Ableton Forum

hey guys

ok i've got a confession i'm crap at using compression i need tips

especially for mastering
can someone give me some advice for mastering using Live's compression.

would really help me out as you can tell from my music that is one thing really missing
www.silver-kyoto.com

also got any hints for mastering generally.


cheers charlie

Mastering is an art.

It's really only eq and compression, but you could spend most of your life learning it.


I'm not really great at it, even though i have mastered a couple of things, "divided by lightning" by phiiliip. link

the animals issue of K48

and a few other project you're even less likely to have ever heard about.


anyway, one thing i can say is this, with mastering, less really is more.
a lot of people who are first starting out go all crazy with extreme multiband compression and lots of eq. Not a good idea. Just some light compression to get your percieved loudness up (the main goal of mastering) and maybe a touch of subtractive eq.


For somebody who is just starting out, just use something like waves L1 or the free clone (w1). Set the threshold just low enough to get some gain reduction going on, but not so much that you crush the dynamics altogether. This leaves a lot to be desired after you have some experience, but when your just starting out, this is a good way to get some more percieved loudness without screwing anything up.



as far as learning how to use compression, just experiment with it a lot. Don't be afraid to do things you aren't supposed to. Trust your ears. (i'm assuming you know what a compressor does in theory, if not, i would think there are plenty of resources out there on the web, get googleing)



.lm.

iZotope puts out a Mastering Guide for use with Ozone, but it has some good general info in it.

Don't know if you want to go to the lengths of reading the Bob Katz book? Haven't read it myself but it's apparently the mastering bible, so to speak.

bob katz book has a lot of stuff in it, not all of it that relevant to 'mastering' for your own use - IE playing tunes out as loud as the DJ. As opposed to 'mastering' for EMIs big new act using a load of elite equipment

other than all the hardcore stuff about dithering and bit depths - the crucial facts boiled down:

spend an absolute bomb on some big speakers and dont play them particularly loud.

I can't justify 10k+ on a single monitor myself!
I'd love to, but I can't.

my compression tips;... stay away from fast attack times and too slow releases. Keep those edges sharp and let it breath. Try eqing "before" you compress most of the time.There isn't much that needs more than 4 db of compressed gain reduction anyway, except vocals at the mix or "too much transient" fixes with very fast attack times (I'm disregarding stylistic compression fx so disregard the debate). Don't record compression input. Like don't record bass with it, make that dude play it solid!, it sounds waayyy better when you do compress it at the mix. Vocals yes but take it easy, like 2 db when they get loudish recording. And if your mix guy didn't crush it too much, it just might "pop!" by the time it gets to the mastering stage. if your looking to kick some ass in the loud mix awards, you first have to get that when you record and mix or even arrange for that matter. In mastering, if your starting with something thats been crushed too much, eq is about all you'll have left, or some cheeky dynamics trick. IMHO

hey

thanks alot guys helping me out

cheers
charlie
www.silver-kyoto.com

Here's my tip:

Don't use Live's compressors for mastering, they are not up to the task. Seriously, the sound quality of Live's compressors is ok for live use or messing about with samples, but NOT for mastering.

Mastering is about MUCH, MUCH more than just EQ and Compression.

Tarekith wrote:
Mastering is about MUCH, MUCH more than just EQ and Compression.

Like what exactly?



.lm.

charles-I wrote:

especially for mastering
can someone give me some advice for mastering using Live's compression.

ok, i don't feel like repeating the whole topic of mastering again, but one thing is for shure, you want have much succsess with the Live compressors as they are not transparent enough for the job.

every other info you find here already use 'search'

It may be best to not even master in Live, but instead use an audio editor where you can string some plug-ins together, more CPU efficiency, a good dither.
That Ozone guide is nice, but it does assume you are using Ozone.
Katz's book is worth getting but if you are a beginner, watch out.
There is a lot on the internet if you do searches. Check out Sound on Sound, for example.
I like the advice you have gotten by other so far.

here's a tip from me..

when mastering, don't use the same eq and compression settings throughout a song unless your song does not have any dynamic change whatsoever.

you should (best using a pen an paper) split the song up into its different sections of dynamics and then automate your eq and compression to work best for each of these sections.

My tip... make the song sound the way you want it to. Done.

sweetjesus wrote:here's a tip from me..

when mastering, don't use the same eq and compression settings throughout a song unless your song does not have any dynamic change whatsoever.

you should (best using a pen an paper) split the song up into its different sections of dynamics and then automate your eq and compression to work best for each of these sections.

Yep, very good tip for a lot of material.

another thing to remember is that you're not mastering a song in a vacuum. A lot of the point of mastering is getting all the material on a release to be consistant. In other words, making one song sound great, but totally out of place with the rest of the disk is not good.



.lm.

Tarekith wrote:Here's my tip:

Don't use Live's compressors for mastering, they are not up to the task. Seriously, the sound quality of Live's compressors is ok for live use or messing about with samples, but NOT for mastering.

I second that!