song is too quiet? use multiband compression

[Grappadura]

one thing i only recently realized is that the key to loudness is multiband-compression. a limiter will always crush your hihats, thats why multiband compression makes sense. learn the right settings and you´ll go: oh, nice, why hasn´t anybody told me earlier about this? its not easy to really master this device, but you can still improve the overall loudness also as a beginner. if you have the live multiband compressor, click on "A" as "above" (compression - "B" is for "below" and this will expand the quiet parts, skip this if you´re a noob), set the level of compression for all bands, for instance 1:1,5 (nothing extreme). now set the time (nothing too short, except for maybe the attack time of the hihats (not sure here, depends a lot on your track too). push gain up for all bands, in a way that the hihats are only sometimes compressed, the mids more often and the bass almost steadily. you´ll see that in the graph. thats it basically.

[obmun]

Yep. Pretty good tool. On the time control subject, it's essential to be able to control attack and release parameters for the different frequency bands, for avoiding "distorting" your sound. One must be careful with the release the lower the freq you're processing. Without multiband compressor it would be a PITA to setup all this. Just imagine preparing audio racks with EQs and individual compressors . I think everybody loves the C4.

[Sarrova-Q]

Agreed - multiband can be important for loudness.
But essentially what you do is getting the gains right for all your frequencies - to me that's the important part.
If you mix right, you will probably not need multiband a lot.

I hear so many tracks with a booming sub - that absorbs the energy of your track.
People try to push their limiters, but because that sub takes so much away they can't get it loud without nuking and smashing their limiter.

Good mixing = making place.
Spread your frequencies even, set up your panning to get a good stereo image, keep track of your volume settings, get some depth with ambience.
If you have lot's of bass, make sure other tracks don't fight with it if they also have a lot of bass frequencies.
Master all of that, and you won't need to push your multiband / limter to -10 db throughout your whole track.

My 2 cents.

[oddstep]

After using a really high gain limiter, using mixbus compression to boost volume is the second quickest way to totally wreck a mix that I know. Moderation I suppose....

[Nokatus]

"A" as "above" (compression - "B" is for "below" and this will expand the quiet parts, skip this if you´re a noob)

Just a quick note on this: both the "above" and "below" settings can be used for either compression or expansion. It's the ratio which determines whether you're compressing or expanding in each case.

[Coupe70]

I never splitted prosuction and mixing in my workflow, I always
do it very parallel. So my problem is always that I'm thinking:
"Well, the mix sounds quite good to me - if I now use multiband
compression I will change the levels for bass/mids/highs and I
have to start mixing again, at least the relation between
bass/mids/highs." I find this very difficult and often don't
do it because of the feeling of losing my orginal mix...

How do you handle this ?

Oh, and Grappadura:
If you say you use moderate setting for ratio, how moderate
are in setting the threshhold ? When you say bass compression
should be always on, how much gain reduction do you force ?
I know, depends on the track, but just give me an impression,
please...

[Komodovaran]

I've never used the multiband compressor There's too much power going on!

I compress each track individually, and level them.

[Grappadura]

"A" as "above" (compression - "B" is for "below" and this will expand the quiet parts, skip this if you´re a noob)

Just a quick note on this: both the "above" and "below" settings can be used for either compression or expansion. It's the ratio which determines whether you're compressing or expanding in each case.

thx, good to know.

[Earwax69]

Each time I try to understand that beast, I fail. Any idiot proof tutorial out there? Right now I only put the MC with default settings if it make the song sound clearer (which is does most of the time surprisingly).

[Grappadura]

I never splitted prosuction and mixing in my workflow, I always
do it very parallel. So my problem is always that I'm thinking:
"Well, the mix sounds quite good to me - if I now use multiband
compression I will change the levels for bass/mids/highs and I
have to start mixing again, at least the relation between
bass/mids/highs." I find this very difficult and often don't
do it because of the feeling of losing my orginal mix...

How do you handle this ?

Oh, and Grappadura:
If you say you use moderate setting for ratio, how moderate
are in setting the threshhold ? When you say bass compression
should be always on, how much gain reduction do you force ?
I know, depends on the track, but just give me an impression,
please...

I generally welcome the extra loudness as long as its not distorted, and since you have 3 bands, its not like you have to adjust 12 tracks but only those 3 bands. as i said i´m no expert but to me its fun to experiment. when setting the threshold, I think the recommendation is to set it in a way thats just enough so the compressor will always be triggered (for the bass frequency). but hey, as long as it sounds good...

[Grappadura]

I never splitted prosuction and mixing in my workflow, I always
do it very parallel. So my problem is always that I'm thinking:
"Well, the mix sounds quite good to me - if I now use multiband
compression I will change the levels for bass/mids/highs and I
have to start mixing again, at least the relation between
bass/mids/highs." I find this very difficult and often don't
do it because of the feeling of losing my orginal mix...

How do you handle this ?

actually I mix with the multiband compressor on.

[Coupe70]

actually I mix with the multiband compressor on.

uh, well, this would be producing, mixing AND mastering
in one step...don't know if I would like to do this...

[Grappadura]

i´m confortable with it cause i feel its like a magnifying glass, it helps me to spot problems in the mix.

[oddstep]

Each time I try to understand that beast, I fail. Any idiot proof tutorial out there? Right now I only put the MC with default settings if it make the song sound clearer (which is does most of the time surprisingly).

One of the Loudon Sterns tutorials on Ableton blog seemed to open it up to me a bit. Can't remember which one - recent tho'! The multiband compressor is really complex, I took some time just running loops through it, reading the manual and checking each parameter in turn.

I have never thought of compression as a means of finding problems in a mix - I don't think I could use it like that. The band kills on the multiband are really handy for checking different parts of the frequency spectrum and finding out how loud they are... my ideal is to get a mix where the bass, mids and trebles all have roughly equivalent energy - so the track can be as loud as possible... without going for the blunt instrument of gain boosted limiting.

[Earwax69]

Is it this one?

http://www.ableton.com/blog/2011/12/28/ ... n-stearns/