do you write tracks while compressing master?

[Johnisfaster]

when you write tracks do you slap a compressor on the master and sometimes even crush dynamics just to have an idea of what it would sound like as the end product?

[darkslide]

No, but I'm starting to think I should, cause that always gets me in the end, and it's a PITA to deal with.

[v00d00ppl]

whats the minimum amount of crushing i should do to expect the case of the 192kbps mp3 blues?

[Tone Deft]

no because I'd rather make music that sounds as the opposite.

and I need to learn to turn off the internet connection while I'm using Live.

[outershpongolia]

and I need to learn to turn off the internet connection while I'm using Live.

This makes me want to throw my laptop out a window. Damn drop outs..

[UKRuss]

No.

I really wish people would get back to the writing process being separate to the mixing process being separate to the mastering process.

When everybody did that, music was better. IMO of course.

I dont think it matters as much if you make 'dut chit dut chit dut chit dut chit' music I suppose because you are going to compress the fark out of it anyway... plus from what i can tell nowadays...it all sounds the same anyway.

[pepezabala]

No.

I really wish people would get back to the writing process being separate to the mixing process being separate to the mastering process.

When everybody did that, music was better. IMO of course.

I dont think it matters as much if you make 'dut chit dut chit dut chit dut chit' music I suppose because you are going to compress the fark out of it anyway... plus from what i can tell nowadays...it all sounds the same anyway.

music never was better than today. There is only too much boring dance music on the internet. but in general, there is quite some good music going on, globally.

[UKRuss]

That's true, you're right, a rich diversity of music...just not very well produced on the whole. I suppose it's all relative.

[leedsquietman]

Music is nowhere near as diverse as what it was in the late 70s and early 80s.

As a ratio, today's music is also not better off than previously - there IS more good music, but there is also infinitely more DROSS out there, and picking out the good from the dross is becoming ever harder.

Electronic music in particular is duller than it was at the back end of the 80s and up to the mid 90s (Marshall Jefferson, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, The Orb, The Shamen, Orbital, 808 State, Mark Moore, Pascal Gabriel etc). People got away from using moog sounds and TR909s for a while, or at least varied their usage with them with other technology, the second golden period (the first golden period was the mid 70s to early 80s, Kraftwerk, JMJ, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Vangelis, Space, Cerrone, Moroder etc).

Nowadays people copy the same thing as was going on in 1988 or 1994, change one little thing and then proclaim it as a whole new genre of music. Even the pop music was better back then, give me anything by Stock/Aitken/Waterman (even Sonia or The Reynolds Girls) over Pussycat Dolls, Rhianna and Katy frigging Perry.

If this makes me sound like an old fart, then whatever - I am and not proud, but really - I understand why bars and disco's that have 80s nights, or Timewarp Disco/Funk nights usually have line ups around the block of all ages of people.

PS - I never compress the 2 buss until I have finished all the writing/tracking and mixing and then, only a touch (2dBs max) for a little glue, if I was having the music mastered by a 3rd party, I would probably leave it off altogether.

[zalo]

i feel like you write for live, then adapt it to recording

and live i wouldn't dream of putting a master compressor on the mix

[The Carpet Cleaner]

I voted 'yes', but I try to lose this habit. I think it's a 'noob' habit.
Because of the tools we have today, we are able to to do the writing, the mixing, and the mastering process in the same time. Which, in my opinion is not wrong, but is a huge waste of time.
You better stick to the plan : write, mix, then master.

[Khazul]

No, not until Im nearly done with something.

What I often find however is if I have someone over my shoulder while Im mixing and they start saying raise this, lower that etc, then ill stick an EQ, regular or multiband comp and limiter on the master and do a very quick mastering job just so they can understand the differnce it makes and therefore why their suggested mix tweak requests are not needed

The usual one is people wanting to crank up reverbs, delays etc not realising that once you compress and raise it later for loudness all those kind of filler effects are going to get way way louder.

I find that once you get to a certain point in a track and the mix for part of the track at least is close to final, then its worth getting a mastering chain in, even if you only use it to check how it sounds occasionally.

I prefer to mix without this in place as, particular if its just a compressor for the simple reason that if you find yourself needing to change the master bus processing, particularly compression it can completelely throw the mix out. Better (and alot easier) IMHO to get the mix balanced then preview it occasionally with the mastering chain in place just to check for example) that you dont need more fx, or to raise vocal/backing sound levels etc.

In the end you get to just know what impact post-mix processing is going to have and so you dont really needed it when mixing and actually it can be just a distraction.

[pepezabala]

Music is nowhere near as diverse as what it was in the late 70s and early 80s.

As a ratio, today's music is also not better off than previously - there IS more good music, but there is also infinitely more DROSS out there, and picking out the good from the dross is becoming ever harder.

Electronic music in particular is duller than it was at the back end of the 80s and up to the mid 90s (Marshall Jefferson, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, The Orb, The Shamen, Orbital, 808 State, Mark Moore, Pascal Gabriel etc). People got away from using moog sounds and TR909s for a while, or at least varied their usage with them with other technology, the second golden period (the first golden period was the mid 70s to early 80s, Kraftwerk, JMJ, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Vangelis, Space, Cerrone, Moroder etc).

Nowadays people copy the same thing as was going on in 1988 or 1994, change one little thing and then proclaim it as a whole new genre of music. Even the pop music was better back then, give me anything by Stock/Aitken/Waterman (even Sonia or The Reynolds Girls) over Pussycat Dolls, Rhianna and Katy frigging Perry.

If this makes me sound like an old fart, then whatever - I am and not proud, but really - I understand why bars and disco's that have 80s nights, or Timewarp Disco/Funk nights usually have line ups around the block of all ages of people.

PS - I never compress the 2 buss until I have finished all the writing/tracking and mixing and then, only a touch (2dBs max) for a little glue, if I was having the music mastered by a 3rd party, I would probably leave it off altogether.

I am just happy to be able to access so many different things nowadays. For example: I can listen to angolean Kuduro or argentinian Cumbia Villera. 20 years ago such music was only available locally on cassettes.

The channels of mainstream music always were quite bad. How many people had access to Kraftwerk in the mid-70s? Some hipsters in europe maybe.

sorry for hijacking the thread. I compress the master bus mostly just before rendering. But I imagine that if you work on something that you want to sound highly compressed, then it's good to compress right from scratch.

[SubFunk]

never ever i put anything on the master... anything that might need to be added on the master, needs to be revisited in the mix, or at the mastering stage... if you need to add something to the master to make it 'better' (meaning not adding a crazy effect, or something like that) something is wrong with the mix, already.

[Grappadura]

I like having stuff on the master, its just another sound sculpting option. But I add it in the course of the process, not right from the start. Whenever its suitable, either to protect the speakers or when I´m close to finish, or when I think the compression can be made better on the master instead of slapping 10 compressors on separate tracks. A multiband compressor can also totally make sense on the master, for instance to clean up the bass region a bit and give it a certain dynamic. Of course if there are problems in this frequency range its better to tackle them on the track itself.