Lowering Transient Peaks

[AdrianW]

Hello,

In the past I've been using the limiter section of the Waves Ultramaximizer to lower transient peaks on mixdowns. (These are NOT clipping, just roughly 3 db higher than average.) Typically I'll normalize the mix and then use whatever setting I need to even out the peaks, then bring the overall level back up. My settings are such that the threshold and output ceiling are the same, for example -3db respectively, so that only the transients are affected. The gain is set to 0db. I'm not interested in killing dynamics or making everything LOUD, just want get the overall mix at a fairly consistent level. This is acoustic music, guitar and vocals.

I used to manually lower all the peaks but found using the limiter to be a lot easier. I'm now concerned about chopping off the peaks, though I don't actually hear any problem. I'm wondering if a soft compressor might be a better option. I'd be interested if anyone can suggest some compression settings for lowering the peaks that might give me the same results as the limiter I'm using now. I'm using the Waves plugins (RVerb, C1) with Adobe 1.5 and 3.0.

Thanks.

[OberHeim-Kenobi]

Originally Posted by AdrianW

Hello,

In the past I've been using the limiter section of the Waves Ultramaximizer to lower transient peaks on mixdowns. (These are NOT clipping, just roughly 3 db higher than average.) Typically I'll normalize the mix and then use whatever setting I need to even out the peaks, then bring the overall level back up. My settings are such that the threshold and output ceiling are the same, for example -3db respectively, so that only the transients are affected. The gain is set to 0db. I'm not interested in killing dynamics or making everything LOUD, just want get the overall mix at a fairly consistent level. This is acoustic music, guitar and vocals.

I used to manually lower all the peaks but found using the limiter to be a lot easier. I'm now concerned about chopping off the peaks, though I don't actually hear any problem. I'm wondering if a soft compressor might be a better option. I'd be interested if anyone can suggest some compression settings for lowering the peaks that might give me the same results as the limiter I'm using now. I'm using the Waves plugins (RVerb, C1) with Adobe 1.5 and 3.0.

Thanks.

A enveloper modulator like SPL on UAD or Logic Pro enveloper mod, transient mod (SONOX).... more suited for tracks, tape is great for that and the emu
Flux has a plugin called bitter sweeter (something like that) this is free !!

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by OberHeim-Kenobi

Flux has a plugin called bitter sweeter (something like that) this is free !!

thumbsup Ecellent plugin for some material - if used gently.