so, i'm dwelling on audio mixing, vs mastering processes....

[bats brew]

i've been mixing into a 2-bus compressor for 20 years.
not going to stop now.

but i think, even IF you leave a ton of headroom for mastering,
and your intent is ONLY to get your mix louder....

once you put a limiter on, ANY limiter,
it does change the frequency spectrum of almost any instrument or voice that touches that limiting.

with that said,
why not mix into a limiter set for just a db or two? just enough to get the limiter actually doing something.

you know, after the 2-bus, maybe not even on the master bus itself (which is what i use for all tracks and sub busses to end up on, routing to the interface MAINS output (rme babyface pro)...

the idea is, any decisions you make on highly dynamic tracks (hot vocals, snares, kicks) will already have a touch of the limiter effect doing 'some' of what is going to happen when you have it mastered...

and then simply TAKE THE LIMITER OFF when you do your final bounce.

then, when the ME puts their 'better' limiters on,
you will still be in the ballpark of where it's going to end up after mastering?!

why would this not work at MINIMIZING the effects of mastering limiting on your mix?

no surprises?

[bitflipper]

What the ME brings is not better limiters, but better monitoring and the objectivity of a disinterested set of ears. If you've brought the levels up to your desired target using a quality limiter, and have then subsequently made any mix changes due to the limiter's emphasis, then the ME probably isn't going to make it sound so different that you will feel a need to re-mix.

I think a poll of users here would indicate that most of us mix into a limiter. Personally, I only add the limiter late into the process, after the mix is 95% complete. That way, I can distinguish between what my mix is doing versus what the limiter is doing. In the past, when I was trying to settle on a favorite limiter, I'd often try several of them. The difference from one to the next was always so subtle that in the end I adopted the one that was most ergonomically friendly and easiest to use.

[Gswitz]

I tend to do a first pass without a limiter b/c it helps me see where gain automation might be required on specific tracks.

Once I'm happy with gain/volume automation, I'll add in the multiband limiter.

I still might disable it at any point during the mix to back up a step.

[Bapu]

Once I have Bass, scratch Drums, Vocals (scratch or not), scratch Guitars and Keys (if any) I start mixing right into a Mastering Suite (mostly Lurssen from IK for the BJZ stuff or maybe Izotope for all others).

 

[synkrotron]

Limiting? Compression? What is that?

 

Joking, of course, but I don't need to use it on my more "gentler" stuff ?

 

[bitflipper]

^^^ Good point. It may go against conventional wisdom, but not every mix needs both, or either. Sometimes, the limiter is little more than a volume control. At least half of my mixes get no actual limiting at all, and for half of the other half the limiter might only catch a handful of stray peaks and thus have no impact on the mix.

But that's just me. And apparently, Synkrotron too. Depends on the genre.

[bats brew]

29 minutes ago, synkrotron said:

Limiting? Compression? What is that?

 

Joking, of course, but I don't need to use it on my more "gentler" stuff ?

 

of course you do!!

 

gentle stuff, sometimes benefits the greatest from 'coloring' from various compressors and limiters.

do not use them for level:

use them for color.