Harsh Frequencies and Using a limiter to find harsh frequencies?

[Cabrone]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while but getting shot down on here put me off.

Anyway harsh frequencies are one of my biggest issues in mixing and often I'd find after mixing a song and going to master it(I just master my own stuff and it's more what I call finalizing, just EQ, limiter) and putting the limiter on, suddenly all this harshness would appear, especially in headphones and on sounds like the vocals.

So what I do now is put a limter on the master buss and get some good limiting going and I can hear all these harsh frequencies and sibilance, then I cut them out.

This seems to work for me but I'm wondering does anyone else do this, I feel like I'm cheating in a way and should be hearing these frequencies but I simply don't; until I put on a limiter and suddenly it becomes clear.

As that's the thing, my tracks after being mastered would always sound harsh and abrasive to the ear and I never quite understood why but the past year since really focusing on mixing I've found out it's because of the harshness...

Any thoughts on this?

[E.rOk.stA]

As long as that's the limiter you're going to keep on the mix, I guess that's ok...

Alot of times it's the compressor or limiter causing the harshness in those frequencies, that's why you don't hear them without it.

[Cabrone]

Originally Posted by E.rOk.stA

As long as that's the limiter you're going to keep on the mix, I guess that's ok...

Alot of times it's the compressor or limiter causing the harshness in those frequencies, that's why you don't hear them without it.

Well, I see what you mean about it being the same limiter on the final mix but it's usually not. But it does translate to the final master since it's roughly the same amount of gain reduction happening. The point ofcourse is for it to show what's going to happen when it comes to be limited during mastering.

In a way though, by the end when I have the final limiter on, I'm still fixing any esses or harshness that appear.

See, this doesn't seem right does it? However I've found using headphones and even the little ear buds has been very helpful for hearing the harshness. If it sounds harsh in them then what good is it? I usually make adjustments with them on but I guess I should just use them to hear it and go back to the monitors and learn to hear and get rid of them?