Marcello

That doesn't tell you if the overall song dynamic is ok or is flat.

No I'm looking for one that measure the dynamic range, it's for mastering mostly.

Hi guys, anyone knows some free plugin similar to dynameter to mesure the song dynamic? Or either a way to have dynameter for free? Even these quite simple plugins are quite pricey, like 80 bucks for a meter?? woo.

Always prompt reply! Thanks man

Indeed that’s what I noticed it sounds like one in the center, I’m just gonna rerecord.

Hi there, I have recorded at 16 bitrate, I know during master if you recorded at 24 bitrate and then master at 16 bitrate you should use dither. In my case I have recorded at 16 bit, and I will export my master at 16 bit, so should I use it anyway?

Amazing thanks

Yea I did take advantage of precious advises thanks, indeed I think I improved it a bit. I will keep working on it and try with different references.

Guys I'm wandering, Is it OK to copy the left panned guitar track and paste it on the right in another track? I have 2 guitars a rithmic one very distorted, and another lead one. Right now I have one panned on the left and one on the right. Would be better to have the lead one in the center and the rithmic left and right? I was thinking to copy the rithmic guitar track and paste it on the left creating another track, then change the amp sim so they have two different sounds. It seems to me thought that when you do that is not really separate left and right but it sounds kinda in the center. Is this good practice or not?

Sorry Craig just to show you I have compared my master with the reference track I'm using (FLAC version), I start understanding the problem here, look at the loudest part of the reference track (on TOP) and look at my mastered track (below). This is why is doesn't get loud enough like the reference track, do you see those spikes? peaks? Those are the snare and kick mostly, based on what you see what do you suggest? I think I have compressed the drums enough, if I push the limiter more the snare basically disappears compared to the rest, it drawns below the other things. What would you suggest?

No I meant some analyzer, nevermind. I have compared my master with the reference track I'm using (FLAC version), I start understanding the problem here, look at the loudest part of the reference track (on TOP) and look at my mastered track (below). This is why is doesn't get loud enough like the reference track, do you see those spikes? peaks? Those are the snare and kick mostly, based on what you see what do you suggest? I think I have compressed the drums enough, if I push the limiter more the snare basically disappears compared to the rest, it drawns below the other things. What would you suggest?

Does anyone know any free plugin for distortion listening? like Soundwaves Reveal plugin but that costs a lot. You place it in the master bus and it will reveal any distortion caused by the limiter pushed too much, that otherwise you might not hear. For those like me who still have to develop the ears

Shite! I didn't know! indeed I installed it with iLok LOL. I have removed it now and used the one embedded. Thanks

Bloody hell guys I think I made it I have placed this saturation plugin with one nob on my drums bus and now it sound much louder without taking too many DBs. A practical solution also for you if might have the same issue. https://www.softube.com/saturationknob?gclid=Cj0KCQjw6ZOIBhDdARIsAMf8YyFslTBECLawYGcU2KUyfDKEoeyWgyaNVTXyF18FNm_JwiBh9cmJmEUaAhF5EALw_wcB

I agree with him, maybe I'm starting to understand now, basically I should work on the mix rather than fixing this on the master. I should manage to increase the volume of the instruments, like the drums which are peaking, without increasing the DBs. For instance I placed a limiter on the drums bus, and I increased the threshold and reduced the gain, result: the drums sounds louder but didn't increase in DBs. But still for me the master is too low, so is there any other plugin I can use for this purpose? Craig suggested EQ automation, any other? like a saturator maybe? a gain plugin?

Ok thanks for the suggestions. SO basically I think I have to work on the mix rather than the master trying to use some tools to increase the volume of the drums that's causing the peaks without actually increasing the DBs of the track. I have used a limiter on my drums bus, but still, is there any other plugin I can use for this purpose? Like a saturator maybe?

The thing is, I'm using a reference track from Mogwai, now I have downloaded a FLAC version of the song, I suppose is the high quality one almost like a WAV. I compared the volume of this FLAC song with the one on their Spotify, it's exactly the same bloody volume, which is quite high (-6 LUFS integrated), so someone is taking a ***** me here, unless SPotify allows you to pay extra to have -6 LUFS instead of -14

Hi guys I still have a doubt to clarify. There is a part of my song where the drums are more quiet and then an explosive part where they hit hard. Since the drums were causing some peaks in the Master (hence I had to change the Master limiter Threshold resulting in the song not being as loud as my reference track but way less), mostly kick and snare, I placed a limiter on the drums bus in the mix. Now what happened is that the volume of the snare is a bit lower than before in the explosive part and is sitting back in the mix, is not anymore slammed as it was. Also basically in the quiet part of the song, the snare remained the same volume so quite ok for me, but in the explosive part is actually lower in volume compared to the quiet part!!! This because the limiter is attenuating the snare transient in the explosive part while keeping it normal in the quiet part, result: a lower volume of the snare in the explosive part which is not good. Raising the snare volume or increasing the compression won't change much because the limiter is stopping it from peaking. So I don't know what to do here, if I don't put a limiter on my drums bus my overall volume of the master will not be as loud as my reference track because if I raise the Master Limiter Threshold down to increase the volume the drums transients will cause a gain reduction over 4 or 5 db or even more! From my understanding in order to have a Loud Master without clipping and distorting, I should place limiters in the mix busses like drums or bass for instance so that the mix will sound louder but maintaining headroom for the master, correct? The problem is that if I use the limiter too much in the drums bus it results in what I just explained, so basically it mess up the song dynamic limiting the snare for instance where it should be slammed and not limiting it where is less slammed, so the snare gets low where is shouldn't be. It's like a snake biting its tail. Do I really have to choose between having an enough loud master (same volume lever as most of the songs) but having the snare sitting back in the mix, or having it slammed but the overall song volume is very much less loud compared to the songs out there?

Thanks Will. I think I improved it a bit but I still have an issue. There is a part of my song where the drums are more quiet and then an explosive part where it hits hard. Since the drums were causing some peaks in the master, mostly kick and snare, I placed a limiter on the drums bus in the mix. Now what happened is that the volume of the snare is a bit lower than before and is sitting back in the mix, is not anymore slammed as it was. Also basically in the quiet part of the song, the snare remained the same volume so quite ok for me, but in the explosive part is actually lower in volume compared to the quiet part!!! This because the limiter is attenuating the snare transient in the explosive part while keeping it normal in the quiet part, result: a lower volume of the snare in the explosive part which is not good. Raising the snare volume or increasing the compression won't change much because the limiter is stopping it from peaking. So I don't know what to do here, if I don't put a limiter my overall volume of the master will not be as loud as my reference track because if I raise the Master Limiter Threshold down to increase the volume the transients will cause a gain reduction over 4 or 5 db! From my understanding in order to have a Loud Master without clipping and distorting, I should place limiters in the mix busses like drums or bass for instance so that the mix will sound louder but maintaining headroom for the master, correct? The problem is that if I use the limiter too much in the drums bus it results in what I just explained, so basically it mess up the song dynamic limiting the snare for instance where it should be slammed and not limiting it where is less slammed, so the snare gets low where is shouldn't be. It's like a snake biting its tail.

I agree! indeed I fixed some things in the mix, can you just check last time if I somehow improved the master or is still squashed and harsh?? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S8k5HucMEfrYd7YWw1I8SybC9Yptioim/view?usp=sharing The problem I had was that I was trying to push the threshold down to increase the overall volume, but the kick, snare and also some cymbals they were causing a big gain reduction, so the transients of those were not helping to raise the overall volume. SO in the mix I placed a limiter on the drums bus, and I tried to balance, I had to find a compromise because the more I was limiting the drums the more the snare disappeared compared to the rest, so I increase the snare volume and compression. Now I have less peaks caused by the kick and snare but still there are if I try to bring the overall volume to match my reference track. SO I understand I should maybe compress more the drums, or maybe use parallel compression on the master but I'm afraid to compress it too much, I'm still not too confident with compression in general

Allright!

I agree with you, I'm not a very professional mixing engineer, I'm quite DIY. ANyway I have realized a couple of problems were in the mix indeed, I exported the mix not leaving enough headroom for the master, so I lowered the mix bus faders and on the drums bus I placed a limiter, which worked pretty well to reduce peaks, even if now the snare is not as loud as it was previously and is sitting a bit back in the mix. So now the threshold in the master can be raised until -9/-10 dbs without having too much gain reduction, still slightly less loud then my reference track. If I understand well, the track i s squashed when there is too much gain reduction right? I should keep the gain reduction around -2 db roughly correct?

Thanks, consider drums are midi programmed drums, and I only used a compressor for those to make them punchy, now I placed a limiter on them cause the snare was causing peaks in the master when I was trying to make the song loud by lowering the threshold, and still is, even if now the snare sounds less powerful and the peaks are slightly better. About the guitars and the bass, I didn't compress them at all, I have used an amp sim plugin. Neither the master, I didn't compress it but I have placed a limiter, probably though I pushed the limiter too low to make it sound louder but indeed sounds squashed. So I think I understood the matter here, my mix was too loud and I didn't leave enough DBs for the master. Now I'm trying to use limiters on drums to make the mix loud without clipping and leaving some headroom for the master.

ok I see but looking at the reference track waveform I'm using the distorted part looks like that, it's a chunky wave that looks the samme all the time, different is for the quiet part. On the other hand though, I don't want the listener having to stand up to turn down the volume on his stereo once the explosive part starts, i think there shouldn't even be too much dynamics otherwise you force the listener to constantly change the volume on his speakers, smartphone, etc. This is the Waveform of the reference track I'm using, check it out, is it dynamic for you?

With dynamic you mean difference between clean and distorted part in terms of volume?