever said that if you focus on the dynamics and making it sound right the loudness takes care of itself was right. Like I said, I am pretty new to this but I saw some good results and even though the mix was louder and "more punchy" it was less squashed because I could lay off the master limiter too. With more time I'm sure the mixes will get better. I could post a before/after if it would be useful.

[Tom Sigmond]

Originally Posted by TonyCrazyMan

Target the reference input level of your converter, for instance -9dB on 24-bit recording.

Tony, can you explain this one a bit more?


Thanks.


grtz. Tom

[Lagerfeldt]

Originally Posted by BackHand

I've have also the SSL Type 4000 clone compressor, just built it..all best components and everything...I feel that I sometime get that "wimpy" loud smashed feeling...generally I have release on auto, attack on 2 or so and the threshold compressing like 10 dB....doing it wrongly?
What's you're general settings?

Mine has a sub 80Hz roll off sidechain to eliminate pumping due to the low end. That's not the problem though, I think.

I never use the auto setting since it pumps too much, I always set the release manually.

The great thing about the SSL is that the attack and release times are so instantly recognizable. Attack I usually set at 2nd fastest or 12 o' clock, the release at 2nd fastest or 12 o' clock. 12 o' clock release usually has a more "closed" sound and will fit some material.

But first I go through the Gyratec X to warm up the signal and apply some gentle compression with a soft ratio and slow attack. I use a combination of threshold, ratio and especially release to determine the amount of low end I want (lower threshold=less low end and fast release=more low end, but also some pumping).

By compressing not only in the SSL but also using the Gyratec (tubes by themselves too) themselves) I actually don't compress more than 2-3dB in the SSL, judging by the VU - which doesn't show actual peaks. So if your VU shows 10dB of compression it's actually a lot more, and then it's no wonder it sounds a bit smashed.

I have no problem clipping the converters for some extra smash but not if i'm going to process the signal afterwards.

[goldphinga]

Hi Griff. The CIB input overloads very easily, so you need to watch very carefully your gain structure. You NEED to run the compressor to balance the levels with a high input going in, its something ive noticed particularly with the cib.

Otherwise, the pre will clip at 2-3 lights showing on the gain meter. Obviously this becomes exacerbated if you are using mics or other signals that have particularly aggresive output levels.

Basically speaking you need to match the input with a little compression on the CIB and then make sure you are not clipping the mic ouput as well.